Wolf! Where?

"Follow your inner moonlight; don't hide the madness."

-- Allen Ginsberg

Self portrait 10-12-13

David:    "I'm a werewolf.

  Alex:      "Are you alright?

                                                 David:    "I don't know, I'll let you know the next full moon."

-- An American Werewolf in London

"I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic's,

And his hair was perfect."

-- Warren Zevon, "Werewolves of London"

Beautiful monster

"She's a monster, beautiful monster

Beautiful monster but I don't mind

And I need her, said I need her

Beautiful monster but I don't mind."

-- Ne-Yo, "Beautiful Monster"

Self portrait 10-9-13

"Sometimes I think there's a beast that lives inside me,

in the cavern that's where my heart should be,

and every now and then it fills every last inch of my skin ..."

-- Jodi Picoult, Handle With Care

Self portrait (2) 10-9-13

"We all have a Monster within;

the difference is in degree, not in kind."

-- Douglas Preston, The Monster of Florence

Self portrait (3) 10-9-13

The Monster:   You, make man ... like me?

Dr. Pretorius:      No. Woman ... friend for you.

The Monster:   Woman ... Friend ... Wife ...

-- The Bride of Frankenstein

My month-long "October-Faced" challenge-within-a-challenge has a dual purpose.

One is to celebrate the month of October by making it a special faces in disguise-themed project.

The other is to figure out what I'm going to be for Halloween.

I almost always dress up and stand at the end of our driveway to pass out candy to the neighborhood trick-or-treaters. Usually my boys dress up with me. Sam has been Michael Jackson in various iterations for several years. Leo has been wearing the same Cookie Monster costume since he was a little kid, which is hilarious now because he is over 6 feet tall and the thing fits him like a tiny, fuzzy, blue plush shrug with a Cookie Monster head on top. He wore it to Chipotle last year and got a free burrito.

I've been a bull rider, Elastigirl, Maid Marion (with my husband as a super-cute Robin Hood), a witch. The year I was a witch, my friend Maria brought her little grandsons by. The littlest one, who couldn't quite get his Ws in the right places, was scared of me and clung to Maria saying "I don't wike dat cwazy bitch." Of course, Maria encouraged his fledgling, accidental profanity. 

Maria: "Who is that, Ryan?" 

Ryan: "A bitch." 

Adorable.

Anyhoo.

This Bride of Frankenstein costume (well, makeup and wig so far) might be a front-runner. I still have a couple more ideas I want to explore. But this one is definitely in contention. Stay tuned.

Let's play pretend

"I have too many fantasies to be a housewife."

-- Marilyn Monroe

Medusa Barbie 10-4-13

"Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living."

-- Dr. Seuss

Medusa Barbie (2) 10-4-13

"It's all make believe, isn't it?

-- Marilyn Monroe

In the spirit of sharing the joy, I decided to let Barbie come out and play during "October-faced."

Why should I have all the fun?

P.S. I love it that, even as Medusa, Barbie can still be a blonde.

October-faced

"I like to pretend that my art has nothing to do with me."

-- Roy Lichtenstein

Self portrait with hand-painted Lichtenstein mask 10-2-13

I'm still feeling a little bit inspired by the Pop Art movement, so I painted this Lichtenstein-inspired mask.

It's just paint and ink on a cheap plastic blank mask from the craft store.

The ink that I made the dots with smeared a little bit, but that's OK.

It was just an experiment.

I learned from my mistakes.

I do want to try again and make a better one. Next time I'll use something a little more indelible.

Oh, and I came up with a name for this month's "disguise" themed portraits:

"October-Faced."

Get it? It sounds like "October fest" but with "faced" instead of "fest."

Oh, forget it.

Ahhh-ctober!

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

-- L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Self portrait 10-1-13

"I think if human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes 

every day of the year, not just on Halloween. 

Wouldn't life be more interesting that way? 

And now that I think about it, why the heck don't they?

Who made the rule that everybody has to dress like sheep 364 days of the year? 

Think of all the people you'd meet if they were in costume every day. 

People would be so much easier to talk to -- like talking to dogs."

--Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief

Maybe it's just me, but September seemed to last a long damn time.

October has been impatiently standing by the door checking its watch and jingling its keys for a while now, waiting for that other bitch to take the hint and hit the bricks.

But it's finally over, and I'm pretty excited.

It's no secret that I like to dress up in costumes and disguises all year 'round. I do it "for my art." At least that's what I use as my excuse. But in October, it's OK to dress up and wear disguises without any excuses at all.

That sounds pretty good to me.

I can pull out all the stops and let 'er rip. 

As I try to figure out what my actual Halloween costume is going to be, I think I'll try several out here on the blog and make it kind of a loosely themed "disguise a day" costume challenge nested inside the over-riding "A Face A Day" structure.

So I'm getting the greasepaint and the spirit gum ready.

I'm unpacking my masks, wigs and silly glasses.

Time to pick up some fake blood and vampire fangs.

Hey, October. What took you so long?