WIP The genius of Lon Chaney

[Jazz]

This is my latest work in progress - a set of three large busts of charactors made famous by the great silent actor Lon Chaney Snr. The busts are Erik-the Phantom of the Opera, which is completed, Quasimodo- the Hunchback of Notre Dame, which is partially completed, and the Vampire from London after Midnight, which has not yet been started.

The busts are about 4" tall each and are made of resin. I am painting mainly in oils but also some acrylics are used. I was going to display them seperately but as they are all charactors from the same actor I thought it would look more dramatic together and when posed correctly they appear to look towards the greatest creation, the Phantom.

I shall post the completed piece when finished.

 

[renarts]

Very cool. I just saw him last night in the silent 1926 movie "Tell it to the Marines". The guy looks like he stepped off of a recruitment poster from the period.

 

[Colin_Fraser]

The Man of a Thousand Faces....your work shows why. Very good. I like Quasi best!

Colin

 

[megroot]

Great set of very good painted busts.

marc

 

[Sambaman]

Cool project John! Are these the Geometric busts? Looking forward to the finished set!

Jay H.

 

[kansas kid]

Ah yes, as Colin stated. . . .the man of a thousand faces. But actually,
Lon Chaney, the father was so much more talented than what we saw in those
films of just his famous ghouls, i.e. Phantom of the Opera, etc.

I really like what you're doing here. For me, since I was a boy in the era of
no TV, I really did love all those early films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. To me
what you're doing is like paying tribute to those great film stars, the script
writer, camera persons, and directors and producers of that Classic Film
era. It is gone. . . yes, indeed, . . . it is . . . but we have that film history
and incidently, we have your latest busts from that era, to remind
us of that artistry, skill and talent and craftmanship, all there on those
celluloid reels . . . Will we develop the intelligence to watch and pay
attention???

Indeed, it is so easy to look and not really see. The past does indeed, give
us clues as to how the future should become. . . .

Ricardo Jayhawker

 

[sarouman]

The Man of a Thousand Faces....your work shows why. Very good. I like Quasi best!

Colin

+14 agree

Alexandros

 

[Jazz]

Thanks for the comments guys. Jay, they could be Geometric, I'm not sure as I bought the three from Ebay for £15. Quite a bargain. They come up for sale there regularly. Well worth a look.

 

[rheath]

Good effort here John, will be great to see them completed.

 

[pipetrepid]

john, all three very well done and great likenesses. bill

 

[Jazz]

Woe is me. I have just had an accident. I was in the process of pitting the acrylic base on "London After Midnight" and a spider crawled out of my optivisor right in front of my eyes. Imagine my shock - Not only do I have have one of Lon Chaneys most feared creations in front of me but also one of Gods most feared creations crawling up my face. Well, Lon was dropped I'm afraid and I now have to repair the brim of his top hat. Not too much damage thankfully. What happened to the spider? I put him outside in my garden, of course.