Plans for this year, as usual, began last year.
Late October, I happened to drive by the city offices, and what do I see but a scarecrow contest…
First of all, only 10? What the heck? Second…that is all far too cute. I knew then I wanted to add a scarecrow to this contest.
Now, as many who follow Halloween know, it’s impossible to think of a scarecrow without thinking of Pumpkinrot. In fact, I consider the Sentinels to be the current standard for pumpkin headed scarecrows, and I knew I wanted a pumpkin headed scarecrow…
This was a good start, and I could see myself working it into something of my own creation, bifurcating the heads as have come to really define me.
But, last time I went looking for scarecrows, I ended up looking at Magic the Gathering, and it led me to making the Chimera, something that has also been rather iconic and defining of my style. That open chest, the exposed ribs, and the LIGHT!
So, what did Magic offer in the way of a pumpkin headed scarecrow?
THIS, I could see with a giant bifurcated head, and I begun work. Maybe not the traditional scarecrow shape, so this one would probably not enter the contest, but I began wanting to build SEVERAL new such creatures…and then it dawned on me, a family of them. The idea of a mother of monsters festered in my brain, that hulking shape…what if we added a nice big, pregnant belly, with pumpkins inside, recalling images of the alien queen from Aliens…
Mother.
