Ides of Halloween

Surrealistic........views of my place to inspire enthusiasm for the Ides of Halloween..to Come....

Look Closely.......there are imps, goblins, spirits, brownies........all things Halloween and in Between............slipping, sliding, gliding, and hiding.......out there!

Statue Maker

Remember that game..........swinging someone around by the arm, and then letting them go. Then the "swingee" had to pose, and freeze in the position they landed. I spent many a summer day into evening doing that with the neighborhood gang on our front lawn. Now that those days are gone..........I have "flung" a few statues around where I live now............and thankfully they have stayed put. In my courtyard.........a Fourth Generation Italian Garden Fountain Statue.........which could spout some history if I let it.....but I keep it turned off most of the time.
Then there is the Seasonal Entry Statue. Bust.....ready for Fall and Halloween........ in this photo, but it can quickly assume the guise of any season, or occasion.

I cannot image actually chipping away a block of mable.............seeing a form in negative space..............as these emerging Michaelangelo's .

However, I do negative space cutting when I freehand tin with my acetylene torch. Here are bone appetit statues frozen in tin.....

So I have flung and placed a few statues.........created a few, and envisioned a few. Guess you could say I am fascinated by the whole concept of statues no matter by what form, or fashion they are created. I must marvel at the patience a statue has...........to be without actual physical movement. Like these fabric Carnival Knockdowns.............Halloween and Exihibtion.....patiently waiting to be plummeted.....

Fabric statue Pin Keeps with tell tale expressions on their faces........waiting to be poked.

I could never pose like this for even a photograph below.............in a booth.......my feet would be sliding torward the door.

My cat Rio, and some of the animals on my ranch like to pose, freeze and play statue maker.

My two statue dogs the Count and the Countess.........

Grapestakes freezing while playing statue literally, on the road to my house............

Pillars.......are forever............posing as statues............

Since I am not one to stand. or be still let alone freeze, and pose.........it's a wonder, and an amazement to me how anything animate or inanimate can be a statue.............Now let me swing you!

"Al tar nate".....Possibilities..........

This post is not intended to dishonor any religious icons, or to offend anyone, but to heal in an "Al ......tar.....nate" way.

Retablos from Mexico...... are small oil paintings on tin, zinc, wood, or copper.

The literal translation for "retablo" is "behind the altar"...........and I know altars are more often than not thought to be serious, spiritual, and reverent......but they can also be fun.

In my artistic statement..... I say......nothing is held sacred, or almost always not sacred....but ..a sense of humor always heals whenever there is a need, and that can be thought of as sacred to some.
Retablos.............
Home altars were used and are sometimes still used to venerate the almost infinite number of Saints. I think there is an altar for just about everything. I say if we have a need, we should create our own Altar Figures ..........not Saints, but figures that have some meaning, or purpose for us. Like the Altar Figure of Lost Keys..... or the Parking Lot Space Finder Altar.

Here is an Altar to gum that has been saved not spiritually of course, but in some form......certainly gum is a very spiritual form......somehow....um it can transform..........
Going with kind of a Halloween theme.........this is a hand from B(Y)e Low......really a bye low porcelain doll's hand........I never could just go with the flow and follow class instructions. My porcelain doll instructor saw me at a show recently and she still remembers my dismembered doll..........and the rolled back in the head painted eyes. I knew I was in trouble the first day when I asked if I could make my own mold.

An Altar to "Bored" Feet......How Do You Measure Up?

I absolutely love painting on tin.....wood, etc. I want to start a new body of work...called "Altar.....Casions", an altar for every occasion. Again, this is not to be disrespectful.......but to just add another "altar dimension"........or "altar reality". People have home altars set up for many uses, some that are not intended for a religious purpose. It may be meant to have a quiet place to retreat, or meditate, or for a variety of other reasons. So, why not have an altar to make you happy, or to be helpful in some way. As they did in the past, let's bring the altar back into daily life in some form. I would not be true to myself, if I did not include, The Halloween Altar of Possibilities .....grab any of these Altar Figures, and assume a new identity/personality...at least for a day Here we have the Hungry as Hell Altar Figure........who will help you find food in a hurry......that is already precooked, or cooked on the spot........always hot, and not waiting under a lamp somewhere. Sorry Halloween on the brain again.............

And.......... the Margarita Altar ....for most all occasions.......let's give it a hand, and a taste............ this altar is portable and potable as well...........
An altar to indecision...........Halfway between Heaven and Hell..................
Circus Altar......to honor...........Circuit Dog Up to His People Tricks.............

I really want to do an alter show....Call it Altar Reality......on April Fool's Day...........set up pedestals with nothing on them........and then guide guests through the Gallery explaining all the alt(ar)ternatives I could have created. It would be a new show every time you walked someone through it..............or perhaps explained all the altarpossibilities I might have had in mind.

Art serious............NO ............30 lashes with a wet noodle...........Never! Think of all the ways in your altar life you could use an altar...........