Year of the Monkey
OK, it officially starts on Monday, February 8, but that’s “Draw-a-Bird-Day” (and I know everyone is busy preparing their bird art!) So I thought I’d celebrate Chinese New Year a bit early. The above collage is a combination of a bunch of King of the Monkey masks I found online.
My original collage was done from a photo of a wooden monkey mask I had in my files. I didn’t make any notes as to it’s origin, but I liked its goofy face. When I finished though, I thought the New Year needed something a bit more celebratory, which is why I did the more colorful one above as well.
The Year of the Monkey is the 9th of the 12-year cycle. It’s a year when “anything can happen”, and a year when you are supposed to be as daring and inventive as Monkey people are. They are the tricksters of Chinese astrology.
I also managed to make it back for one more look at the Rubin Museum’s mask exhibit, and they had quite a few monkey masks from various cultures. The pencil drawing above is a festival mask from Bhutan.
I switched to ink both because it was dark in the exhibit, and because I didn’t want to stand too long in front of each mask as the passage was narrow and there were other people wanting to see each mask. Above, on the left, a wooden mask from Nepal, and on the right, from India, Valin the Black Monkey, a helper of Rama.
From Japan, on the left, a solemn monkey, and from the Northwest Coast, on the right, one that looked fierce but friendly. Evidently Native American sailors occasionally brought monkeys back from their travels.
Happy Year of the Monkey!
(and don’t forget your birds for Monday)
25 responses to “Year of the Monkey”
Trackbacks / Pingbacks
- February 13, 2021 -
Love the colors and creativity in the collages, particularly the top one! And terrific, expressive sketches, as usual. Capturing the essence and the life. Well done!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Laura.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gorgeous! Love your inspiration. Happy new year!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, happy new year to one and all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great monkey faces/masks. They really embrace the idea behind the year of the monkey!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Cathe, glad you enjoyed it.
LikeLike
Interesting, what I learned about this monkey year, and the colorful one is especially BEAUTIFUL!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. You can never go wrong with bright colors I think.
I enjoyed learning about the monkey year too. Seems like we need to stay on our toes!
LikeLike
I adore your monkey collage! Great mix of color and shape ~ love!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I love color as you know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh boy Kerfe, you are bringing in the new year with a loud monkey screech! I love your post today. The masks and sketches are wonderful. Thanks for posting the extra information as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Sharon. It’s fun to learn things as well as make things!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is a fabulous collection of your monkey art! 🙂 I love that top one since it reminds me of Chinese opera (and despite Chinese opera’s bad reputation for sounding screechy, I love it since I grew up with it). ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think one of the masks I used as reference was an opera mask. Some of those costumes are really incredible!
LikeLiked by 1 person
They really are! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I should monkie around! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think you know how!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Put right foot out or put my right foot in and shake it all about…is that what it’s all about? I have an advanced degree in it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s what it’s all about!
LikeLiked by 1 person
(let’s out a sigh of relief)
LikeLiked by 1 person
aww…you knew that already.
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is an awesome post!! Love it all!! Was hoping see monkeys pop up. These are amazing. Very nice work! ❤️😃
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Charlie. Monkeys seem to be quite popular all over the world!
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are fantastic. Love the variety in both design and medium. Thank you for sharing all of these beautiful works of art.
LikeLiked by 1 person