dready-bird ‘coconut mask’ – hand carved, cedar, paint and clear coat – life size

when John asked me if I would dreadyfy a coconut he had carved I said yes – the deal was he would carve two and I would paint on one and the other would be for me.

they were lovely, the wood grain was gorgeous.

I think that John had in mind that I would draw a dready scene on the coconut, but as I looked at the raw thing it looked like a face, especially in profile; eye, mouth, protruding tongue, long rounded nose … it really reminded me of mayan drawings of themselves.

and john and I had both gone to school in british columbia, canada, different schools but both on vancouver island … and i started to get this idea in my head of a mash-up between mayan (because I had spent many years growing up on my holidays in belize.) and haida imagery, a tribal mask kinda vibe, throw in some jamaican iconography …

and I didn’t want to paint over all the wood, it was too beautiful …

the mouth is very haida, the eyes a bit of a mashup between the two, the nostrils as well … tribal masks so often have the tongue sticking out … the hair line very mayan … the red yellow and green, rasta colours used at the tips of the coconut leaves, but all reminiscent of a headdress …

and in the end the profile very like the images of the mayan deer god Tohil …

i had a lot of fun doing this, something completely different for me, challenging – and the final ‘art’ light and fun and playful

stretch yourself …