How this piece was created
The Tears of the Forest
 

This piece is based on the Pagan legend an God of The Green Man lord and protector of the Forest, I used myself in this piece as I often do my face was covered with varying levels of green makeup which took some time to apply (and some time to remove afterwards too!) I also used some black makeup for effect.

 

The mask was also constructed by me for this piece and took about a week for me to make

(images of the process below)

 

How did you create the mask? .. To create the mask I purchased a paintable blank cardboard mask and cut away all but the very edges of the mask so that my face would be able to be seen through it and coloured it green to match the rest of the shot, so as not to harm any living plants I also purchased some fake leaves of varied designs and set about attaching them to the mask I had prepared earlier.

 

So it was time to break out the sewing skills, this was one of the parts that took the longest in this process as I set about sewing each individual leaf bunch onto the mask in the exact place I wanted it (See images of this process below) 

 

Once the mask was created and ready to be used in the shoot it was time to set up my equipment, I put up my black backdrop, marked out my seating position and then set about positioning all the lights in just the right place for maximum effect (seen in the images below) 

It was now acting time ... I had to feel the sadness and horror of what has been done to my beautiful forests by Man, the glistening areas on my face within this piece were real tears summoned by the sadness of the Green Man and the destruction of our environment.