Thursday, December 27, 2007

Green Man


A while ago my husband asked me to make him a Green Man ornament to hang in his office. The Green Man is supposed to be a pagan god who roams the woods of the British Isles and Europe and is often portrayed behind a mask of foliage.

This was great fun for me to do because I got to work with some beautiful "leafy" quilting cotton and I am mad about anything with a leaf print on it. I wasn't sure how I was going to make his face green so I just started playing around. First I drew the face on muslin with a Sharpie and then did a Forest Green acrylic wash over it. Once the paint dried, I used oil pastels for highlights. I probably should have sprayed a protective coating of something over it but I didn't have anything and I didn't know what I should be using anyway. I will have to ask my artist friend J, about what to use in future.

Since I had some success with the green face, I'm going to use the same technique, in blue, for a couple of Icicle Dolls that I'm making for a swap.

4 comments:

Creativehands said...

HE LOOKS GREAT!!
He also looks like he was a lot of fun to make; good for you!
Enjoy.
Yea...I can see lots of choices with all the colours to make all sorts of interesting characters!

Maggie R said...

Hi Inga,
Well you learn something new every day!...Never heard the story of the "Green Man".
You did a great job.. The leaf cotton is perfect.You mentioned a protective coating. Would just using a hot iron be all you need to set the paint? At any rate the end result is great.
Your DH must have been thrilled.
))))hugs))))
Maggie

Dot said...

You are so talented! And very thoughtful too. What a great doll for your husband. Love the leaf cotton.

Dot said...

P.S You do the best faces!