Laguna Beach Full Moon Drum Circle July 2017 at Aliso Creek State Beach

 
I love this monthly event, as it closely resembles the spirit at Burning Man like few other local events I've found. I get fully into, the spirit, often dressing up in my Burning Man clothes, occasionally drawing on my face with a burnt cork, and always sporting my hand-painted palm frond masks, so to hide my true identity. We all wear masks, do we not? Not to belabor the point, but yeah, we do. Mine happens to be made from a palm frond.

Here I am in my hippy gear: shower curtain pants, blue cape, Cambodian shirt. Beating the rhythm out of an oatmeal can with a piece of bamboo.

Come join us. Every full moon. On the beach at Aliso Creek in Laguna Beach, CA.

"Angry Sneer" Palm Frond Mask, Acrylic

Latest mask. An interesting story behind this one:

I had a plan to paint a dog on this frond. I really need to make more dog masks. People really love their dogs, and I'm sure I can sell many masks portraying popular breeds. But when I looked at the blank canvas of this Queen Palm frond base, I couldn't help myself from seeing the angry spirit here captured. It was inherent in the folds and markings of the wood: the squinty eyes, pig-nose, and side-breaking mouth. This is my usual method for creating these masks: I find the face already hidden within it. But this time, I really wanted to make a dog mask! But the spirit of the wood was there, glowering at me. Could I really just cover him up with a happy German Shepherd that had nothing to do with this particular frond's shape and form? Well, no, obviously, I couldn't. There are thousands of frond bases falling off thousands of Queen Palm trees in the OC area. But only this one frond contained this wood spirit. I'm not sure how saleable this mask will be, but here he is, angry sneer and all.

Palm Frond Masks: Latest Two.

I'm not sure what to say about these two, except that they are my latest, and there are two of them.

Lookit!

Palm Frond Masks
Long Face
Toothy Smile

My current supply of cleaned-up palm fronds ready to go:

40 or so palm fronds

My Artwork is For Sale Online!

At my Etsy shop, you can browse and purchase my artwork.
So far, I have posted 20 palm frond masks.  More masks will follow, as well as other paintings, drawings, and prints.
Thanks for looking!
I would be happy to hear any feedback, comments or questions anyone has.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PalmFrondMaskContent

Goblin Wizard

New palm frond mask: collage.

I have been trying different media in making my palm frond masks.  This one is a collage, I may add some paint over the top, making it a mixed media piece.  Enjoy.