The Creature from the Brackish Pool - Part 2

I rounded up my nephew and nieces and bribed them to color my mask. No, that's not true–I didn't have to bribe them. They were more than happy to bring the mask to life and they all did an outstanding job.

Watching a child color my creation is thrilling, enlightening and a bit humbling. They picked colors that were completely unexpected and wonderful. I'm not nearly as bold with my color – I can learn something from these kids!

The Creature from the Brackish Pool

The Portsmouth Halloween Parade is creative, chaotic and totally awesome. 

Anyone with a costume is invited to lurch, shimmy or crawl through the streets of Portsmouth–hundreds march and thousands watch. The parade brings out the imaginative best in the community–it's fun, festive and family-friendly (well, more or less family-friendly).

The organization is run by volunteers. Money is raised through t-shirt sales, bake sales, rock shows, and new this year, MASK-ARADE, a paper mask coloring book! 16 local artists (including yours truly) were invited to create a design. I was thrilled to be involved and loved creating my mask/coloring book page.

And a big thanks to Nick for coloring my mask and modeling it below. Great job, Nick – you look scary!

Have you colored my mask? Know someone who has? Send me a picture and I'll post it here on my blog!