Hank and the Moontones

Over at Mixed Media Monday this week it is all about the moustache. The bigger the better I believe. My entry includes art dolls and their instruments….

Hank was on the run, he was in hiding in fact. His wife had left him, skipped town after draining their joint bank account and running away with the teller. Before she left though, she turned states’ evidence against him and his sordid past. As a disguise, he joined a mariachi band that was looking for a lead singer, he found the ad in the PennySaver. Tijuana turned out to be a pretty good place to hole up; lots of people who had pasts themselves, a less than enthusiastic police force that could be talked into looking the other way, and a seemingly never-ending string of restaurants, birthdays, and Quinceneras to play………they’d never find him here.

Hank in the Spotlight

Hank, in the middle, is a paper mache head that I found at the thrift store. I used to hang him in my store, as he looked remarkably like a store owner in the same building. This man would on occasion lurk around the corner and come spy in my window when I wasn’t there. The reason that I know this is because I caught him one day doing just this. So I hung the puppet head as a joke, and all of the girls that worked for me and around the building knew that it was Hank. I don’t get MAD, I get EVEN!

Hank’s body is a wooden handled melon baller; his arms are wrapped in an old tie, and his hands (not shown) are made from bone. Both of the faces of the “Moontones” are made from clay. The faces are glued to a smashed soda can, and both were painted with bronze paint. The faces are glued to a painted wooden clothes pin; their arms are wrapped in old ties and both are wearing thimbles for shoes.

The stage is a cardboard ribbon spool that I painted and adorned with trims and sequin stars. The instruments are fun too: there are two old walnut-shell and abalone pieces, one a guitar and the other a mandolin; vintage castanets; a plastic harmonica and maracas.

I say it is all about creating with fun, how about you? Christen