Altered Jesus

While visiting Montreal last June with some women friends, I came across a giant portrait of Jesus at the thrift store. I'd been looking for something for that blank wall in the dining room and thought it was worth $7 to surprise the heck out of my dad when he arrived in Montreal the next day. So I bought it and Karen helped me hang it. Trouble was, as soon as we got it on the wall I decided I really liked it! It really tied the room together, as you can see.

Sadly, my atheist father found it disturbing (once he finally noticed it, which I believe took him about 12 hours). I think he was also afraid of what our friends from NYC (who would be the next visitors to the condo) would think. He took it down and it was relegated to a bedroom closet.

Lucky for all of us, my friend Lore taught me about altered books a couple years ago. So I knew just what we had to do. Yesterday afternoon, between a stroll through and around Jean-Talon Market and dinner at Khyber Pass, I set to work altering Jesus. The whole family was skeptical, but after watching me for a bit, Neil and Harper got really excited and started working with me. Dad and Pat helped some, too (Patrick adding a key element; the astronaut in the upper right). Here is the final product, back in the frame and back in its rightful place on the wall.

Here it is before I put it back in the frame. It is hard to make out the astronaut unless you are actually in the room with it, but that's what that whitish blob is just above the head.
There are lots of details to look at up close. For example, the chain of the necklace are words to a song, which Harper wrote out in her nice handwriting. We love it and had such a fun time making it.

And here's a cool picture I took of Harper at Khyber Pass. I'm posting it here because she won't let me post it on facebook and she doesn't read this blog.