The Knight

Back in the summer of 1981, I went to see John Boorman's movie "Excalibur" with a group of art school friends. It was a retelling of the King Arthur stories based on Sir Thomas Mallory's Le Morte D'Arthur. It was a good adaptation, of the original work, treated as high fantasy rather than history, but unlike many more sanitized versions of the King Arthur stories, heavy on the sex, grit and brutality of the age.
I was an impressionable college student, and boy did that movie make a huge impression on me, especially the amazing armor designed and built by armorer Terry English. His armor looked organic, heavy, dangerous. I was so impressed, that I decided to make my own suit of armor. 

Let me point out that I had no idea what I was doing, but that didn't stop me. I did book research (this was before the internet and Google) and lots of sketches of different armor pieces and how I thought they should work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I scavenged the raw materials i would need. I didn't have much money, so mostly I made it from  bits and pieces found in dumos, thrift shops, and my parent's garage and basement: leather and buckles from old belts, lightweight sheets of steel and aluminum flashing, even parts of a dishwasher drum for the helmet. Fortunately, my father was a avid tinkerer, and had a well-equiped basement workshop including several high-speed grinders, a drill press, atap and die set, and heavy-duty vices.

My parents didn't know quite what to make of my project, and my dad was very protective of his tools, but for the most part, they left me to my own devices. 

Using a a method of trial and error, and over 500 pop rivets, afetr three months of labor, I had a workable, wearable suit of armor. 

I also made a spear, (repurposing a metal edger) a dagger and sheath (flat bar stock ground to shape), two swords with scabbards(blades made from the leaf springs of a truck, ground and reshaped) a large metal shield (sheet metal over plywood) and a black linen surcoat embroidered with a red dragon.

The first time I wore it, I discovered that armor is not comfortable to wear.  Even in cold weather, you sweat like crazy, but it looked and sounded great. I wore it to many costume parties and other events.
It even appeared in a student film I made while at MassArt.

I  lost the suit in the process of getting divorced,  (the ex-wife donated pieces of it to a renaissance festival, and the rest was discarded). The only thing I had left of the armor after the divorce, was one single, grainy snapshot taken by my sister over the Thanksgiving break. I decided to do a watercolor painting based on that snapshot. 

Here I am in all of my armor-ey splendor, circa 1981.

Plein Air Painting at Cogswell's Grant

Historic New England recently held a plein air event at Cogswell's Grant, a beautiful 18th-century farm in Essex, Massachusetts. I like plein air painting, but have done very little of it in my life, as it seems to require specialized equipment and a level of dedication that I don't possess.
However, my friend Kerrie, who in spite of having three young kids, has that kind of dedication in spades, invited me to go paint with her at this event.
Nothing works quite like a personal invitation, but what to bring? Searching around my art supplies, it found an old 8.5" x 5.75" wooden cigar box with a sliding lid. I already had a sealable plastic palette of gouache paint, and a 5" x 7" pad of watercolor paper (which just fit neatly inside the box ). I added some metal clips, a mechanical pencil, and a couple of water reservoir brushes, I grabbed a folding camp chair and headed off,  ready to paint outdoors for the first time in years. 

It was a beautiful day, the artists who were already there were spread out around the property, there were no bugs, little wind, and the company was good. Most of the artists there were using French easels and some even had luggage totes full of their paints, canvas panels, etc. 

After seeing the elaborate set ups, I felt a little self conscious about my little impromptu paint box, "MacGyvered" out of what I had on hand.

 

 The open cigar box with the pad on top

 

 

 

The cigar box contents, watercolor pad is clipped to the lid 

 

My friend Kerrie   

 

 

                                

Me

 

  

 

The view

Art in the box

 

 

The final artwork

We painted for about 2 hours. The cigar box set up actually worked quite well, and it is small and portabel enough that I can take it almost anywhere. I'm hoping to do more plein air painting over the summer. All in all, it was a very relaxing and satisfying experience.

The Diver

 Recent painting of a diving helmet from the Maine Maritime Museum. Acrylic on  4.5" x 8" x .125" thick birch plywood.