Monday, December 19, 2011

J is for Jinmenju

Hobbling in late in the day for this week's AlphaBeasts! is the curious Jinmenju or head tree. Please forgive my tardiness... trees do move rather slowly, after all. (For instance, our Christmas tree still hasn't managed to make it through the door.)

Instead of the usual fruit, or shiny baubles in the holiday spirit, this particular tree sports living human(ish) heads. Traditionally they are all smiling & laughing, but I've been going through a lot of mood swings lately despite the seasonal ho-ho-hoing, so I decided to let them emote as they would.

I really should have done this one in Photoshop for speed & tweakability, but no, I had to go & do it in acrylic, on a page scanned from Jim Brown's Catalogue, 1939. ~4.5"x7" When I realized I was running late, I rushed through it, & I'm not very pleased with the results... oh well.

6 comments:

  1. I think the painting is fascinating and I love the warm colors. What's this about "despite"? I always thought the seasonal ho-ho-hoing was The Cause of mood swings.

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  2. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! I love this. I love the different facial expressions especially the grouchy looking one. I also like your word invention "tweakability." Hehehe. Have a happy Christmas.

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  3. Aaaawwww!!! You just left me the sweetest kindest comment. Thank you!!! Merry Christmas to you!

    I am going shopping for the first time for Christmas on Wednesday. I could not do it after work, so tired. I actually am taking a day off!!! First time I have ever done.

    Wishing you a happy and safe holiday season!

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  4. love it ......posted your Yogi on my blog two days ago on the 7th day of Christmas with a pic of my love when he had a full beard and dreads if you check it out you can see why i loved the Yogi so much !!.....xx

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  5. This is great, Leah. I would like to hear them all singing together, discordant vocals and all. Grumpy, Pissed off and Happy, please open your hymnals to page 92...

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  6. Hello, I love your art work, so whimsical, so weird (in a good way). I scored a great book about Books Of Hours the other day. Had a few doozies in it, reminded me of your work.

    Have a wonderous Chrissie full of Chrissie cheer :)

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