work in progress

Sometimes, people like to change things. Like cut half the show and not tell you. Like add set and not mention it and people not bothering to reply to your emails. During times like these you need something else to focus on. So instead of coming home and getting annoyed by this i can pop a movie on in the background and get annoyed by the fact that this womans lips, eyes and nose aren't right but be glad in the fact at least i can say its still a work in progress. Roll on the weekend

Casing, Palace, Uv and the end of Panto

So the whole of panto there was never more stress than about the 2 Items I am about to Blog about. 

The Casing was used in the Genie Cave  as a way of transforming the scene into something a little more Bollywood and partyish. Both Sarah and Gary were freaking out about it as it was that we only fabric we had a small amount of material if cut wrong could not be replaced. They got wires crossed in regards to how to tackle the project causing unnecessary stress and a miss communication to myself and Maisie. However with care and  concentration this ended up being one of the easiest things we did.   Normally we would be using Silk but as we were unable to budget for that we ended up using cotton. It worked nicely from the stalls but i did not like the effect from the circles.

The Palace was also seemed to cause a lot of stress. It did appear we were running out of time and Both Simon and Matt were off for a few days during this part of the build. However when it came to painting ( i was not part of the drawing up) I felt it took a lot less time than was expected. Most of this flat was cut out so the coat of Yellow was quick. Getting the curves to give that feeling of circular room was not as tricky as we first expected. 

By Far the funniest part of Panto was the UV painting which was a Shame as it was not able to be seen on stage during the pyramid scene. All the lights were turend off the blue lights on and blue moon party music on and off we went. It did not take long and was not very difficult just a night spirt lifting activity. Afterwards gary showed us chroma-depth and interesting style of painting using 3d style cinema glasses uv light and colours. I love learning about little things like this and often wish we got a hour long lecture a week about techniques, styles or even different practitioners. I think it would help us become more creative. The course is very much  about self motivation and self teaching however sometimes thats hard to do when you dont know where to start.

I pretty clear to me i didn't enjoy Panto. In hindsight i wasent as motivated as I should have been but looking back i learned less than i hoped to but more than I thought i did.  Thats a thought that i will definitely try and remember for next term and hopefully i will be writing that i have learned and developed and grown as a person by this time next term :P

Lady luck

 So after the main bulk of Panto was finished I was able to continue with the personal project i had barley managed to start. I really liked the references i found for this Woman and really liked the style of painting directly onto the wood with no primer and using the tones and surface texture of the wood to enhance the painting.

At the start of the project i was not feeling positive I was feeling  like nothing had been going right for weeks and all i needed was a success. In hindsight i think sometime things never seem to go right because I dont believe they can. Sometimes i think focus on the bad thing and forget all about the good.

Although not as perfect as i would have liked as (the circles are wonky and the stencil didn't work as well as i hoped) I was pleasantly surprised by my painting of the actual figure including the skull and humming bird. I started off by painting the coller and the body seemed to flow from there.  I was nervous about adding the black goo, key and heart tattoo

and have found that in cases like that i will procrastinate to avoid working on the area. When I eventually picked up my brush i found these parts the easiest by far.  The circle's were problematic because when painted slightly wonky  you fixed one and it offset the other. I have learned from this to pay more attention at the start and to be very precise about thing that can obviously seen to be wrong

I am happy with the final result and i feel the process was beneficial to me. The painting helped me see how attitude  can affect work and also made me aware of how it must affect the people around me.

Meda, Into the Woods, Dracula

So its a pretty busy term for us. All in all we appear to have painted 4 shows one of them by accident ( Into the wood) and Bloggings been pretty problematic to keep up with so here is a quick run down of each show

Dracula

Dracula was a fairly simple paint job. The show was being managed by Maisie  as well as attending the floor paint call one Wednesday I helped with spraying red angled drapes with a Black border . Our biggest problem was that of space. It is clear the run up to December so laying out vast amounts of Fabric on the floor was hindering to the painting of Panto.  However Dracula had priority and needs must.  To combat this problem we layed 1/2 the drapes out one day and half next next. This allowed other scenic artist to be able to continue there work around us. The designer commented that the paint was  not  as black as she would have liked  but that is something which was dependant on budget. Paint was also different in areas but we found the more we used the guns the more the drapes begun to look consistent. Yet again another good exercise using different techniques. Although the actually painting was not challenging working out the best was to organise things was very good practice to help change the way you think about a problem.

Medea

I worked on Medea helping paint and stretch  the large 12 x2.5m Canvas that went along the back wall. I was really excited to paint this as it ment having a break from panto for a few days and i loved the design. I felt andy the designer had done a really good job with his Design. Our first problem that arose was that will all the stress of panto it had slipped thr carpentry tutors mind to order the wood. So with only a short time we got to work stretching the canvas. Luckily we were able to use pressure staple guns  or i can imagine very sore fingers before we were  even ready to paint. The painting was fun and easy it was a loose design and we were nice free and watery with it. I also got the chance to mix and use vermiculight and textured substance which we used on the floor cloth. It was fun and easy to use. It felt  good to see it done and finished.

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Into The Woods

Now having a few days spare to work on personal project seems like a good idea but for some reason the 3rd year Scenic Girls are gluttons for punishment and  agreed to help on Into the woods. It was a pretty easy paint job turning a fireplace and door into wood and then painting the floor green with a wet blend into black. Our biggest Issue with this project was time as we were not allocated to work on this show there was no allocated scenic time. We found ourselves working around people including after hours. Im glad it was a good design or i have a feeling we all would have flat out not bothered.

It's a fine line ..

It very often a fine line the divid between the different Applied arts  department . Today myself and Rose have been painting the costumes of the chorus.

It was nice to spend a few days out of the department as we worked upstairs. I had also never painted costumes before so this was a great opportunity to try something new as well as letting me make some pretty stencils.

I have never had any use for freezer paper before and really enjoyed using it. It was a great material for making stencils for fabric and if your careful there is no reason why you cant use it a few times It is also best to cut out a few stencils at the same time as it dosent take any more time and is nice to have
a spare.

You also had to be very careful the thickness of the paint you put on so it would not bleed.

I found this project to be beneficial to my learning as  i learned about new materials and practiced old techniques.  I find in a lot of things I do I need to take more care and as someone had painstaking made these costumes before i painted them it was nerve racking at points.

In the end I painted 4 costumes and I am please with the results

Always gonna be another mountain...

 Today really felt like panto was coming to an end only a few more things to paint and the satuarday call cancled bur no rest for the wicked as I appear to have been roped into helping with into the woods which is somthing im really happy about. Its easy and fun and looks like its gonna be a pretty show. Theres not much to be done but no ones allocted to it. Its nice to have a more involmnet with the mangment students again, so looks like i shall be in tomorrow with a few others to contiue the painting.
 I actually cant belive i never went to see dracula or Meda both shows looked fab but i just never really felt like I had the time to really enjoy watching them. I have studied both scripts and like each pices of text and have painted both shows  but have not seen either of them. Its safe to say i am kicking myslef now.
 As for placments and work i got a placment on a  tv show being filmed in Dumbarton  in Janaury. So hopefully the show i am managing next term wont interfeere with that buT we shall just hAve to see at the final design meeting on the 16th decmeber. Also got a job working for UKTS painting the panto next week so a nice 3-5 days away from Uni and getting paid so pretty happy about that. Money is always a plus on the leed up to Christmas.

I feel like the atmosphere in the Paint shop has been very stressful and alot of pressure has been put on people for what appears to have been no reason. People are getting tired anxious and annoyed but only a few days left and things will be on the up.

 The first production meeting for Tommy was fairly straightforward. The production is no Scenic heavy at all. Of course there will be things to do and possibly more to come  as the design develops but it gives me hope that i will be able to work on personal projects, shows and placments.

The bain of this show ...

Almost done