The Green Man by yentlski

The Green Man

So before I made a salad with the rest of my Kale and Lettuce, I used it to make this pic-
Oh well done with green vegetables but I do know that the Green Man exists!
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@maggiemae You will have to tell me all about the green man, He is one of my favorites
December 30th, 2012  
Well, where do I start: -Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of the Green Man may take many forms, naturalistic or decorative. The simplest depict a man's face peering out of dense foliage. Some may have leaves for hair, perhaps with a leafy beard. Often leaves or leafy shoots are shown growing from his open mouth and sometimes even from the nose and eyes as well.
It is now a pub, a 19th century free house, and numerous other places all named after him!
Superficially the Green Man would appear to be pagan, perhaps a fertility figure or a nature spirit, similar to the woodwose (the wild man of the woods), and yet he frequently appears, carved in wood or stone, in churches, chapels, abbeys and cathedrals. This is where I first heard of him in my mother's travel journals of 1929 !
December 30th, 2012  
I've always heard 'you are what you eat'... you must be healthy! A very creative image! Well done!
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@maggiemae That is wonderful, I find him fascinating, much like my beloved Pan!
December 30th, 2012  
@maggiemae The Green Man is one of my favorite mythical figures. I think of him as protecting the life and spirit of the forest (an increasingly difficult job these days). My editor is now reading a manuscript I just mailed him -- it!s about a lonely boy who believes a stranger he meets in the woods is the Green Man himself.
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@calm , lol green man is good with tomatoes, onions and Italian dressing
December 30th, 2012  
@catwoman2 Sounds as if it is a magical story! He is lonely because he is not good at socialising.... hence reading about him and fantasising in the forests!
December 30th, 2012  
Like Maggiemae I believe the Green Man exists as a link between us and the natural world. I love your creation of him. Did you cover someone's face with lettuce and kale? It's just perfect. I think the difference between the Green Man and Pan is the dark side of Pan, the danger of meeting him and panicking. I suppose the GM has a dark side, too, but on the whole he's more benevolent. It's as if his dark side is expressed in the antlered Lord of the Hunt who roams the forest in the night. Is it Cernubus I'm thinking of? Anyway both are part of the ancient British Green World.
December 30th, 2012  
@maggiemae Exactly!
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@catwoman2 I have a plaster cast of a friends face I have used as a prop for several experiments including this one.
December 30th, 2012  
I checked and In Celtic myth, Cernnunos is the horned god of the forest and lord of the hunt. He combines aspects of the Green Man and Pan. I love the way the same concepts turn up in myths all over the world -- the hero with 100 faces as Joseph Campbell called it.
December 30th, 2012  
Jim -- I thought it might be a plaster cast. What a great idea. I have several plaster heads of Green Men, including one I bought at an English cathedral. Sometime during the year I posted a photo of one which adorns my front porch.
December 30th, 2012  
Very creative
December 30th, 2012  
great!
December 30th, 2012  
Great technique.Fav
December 30th, 2012  
Wow, Jim, this is so cool!!! So creative.
December 30th, 2012  
Great works!!!!
December 30th, 2012  
Very creative,nicely done!!
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@houdiniem Thanks, your stuff is always so cool
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@clyveb Wow, a fav- thanks, so much!
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@yonnie Thanks, Yvonne, Ive so enjoyed the stories of your elf.
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@cindyrez Thanks Cindy
December 30th, 2012  
Jim
@carolmw Thanks, your sail boat was amazing today
December 30th, 2012  
Very clever and effective!
January 1st, 2013  
May I ask why you have a plaster cast of your friend's face? This is awesome and has me quite curious...
January 3rd, 2013  
Jim
@fueast Thanks! I miised you on here.
January 3rd, 2013  
Jim
@sandier When I was a starving art student. My friend missed school the day his class made plaster casts to be used in the process of making latex masks. He had to have help because he needed to breathe through a straw while letting the plaster set. I agreed to help him if I could keep the cast.(When you're young the thought of having someone's head sit around your room seems like a good idea), now 20+ years later he sits in my living room greeting friends and scaring away enemies.
January 3rd, 2013  
Good job of processing and visualization.
November 27th, 2014  
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.