Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Second Post, Continued Theatre Work, Reconstructing Alice

Now I've moved to stage right.  Stage left is mostly done, except for a few minor details and some cleaning.  I'll post it all when I'm completely done.

Last session I did the sunset and bridge, city skyline in the background.  This time I did the gear wheels.  That's all.  It takes a long time to get everything laid out - that's the left-brain work.  The right brain work comes right at the end, and doesn't take long, and is of course the most fun.  All said, laying out the gears took 90% of the time.  Painting them took 10%.

The wheels I laid out using a tape measure and a piece of charcoal. Holding the tape at center point, I stretched it taut and circled around with the charcoal.  The holes in the gears were various whatevers I could find plundering around the theatre... drink lids, paint cans...

In theatre, you're a slave to the director, of course.  She wants the upper corner of blue darkened, so I'll find some blues and purples and fade that sunset out into darkness.  The entire thing is lacking highlights as well; one of my favorite parts which brings everything together and makes people go 'oooohhh, aaaahhhh!'  Unfortunately, that part is the shortest!

So... what's left?  Highlights on stage right, a bit of work over the stage, darkening the sky - this IS a scary show... and small, picky artist detailing.  Maybe some fog. Should take me maybe three or four more hours.

Oh!  Small sideline - I'm glad I'm alive!  I had the ladder in the corner and was waay up high, reaching as high as I could, and my head was right next to the speaker.  There's the key phrase, 'right next to the speaker.'  The dancers had been working without music and were ready for the run through with music.  BLAST!!!!! Right in my ear!  Almost fell off that ladder.

One of the gear circles up in that far unreachable corner is also a bit mis-shapen.  I think I'll leave it that way.

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