Mask Maniacs

For the past two weeks, Cadence and I have been making papier mache masks late into the night.  Not,  as you might guess, for Halloween costumes, but for a Mexican Day of the Dead  event  Cadence is organizing at our farm.  It is a private dinner party for 36 people, with three courses of amazing, authentic Mexican cuisine. She has been working like crazy to transform the south wing of our barn into a beautiful dining room with a south-of-the-border atmosphere.   So, we have been  creating colorful tissue flowers,  pinatas, and masks.

I must say, there is nothing quite as much fun as making an ambitious, creative mess with your daughter.  Our dining room has been a catastrophe of torn newspaper and splattered flour paste for weeks, but the results are worth it. Today I photographed each completed mask in the barn:

The alligator with a fish in his jaws.

The snow leopard.

Rabbit.

Cadence's javelina.

Cadence with her traditional Day of the Dead skulls.

My Cow mask. I might have to keep this one for future cow pujas!

Crazy rooster mask,

Artist Frida Kahlo.  Not quite finished yet.

After being consumed by making Mexican masks, especially that Frida Kahlo mask, I  was inspired to become Frida for Halloween.

Logically, Rog should have been Diego Rivera, but  he is way too tall, lanky (and handsome) to be Diego, so he became surrealist artist Salvador Dali instead.