DIAMOND DEAD DESIGN!

Yay, June is almost over. Now that I have all of the weddings out of the way I can get down to business. The first item on the agenda is DIAMOND DEAD, the Landless Theater's offering to the Capitol Fringe Festival. Its a heartwarming tale of a heavy metal band that gets killed and they come back to life as zombies that jus wanna ROCK! (Originally conceived by George Romero, of the original Night of the Living Dead fame...but he doesn't have the balls to bring it to the DC stage the way Landless does!)

Anyway, I finished the design for the show yesterday. First I started with a perspective drawing of the Warehouse Theater:

Warehouse Theater Perspective Drawing
Pencil and Photoshop

And then I added scenery to this drawing...

First Draft Set Design for DIAMOND DEAD
Pencil and Photoshop

This Drawing show the black velour drapery that I am going to paint with "day of the dead-esque" motifs (what is depicted is not exactly what I will paint, but more of a road map) going around the perimeter of the acting area. The drummer sits underneath the projection screen (there happens to be LOTS of projection in this show...) and the band will enter from the ceremonial "coffin" entrance on USR...

All in all I am pleased with the design thus far. I am looking forward to painting on black velvet on such a large scale, however the turn around will be quick because I will need to load the show into the warehouse on the 6th of July! (any of you BTT readers out there that wanna help paint some really friggin big velvet paintings, just drop me a line!)

In other news, I had the first production meeting for The Arlington Players, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum this past Tuesday. I will be posting sketches and whatnot as the design progresses...you will have some time to get tickets, it opens September 19...

Debbie Photos, Collectors and Dial "P"

The long anticipated photos from Debbie Does Dallas the Musical are here!

A cast photo with Karissa Swanigan (top row, second from right) who was profiled in DC theater Scene as the #2 scene stealer of the spring!

Debbie Does Dallas the Musical Scenery, DCAC

The girls practice some cheers before the house opens...

The other big news this week was the closing of Artomatic. It was a really great year, and I am proud to have been a part of it...and I cant wait till next year! Thanks again to everyone who bought something, or came out to support this great show...

June is my least favorite month of the year. I have been feeling really unsettled all month, mostly because I have been away every other weekend attending weddings. This has been particularly bad for my creative productivity...I was explaining to KT the other day that painting is a lot like cooking. Many of the tools are the same, and also the process is too. If you bake a cake (or a souffle, which is probably a more apt metaphor) you need to pull it out of the oven at a certain time. Or, conversely, you cant just crack some eggs and leave them in a bowl for a few weeks...which is what I have been doing lately, letting projects left on "simmer" spoil...Anyway, this weekend, I am off to the last wedding of the season!

Speaking of projects, I ran into a collector recently, who told me that she has lots of my work at her office, and that I should come up and take a look at what she has done...perhaps I will get inspired enough to paint her something just for that space...check out the my photos of her office:

Mercury's Office (she keeps her desk much cleaner than mine...Check out the Tiki's everywhere...and the five lava lamps!)

Her collection of Jared Davis originals...I think she may hold a record!

So, I think I have some good ideas for a larger painting that might even be thematic for the type of work she does in her office...stay tuned.

Another thing I will tease you all with is the a prospective commission for a vending machine logo...its all very preliminary, but when it blows up, y'all be the first to know!

Lastly, I did not have enough time this week to execute the Evil Come Evil Go Go Show's backdrop...so you will just have to wait until next month for that. BUT you can still see my skeleton showgirls at the Palace this Friday!

And on Sunday don't miss Trixie and Monkey (and friends) as they bring to the Dial "P" for Pasties to the Birchmere this Sunday (still featuring some of my film noir-esque scenery from the original production)

One Wedding Down Two To Go!

campus again, after not setting foot on that campus for about 13 years...I am in such a better place now! Anyway, while in Pontiac, I got to see some of the bad weather the The wedding in East Lansing went fine...although it was weird to be walking around the MSUMidwest has been dishing out lately. The tree in front of my house in Pontiac fell on our neighbors house, missing my truck by only a few feet. The tree in front of Tom's house fell over and blocked Genessee street entirely. So, it was good to see Pontiac again, mean as ever!

Most of this week I have spent without KT (she flew on to Denver for a theater conference) so I have had the place all to myself. I took the opportunity to rearrange the studio in her absence. I got rid of the large easel (seeing as the tabletop one I have has effectively replaced it) and bought a spiffy new Samsung monitor as the centerpiece of a new computer workstation. I have been struggling with integrating my design methods with my painting methods...this redo of the studio goes a long way towards achieving that goal. (this last paragraph is a bit of a long winded apology for why I don't have any new work to show for the week...)

This week saw a good review for Debbie, as well as the below photo in the Express...I also have been asked by Lil' Dutch to paint a backdrop for the Evil Come Evil Go Go Show, which opens next Friday...I am working hard to make that happen, but I might be shooting for the August 9th show, if I cant get good designs together by, oh, say, MONDAY!And Finally, Art-o-Matic comes to a close this week...there is still time to purchase the 8 foot Venus from Yuri's Night...(Free local delivery!) See you all on Saturday and Sunday night as we put Art-o-Matic 2008 into the history books!

DEBBIE OPENS!

Debbie Does Dallas the Musical opens tonight at the DCAC! I would normally have some pictures of the set for you to look at, but my plans to shoot pictures yesterday were thwarted by the apocalyptic storms that blew through DC last night. The final dress rehearsal was canceled, and so was my last opportunity to take photos before the show...oh well, I guess you will have to wait until next week...

However, tonight also happens to be the Dutch Oven at the Palace of Wonders, where I will help set the scene with some tikis... As a prize for whatever competition they will be having, Landless has decided to give away a free ticket to Debbie and a free ticket to Deep Inside Oz, the play running right after Debbie for most of the run. Below are examples of the free tickets the lucky winner will be receiving. (don't try to counterfeit these, because I have a secret anti counterfeit device on each genuine ticket!)
I am going back to Michigan for the weekend, so next week I will regale you with tales of my journey to and from Motown...