May 10 - Maria Franz

~ Heilung - Othan

Hariuha laþu laukar gakar alu ole lule laukar

The balloon today is dedicated to Maria Franz, Norwegian singer and co-founder of the bands Euzen and Heilung.  This image is based on the shaman she portrays in Heilung.

I tend to like a wide variety of music, my kids never know what will be playing in the car when I pick them up: choral music, reggae, 80's rock/metal, perhaps some songs I might be practicing for my next time at Karaoke.  Recently it's been a selection of Norwegian folk music, but to describe Heilung as music seems somehow insufficient - it's more like magic.

The video above is for the song Othan, the text of which is from Hávamál - The Sayings of Hár, the second poem in the Poetic Edda - which is said to be one of the most important works regarding Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. Maria's vocals are as hauntingly beautiful as she is herself.

May 4 - Thanos

I'll do my best not to include any spoilers here, but if you haven't made the time to see Infinity War by this point - it's really on you.

For me, every superhero movie is defined by the villain, the better the villain the better the movie.  Black Panther was fantastic in this respect, there was a sympathetic quality to Erik Killmonger - you were torn between understanding his quest and the ends at which he was going about it.

Thanos's motivation is pure, he wants stability in the universe - it's what he is willing to do to achieve it that makes him a villain.

Brilliant.  Can't wait for the next installment.

May 2 - Gall Biter

Galladnium Bitoris or "Gall Biter" is a predatory and parasitic worm.  Though practically blind, this jaundiced leech uses olfactory nerves at the tips of its appendages to sense infected and perforated gallbladders, a primary food source.

This was inspired by both Alex Pardee, who is just now recovering from gallbladder surgery (Gall Boy cannot be stopped!) and Zipper Von Don Groshong (zippertpaints) who offered a challenge based on the word "monster".

April 30 - Grief

Jackie left on a cold, dark night
Telling me he'd be home
Sailed the seas for a hundred years
Leaving me all alone
And I've been dead for twenty years
I've been washing the sand
With my ghostly tears
Searching the shores for my Jackie-oh

~ Sinead O'Connor Jackie (link)

One of the favorite high school memories that my wife has shared with me is when she and a friend won tickets to a Sinead O'Connor concert.  (Click that link!!)  Sinead has an unmatched soulful power in her voice and songs, it's a shame that many people reduce her to "that one bald chick".

Jackie is a song about a woman dealing with the grief of losing her husband at sea.  Screaming "you're all wrong!" in denial at the man who brings the news, and never accepting it as reality.  She is haunted to search the shores, ever scanning the horizon in hopes of his return.

I built two balloons trying to capture the grief.  First was the older woman, refusing to call herself a widower, but then I took the lyrics literally and built a ghost version of her younger self.

The rough form of the balloon is based on Shana Brenion's cutie dolls and remains one of my favorite balloon concepts to make women with.

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Other cutie doll balloon designs:

All Shana

April 25 - Eddie

"O God of Earth and Altar,
Bow down and hear our cry,
Our earthly rulers falter,
Our people drift and die,
The walls of gold entomb us,
The swords of scorn divide,
Take not thy thunder from us,
Take away our pride."

~ G.K. Chesterton: English Hymnal
   Iron Maiden Revelations

I love Eddie.

I remember distinctly the first time I ever listened to Iron Maiden.  My sister played Piece of Mind for me at the impressionable young age of 13 and I was blown away not only by the music, but this mascot/zombie guy on the cover.  I became a fan.

The only time I have ever slept overnight for concert tickets was for Iron Maiden's Somewhere In Time tour, some friends and I ended up with 10th row tickets.  Worth it, easily one of the best concert experiences of my youth.  The band is amazing live and Bruce Dickinson is a consummate showman.  \m/

This balloon started as a little bit of an experiment in whether or not I could draw Eddie's face.  He has more of a skull-like appearance so I used a bit of distortion to try and emulate that.

April 20 - Evil

"I don't think he's medically unfit to be president. I think he's morally unfit to be president."

~ James Comey

I have shied away from making any sort of direct political statements on this blog so far.

But art is a reflection of the world, interpreted through a medium, and despite the vitriol and disdain this might invoke from his supporters - this is how I view our president.

Steeped in greed, hungry for power, impulsive and cruel.  Misogynistic.  Xenophobic.  Dangerous.  Manipulative.  Evil.

April 19 - Gremlin

The sugar plums are rancid
And the stockings are in flames
There's a demon in my belly
And a gremlin in my brain

~ Spinal Tap Christmas with the Devil

Gremlins are viewed as mischievous creatures in roughly humanoid shape, oftentimes blamed for mechanical failures in aircraft and machines in WWI and WWII.

Though it's open for debate, it's said the origin of the term 'Gremlin' is said to have been derived from the old English term 'Greme', which is to vex or annoy.

Similar to the tale of elves helping the shoe cobbler, in folklore, Gremlins are creatures said to have helped humans invent machinery.  But humans showed these creatures little regard or gratitude and thus angered and invited their wrath.

The design uses the head structure similar to the baby bumblebee that was just recently released in my first ever tutorial collaborations, TBA (actual title) - link.  TBA is a benefit project set up for a fellow twister in need, I don't receive anything from it - but if you have purchased, I would love any feedback, good or bad - this was a fun exercise and I'd like to do better but I have a immediate negative perspective (hearing myself talk, seeing myself on camera, etc.).

I cheated a bit (more than usual) on the final image, I didn't like how reflective the mouth was in the photo, so I painted it over with black.