I'm not a great commemorater of Easter, it's true. Easter came this year and I found myself missing my family and remembering our random acknowledgements of Easter's past when I was growing up. I remember a lot of candy, painting eggs, and occasionally putting together pussy willow Easter trees. I never minded celebrating spring, and colorful candy shells seemed to compliment spring colors so nicely. I liked taking that walk with my little brother and mother, while my father played big bunny man and hid treats all over our respective yard. When Andrew and I were older, my mother worked at an apartment building for single mothers that were fleeing their unfortunate situations from abusive partners, or just needed to live in a place that supported them financially and emotionally. It was at this place where my family took Easter to a whole new level of ridiculous. My father would dress up as the bunny man and scatter candy and colored eggs (which we spent the night coloring the night before) all over the park area behind the apartment building. There was a big window that the residents and their kids could watch the dramatic bunny lay out his treats. My father's performance resembled a combination of Groucho Marx and Chaplin in a rabbit costume. He would fall over dramatically, and then stare up at the window methodically twitching his nose like all rabbits do. Everyone in that room looking down at him were in stitches from laughing so hard. Even the young believers of the big bunny who were looking at this strange iconic childhood myth for the first time in their little lives laughed hysterically. I wonder if that first glance married them to the idea of the Easter bunny looking like my father's performance. I'm sure they never saw a better bunny.
Anyway I certainly did digress there. This Easter I checked my facebook to find a long ago commission of mine available in t-shirt form. I created four paintings of Easter retold by my friend Dan White, who directed a romantic zombie comedy movie. This commission was given to me two years ago when I was traveling in the NE. I was visiting old stomping grounds of mine, and was commissioned to paint four paintings. One: of Jesus breaking bread, Two: of Jesus on the cross. Three: Jesus waking up as a zombie and gnawing the arm off of a roman soldier, and Four: Jesus being attacked by roman soldiers and angels. These paintings are in this movie. Apparently two years after these were created t-shirts were made, one of which arrived for me in the mail today. It's all very strange and random, but I will gladly take the exposure. So if your interested get your t-shirts today!