A recent conversation with a dear friend sparked some dark and interesting mask ideas, so following on from the oriental masks I did last month, I’ve remained with papier-mache and am happily experimenting. I’ve done pretty and colourful masks for a while, so it’s high time I indulged my darker side.
I’m currently working on a mask which will have a fine tracery of cracks across its surface, like an antique porcelain doll. It looks creepy already, and I’m quite excited at the effect.

I have also been spending quite a lot of time at Deviant Art. The community is excellent for networking amongst like-minded artists and bouncing ideas around, and I’ve made a few really good friends there. Check out Reincarnations for beautiful hand-painted furniture, and some of the most fascinating candle-holders I’ve seen for a long time.

And finally, I’m continuing to play around with Painter X. I had been using Painter 9.5 for a while, and there is not a great deal of difference between the two, though I’m still happily exploring the possibilities of the golden ratio tool and the real brushes that painter X has to offer. This year I would like to spend more time on my 2D artwork as well as making masks, and hope to have something worthwhile to show very soon. Watch this space…