July 08, 2014 Update: Wear and Tear

One of my biggest challenges is creating a costume that is both esthetically pleasing but also practical for a Living Statue. You might imagine that I don't move around all that much, and you would be right, but I do from time to time need the flexibility to get out there and walk/interact. What I'm getting at here is that costume still needs to bend, and if it doesn't want to bend from all that paint I laboured over to apply: too bad. I need to bend. All those layers of paint look good but once Im out on the street I'll need those crucial joint areas free.

Ouch

I had my first 'dress rehearsal' with the full costume and black's are definitely high maintenance. First thing it does is show every spot I missed, and every crack that occured from my first wear. This little stretch mark is from right shoulder, probably from me taking on and off the costume. A few other spots though out the costume that will need addressing, such as the knees and elbows. The paint might still be a bit tacky, and it will take time before I can really take hold of other issues I'm not aware of.
So much work, so little time.

July 04, 2014 Update: what not to do, and where to go from here

It's a busy week for me in the studio, aka the garage, and I've made some interesting changes to the costume seen in my prier post. A part of me really, realllllllly, wanted to work with acrylic paint; I had this passion for brushing the paint on the costume. As if it was life or death, I needed it. It was destiny. But destiny can you lead down dark paths; a dark, puke-y green, kind of path.

Before, lots of great blues and shading....

....and after. Wow. Just wow.

On a side note I did add a few distant stars to the mix and lovely shade of blue in just the right areas. I will be using it as a nucleus of the constellation in my work, as you could see in the above photos, and clouded through out the costume it self. I am worried about the amount of black in my costume, I absolutely love the...darkness; I just don't want to melt out there in the Alberta heat: 30c or higher.

Starry, starry night.
Paint your palette blue and grey...

June 29th Update: Finally some new paint

After a long wait I have finally applied the first few lays of paint to the costume I have been working for the past few weeks. the first layer was brushed on white gesso and now a few layers of spray paint. This is a drastically different costume idea that I've done in the past, and I'm still deciding if I want "copper" incorporated into the costume; test paint on other surfaces look promising but I want to test the acrylics first before I make that kind of commitment and I still need to make decisions on the accessories. As you could imagine "space cowboy" isn't something that's fixed; I really could do about anything. I've even had this idea for a "crystal"...something. I don't want to give too much away because I haven't found what I've been looking for but I assure you, dear reader, that it will be worth the wait.

Such a rich shade of violet and purple! Montana Black had this great colour called "galaxy" and it really did wonders, looks like I'll need to head back to arts supply shop for more!

Here are the pants with the first layer of Gesso, Gesso is used for creating canvasses so paint doesn't soak through the fabric. With hopes this will aid in my costume creation.

Now with the paint applied.

So far I've used the Montana Black brand spray paint and a few tubes of acrylics. The blue was not used unfortunately do to a clog that happened immediately after the first application,and I will be returning the can for another. Its a nice shade from what I did see and I will have to apply 'lightly' for the right effect... or not, we'll find out.