Halloween 2011

My Halloween activities have increased this year.   Moan is my personal costume. I went with creepy this year, as opposed to my usual fun/slightly spooky looks. I went out with it three times. Today I went downtown, and I got a lot of the kind of responses I was looking for. Smiles, startled screams, and even a store manager having to follow me around, and admitting it to me, as my costume really worried him.
On my way back to my bicycle, I went in to say thanks to my new optometrist and her staff for the glasses I got a few weeks ago, and I got an amazing response from her assistant. She was laughing uncontrollably!
My friend's annual Halloween party doesn't happen this year, so I'm looking for another event in Montreal.
So far, no luck. Public events are mostly about themes I can't relate to, such as the usual drunken vulgar pimp & hoe scene...

The pumpkin is my first carved in 3D, following methods I gathered from looking at the works and videos by Ray Villafane, of Villafane Studios. Look at his Facebook fanpage, it's full of amazing photos and info!
I ordered his Pumpkin Carving DVD, but haven't received it yet. I KNOW my carving will get better when I see more of his methods.  I intend to carve as many pumpkins as my time will allow me until the season is over. After that, I'll turn to other root vegetables. It's great practice for my overall subtractive carving skills, and I love the feel/texture/challenge of it. This makes me feel confident that I will be able to carve wooden puppet heads and masks to my liking, soon. Likeness of specific subjects is to come later, but at first I'll be happy to be able to improvise creatures like I am able to do on pumpkins.

Added: my second and third carved pumpkins:

Carla the Vampire has been sold as a Halloween decoration for a party this week-end. Second pumpkin I sell this week, thanks to my friend Daniel, who cut a deal with a pumpkin seller, who got impressed with our carvings.

Two more pumpkins were carved today, October 28th.  Might be my last this year. We'll see how the schedule goes.