Wow, its only been two weeks and yet it seems like much longer since I posted. Its kinda funny reading the last post because it feels so "pre-blizzard 2009"...Ah, those were more innocent times...
The snowpocolypse did not diminish the amount of work to be done, just the number of days that said work would be done in the scene shop. So, I was able to plow ahead on the preliminary designs for Producers...it is all in the very early stages right now, so there is not much to share, but at least we have weighed anchor and are sailing in a direction...
A few days before Christmas Haze called me and asked if I would make some "stocking stuffer sized" paintings for Trish. So, naturally, I obliged. He gave me carte blanche...so I hope that she likes Robots, monkeys and the occasional dinosaur.
Stocking stuffer paintings for Christmas 2009 0110010!, Fire Breathing Robot, Aviator Monkey 4"x5" each, Acrylic on Board
After Christmas I hosted Scenery Appreciation Nite for Carrie Potter and Christmas Twist. Thank you all for coming out. I know that many folks were away for the holidays, so hopefully there will be a few more attendees for High Fidelity in February...
KT's parents were in town for the better part of this past week...its always a good thing to see them around the holidays, and I think that they really like it here in DC
In an effort to make up for the shop being closed, we have started to hit the Reefer scenery hard this week. Tonight, we finished the "propaganda panels" that are the "legs" for the show...
Reefer Madness the Musical, "propaganda panels"
This show loads in a week from Friday, so I should have some decent photos for you next week (and perhaps a Scenery Appreciation Night date) so, Stay tuned!
All in all, I don't think I have the energy or brainpower left to analyse the past year...lets just say that I am extremely hopeful for 2010! Happy New Year!
I dont normally wait until Friday to do my weekly blog entry, and the fact that I am writing just a few hours away from the SNOWPOCALYPSE has given me a weird sense of impending doom...lets just hope that is not my final entry...
Its true, I've officially announced the Scenery Appreciation Night for both Carrie Potter and the New Moon Prom and Christmas Twist. I will be hosting a double feature (seeing both shows) on Saturday December 26th. So, please email me if you wish to attend (I will hook you up with a special "SAN" discount!)
I have some lovely pics from last weekend's Santarchy I'd like to share:
Yours truly, moments before the Santas stormed the Washington monument...
KT as Rude-olf
Apparently we need longer arms for shots like these...
Santa rocks a man-purse in front of the Department of energy...
Unfortunately, I was only able to finish one painting for the Dirty Show application on Tuesday. So, I sent Sweet Science through the interwebz to be exposed to a jury of sickos in Detroit...I hope that they find the dirtiness that I originally intended...
Sweet Science Acrylic on board, 16" x 20"
lastly, I've been in discussions with some of the tilted torch folks about a show that they are putting on in late March called Illuminopolis...its going to be an all "lights, fire and glow-in-the-dark" themed show. They asked me to work on a backdrop for them...here are my initial thoughts in sketchbook form:
You are the type of kid that wanted to open his Christmas presents the second they appeared beneath the tree, aren't you? If you are one of those kids, then you are positively going to be tortured by the gift ArtbyJared is going to be giving you this year. Cant wait, you say? You wanna know right now? Okay, but it will spoil the surprise if I tell you...Okay then, here you go:
December 26th.
That's right, December 26th is going to be an extra special X-Mass-ey DOUBLE FEATURE heapin' helping of Scenery Appreciation Night! Landless has cooked up two lovin' spoonfuls of Holiday goodness, Christmas Twist and Carrie Potter at the New Moon Prom...and I am hosting almost FOUR HOURS of wall to wall Christmas frakin' cheer! So, get your tickets here before they sell out!
What can you expect to see when you come to Scenery Appreciation Nite? Well, you've seen the design for Carrie Potter...but I don't want to give too much away about Twist, so I will only share with you the design for the backdrop:
"London" Backdrop for Christmas Twist 12'x12' Painted Muslin
I wanted this backdrop to double as part of Carrie Potter (you know, that part of town in the potter universe that is in that magic alley?...) but they get to Hogwarts pretty fast in the script, so it will just have to serve as a Dickensian backdrop of olde London Towne....and no, you cretins, that is not the US capitol building...its St. Paul's...you know, Christopher Wren...but it is good to know that could double for a particularly quaint part of Southwest DC in a pinch...
Slowly but surely progress is being made on Reefer Madness...This week has been largely about creating the "anti-marijuana propaganda poster" style flats. Here are some examples of the designs thus far:
DS Right Color Sketch US right Color Sketch
These babys are 14' high and 4' wide...so hopefully they will make the right statement...
And Finally, I have a progress report on the Dirty Show entries. I started to work in earnest on the Sweet Science painting...Its translating relatively directly, but I have been trying to concentrate on making it sorta "ashcan school" because of the boxing theme (and, for that matter, the horror theme of a re-animated "bride of Frankenstein" zombie) So, what you see here is a "knocked back" version...i.e. I painted the whole thing and then did a transparent burnt umber glaze to make everything darker and unify the whole painting...so this should be the darkest it will ever be...all that's left is doing all of the highlights!
Progress on "Sweet Science" 16"x20" Acrylic on Pannel
One of the joys of being in a time crunch is that I seem to make some of my best work when I am procrastinating (or watching paint dry). While I was waiting for the first coats of paint to dry on Sweet Science, I knocked out this little guy with the leftover paint in my palette. I kinda like him, and is certainly a good start for another (non Dirty Show) daredevil monkey painting...
I've decided that, yes, indeed I am dirty. Well, dirty enough to submit some new work the the Detroit Dirty Show. So, I spent the turkey day weekend musing about what sort of work I would enter into a Dirty Show. As you may have surmised from the shows title, its intended to be a bit blue...but my work has never really been that, sexual, per se...and I imagine that the sort of thing that would get into the dirty show is really dirty. So I will have some competition with some real sickos out there...
I thought it over and decided that it would be best if I continued on with the DaredevilMonkeys theme, this time putting the little brutes into dangerous situations involving women. What sort of situation would a daredevil monkey be in? Well, of course Fearless (the monkey with the Stars and Stripes helmet) should be demonstrating that he is indeed fearless in the face of danger. He needs to wrestle women. Preferably naked women. and for good measure, lets make them reanimated zombie type women. Check out the resulting watercolor from my sketchbook below:
Watercolor sketch for Detroit Dirty Show submission #1 (Working Title: The Sweet Science) Watercolor on paper, 4"x6"
I know, its kinda bizarre...but it feels kinda right too...I am not entirely happy with the composition so far, so I made a few tweaks in photoshop that should carry over to the final painting: After Compositional tweaking...I made Fearless smaller in relation to the woman to make her more menacing...and I also put them toe to toe, so that he looks like he is looking at her more...
I made another sketch that is less realized than the previous one, but I think it will be a funnier painting in the end. I thought that the next contender on the fight card could be a truly zaftig beauty...How is Fearless going to get out of this one?
Watercolor sketch for Detroit Dirty Show submission #2 (working title: hide the monkey) Watercolor on paper, 4"x6"
I would be able to show you more progress on these if it were not for the fact that I have spent the last few days finishing the Carrie Potter and Christmas Twist scenery! So, I will have photos for you next week, as well as the schedule for the next "Scenery Appreciation Night"!
November is always the slowest month for me. It's right after the Halloween party, and everything just seems to creep along. I guess its because people are anticipating the hectic pace of December that makes things seem to be on the slow creep. Personally, I cant seem to do half of what I want, even though I have twice the time to do it in!
I've started the designs for Carrie Potter at the New Moon Prom, and A Christmas Twist (the two holiday offerings from Landless Theater Co.) but I only have the design for Carrie Potter on hand (remember that whole half the stuff in twice the time thing?)
Carrie Potter At The New Moon Prom set design Pencil and Photoshop
Since the Halloween party I have needed something to obsess over, so I have decided that its never too early to start working on YURI"S NIGHT!!! So, I have started working on some graphics for our preemptive "save the date" campaign.
This one is my favorite, because it is, well, AWESOME! But KT says that it's too busy...
So, we are working on a simpler and more sloganey sorta thing: DC's Other Space Party...whaddyathink? I don't want to appear to be in competition with Goddard, but lets face it, they have a monopoly on all of the real space stuff in the area! We have to let people know that we are different and have something else (other than hardcore science) to offer...I call this one the "vomit comet" version...I like it because it feels like the type of good time you would have in the zero G test flight...not that we are offering any zero G test flights at the party (like some other Yuri's Nights) but it just looks like a good time to me!
What do you guys think of the new slogan? I would love to hear any suggestions...
I would say that I am mostly recovered from the Halloween party. Its been a week and a half, and the house is 90% back to normal...Most of you are Facebook friends with me, (if you aren't, then what are you waiting for?) so you have probably seen most of the party photos there. But in case you haven't seen them, I have re-posted some of them here:
Photo taken from the upstairs porch of the Kraken at the end of the night...
Fishing for Booty...
When the cops showed up...SYKE! its just our neighbor (who is really a cop...)
Audrey shows her assets to the angler fish...
The Deep Sea Diver and Vampirate are unafraid of the scary clowns! (okay, perhaps just a little)
So, once and for all, THANK YOU to all those who attended. It was a really great party, and I cant wait to do it all again next year!
Since there is no rest for the wicked, the strike for Evil Dead was scheduled for the day after the Spooktacular...It was rough (Mad props go out to Pete the Spyder!) but we survived...to commemorate the strike, here's a picture of the deadites being sucked back into the hell from whence they came:
Photo Credit: Amanda Williams
Also, since I didn't blog last week, I can report that Hope Operas is now in the history books! It was a really great series for lots of great causes, and it seems that it had some big fans...like, Fred Schneider of the B-52's...
I have also made significant progress on the design for Reefer Madness the Musical. This show's design process has been more about model making than drawing so far, so what I have to show you are a couple of shots of the white model in its very early stages:
Reefer Madness White Model Paper, Foamcore, Mixed Media 1/4"=1'
The base set for the show consists of luan borders that are painted like 1930's anti-marijuana propaganda. There is a projection screen above the band USR that is masked out to look like its the smoke from the giant doobie on SR. (the band is roughly represented in purple) The rest of the set pieces will roll on and off from the wings. One element I am particularly excited about is the giant Tiki/Hooka that will be used for the orgy scene:
Orgy scene set piece, Tiki/Hooka.
The full cast is on during this scene, so I have added six hoses for them to dance with. The tiki will have smoke coming out of his nose and mouth, a silk flamepot on top and with have an articulated mouth so he can sing the chorus.
I should have the design finalized right after Thanksgiving, so stay tuned!
Thanks to a rockin' "Homie help day" on Sunday, I can now officially declare victory over carpentry and painting for Spooktacular X! Thanks to the artistic talents of Scott and Alan, the Kraken was was tamed without too much bloodshed. The S.S. Spooktacular was made ship-shape by Elizabeth, Blair, Gwen, Jei, Jim, Jaya and Mike. It has all come together nicely, and it could not have been done without the zeal and talents of these Homies...when you see them at the party, let them cut in the Margarita line, wont ya?
So, I don't want to spoil the event by posting the photos of the completed scenery too early (considering that this blog has a readership of about 45, and we have 100+ planning to attend, I think it wont be spoiled for about half of the attendees...) but I am so excited that I will post them anyway!
Kraken Attacking the S.S. Spooktacular X Backyard installation, Mixed Media
So, there it is! Cool, right? the idea is that party-goers will walk up the shipwreck and fish off of the bow for prizes. You cant tell from the photo here, but also the eye will glow... Whew, now I just need to move the whole thing to the backyard! (my fingers are still crossed that we wont have rain on Saturday!)
The other big accomplishment was the completion of the "Karaoke Cavern" backdrop...We decided that the basement needed to have an underwater theme. So, I thought that it'd be cool if you were singing Karaoke in front of a submarine's observation window...here's the sketch:
Karaoke Cavern backdrop sketch Color Pencil on Black Paper, 8.5 x 11
I decided that we could be looking at a really deep part of the ocean...so what better than an giant angler fish to light up the depths? Unfortunately, the bastards at Disney had a really great scene in Finding Nemo where Nemo's dad and Dory go down really deep and encounter an angler fish...and there are only so many ways to do a menacing fish like that...I don't think we can call this outright theft (because I have added the portal and other things to the composition) but it is definitely heavy borrowing...I suppose that they ruined clown fish for every artist too...and it'd be really nice if they didn't get all litigious on people, so I didn't have to be looking over my shoulder whenever I am influenced by their gorgeous designs...Anyway, I think that the scale of the thing is also what sets it apart (which you don't get from the sketch...the fish could definitely eat you, its so big) which translates best in the final product:
Karaoke Cavern backdrop Acrylic on Velour, 12' x 6.5'
Pretty wicked eh? The velour is really great for this type of painting...I changed the composition around a bit in the final product. I decided not to go with a hint of Atlantis in the background, and simply go with a small fish that is the next intended meal for our Angler...I also had room to add some other spooky goodies, like a Moai, a depth gauge, and a crack in the glass...
Hopefully I will have the energy next week to post pictures from the party...in the meantime, Happy Halloween!
Below are the designs for the the Kraken that will devour the S.S. Spooktacular X on Halloween Night:
You don't need to be scared, it's only going to be a series of cut luan flats...I am also going to try to make the eye light up...Hopefully by the end of Sunday, upon the conclusion of the second "homie help day", I will have photos to share of the completed monster.
The official mascot for this year's Spooktacular X!
The build for Spooktacular 2009 X Marks the Spot, kicked into high gear this past Sunday! We had a really great turnout, and I was able to keep most everyone busy for the whole evening. The spooky fish painting brigade turned out some really awesome fruit of the sea!It may not look it, but this is three 4'x8' sheets of black foamcore's worth of spooky fish! Special thanks to Kirstra, Sara, Allan, Q, Deb, KT, and Jaya!
The other half of the Sunday build goes to the two hardcore carpenters, James and Todd. They really threw their backs into making all of the platforming for the Boat/Kraken experience! What they did really moved the ball down the field, and enabled me to knock out some significant progress:
This is a photo of the Boat/Kraken Experience as it stands on Thursday 10/15 night. Its a bit confusing in the photo, but essentially its a shipwreck. There are three platforms, that people need to navigate in order to fish from the bow of the ship. I will be working on the Kraken next week, but I dont know if I will have pictures much better than this by next Thursday...
Thanks to everyone who came out to last Friday's Evil Dead the Musical Scenery Apprecation Night! We had a blast, even though I didnt get hit with any blood!?
Vern, KT and Jared prepared to get blood spilled on them!
DCTheaterscene.com came out with some interviews of the Evil Dead Crew. Yours truly was included...you can follow the link below for the full article containing interviews with Andrew Baughman, Melissa Baughman, Karissa Swanigan, Jen Tonon, and Eli Reeves...or you can read the interview with me, pasted below:
Jared: Well, my day job is scene shop manager for Arlington County Cultural Affairs. I have the best job in the world. I get to work with all levels of theater, professional, semi-pro and amateur, which is really great, because I often have to switch from being mentor to student on a dime. One of the fringe benefits is that I get clandestine access to the scene shop, where I can work on non-county related shows, like the things I design for Landless (please don’t tell my boss). As far as my designer training is concerned, I have a degree in painting from WayneStateUniversity, in Detroit, but I don’t have a degree in theater; its just something I have always done. My most formal training in scenic design was a masterclass with Ming Cho Lee in 2002, which really broke it wide open for me. I realized that design for the stage involved a collaborative process that the designer(s) and director have to go through, and the masterclass really gave me the proper tools to make that work effectively.
Since I am trained as a painter, I try to design (and paint) every set with an eye towards painting. I love painting big. I love painting backdrops. I haven’t been a fan of designs where it’s all painting textures, which is all the big name designers seem to want these days (I’m talkin’ to YOU Tony Cisek!) I find that boring for everyone involved. I’m an artist (as most scenic artists are), and I feel that it is a waste not to use the artistic talents of people who can paint stunning backdrops. Of course, I wind up painting almost everything I design, which is great because I don’t have to dumb down any of the painting. My painting bias has worked particularly well for Landless. You may not know this, but every show at the DCAC (well, every show before Evil Dead) that Landless produces – needs to pack up in 15 minutes, into a 6 foot high by 4 foot wide space, usually by two female stagehands. With those kinds of constraints, I have been forced to rely on painted scenery!
Joel: Tell us about your contribution to the design of the show.
Jared: Design, Build, Paint, Install. I have been quite intimate with this set. Landless doesn’t have a lot of stock scenery because of the limitations of the DCAC space, so I had to build (with the help of a few “all hands on deck” nights at the shop) almost everything you see on stage. I also painted all of it; largely single handedly (primer coat shout-outs to Amanda Williams and Brittney McLean). I was able to work with Melissa on the design, but really, lots of things were determined by the size of the DCAC space. There are only so many ways that this show can be configured in such a small area. It really became about giving the SFX people (Jen, Steven and Amanda) places to work their magic, and how small a space does an actor need to safely walk behind (or under) the set.
Joel: What was the most challenging thing for you to design?
Jared: Where is all of the blood going to go? We realized that it was going to be a messy show, and we couldn’t have the actors slipping on pools of blood during the dance numbers. We knew that the audience would only be able to absorb a fraction of what was going to be, er, spilled… The solution was to try to capture as much as we could underneath the deck. So, that’s why the “cabin in the woods” has a planked deck for its flooring; to allow the blood to run-off between the planks. The blood gets collected every night by removing one of the planks and sucking it out with a shop vac.
Joel: What scene was the hardest for you to design, and which scene was the most fun to design?
Jared: That’s a hard question because I didn’t approach the design from a “scene by scene” basis. I was looking at it as a whole most of the time. Because of the number of things that have to happen in any given scene, its hard to separate “hardests and favorites” because I was thinking about the big picture…It’s like a clock…when the whole thing is set in motion and works, that’s the best part. A clockmaker wouldn’t say that the minute hand was his favorite part of the clock…
If I were pressed, I might say that the basement trap door was the most difficult part to design. It absolutely needed to look like the movie…but there is no trappable space at the DCAC. So, I needed to find a height that was as level with the floor as possible, but still tall enough for an actress to be underneath, while still maintaining room for the SFX equipment, and safe enough for two people to be “pulled in”, and capable of being opened by itself…every one of those conditions needed to harmonize with the others. What we got isn’t perfect, but it is pretty close.
Joel: Tell us about creating the Splash Zone.
Jared: I wanted to remove the seats. I thought that if the DCAC was willing to let us do the show, we could have made the whole thing a lot cleaner and easier to deal with, if we removed the seats and rented plastic folding chairs, which can be hosed off after each show (we might have been able to get a few more tickets out of each show too) But, instead we are going to put down plastic, which is fine, because I think that people, in the end, are rather absorbent, and we won’t have to sacrifice comfort for cleanliness.
The Splash Zone is essential to the show. The original movies were over the top, silly, and in-your-face. Spurting blood on the audience is the live theater way of honoring that. It’s like a GWAR show, that kinda humor…but we are only using blood, not alien semen…
Joel: Where is your favorite seat in the house?
Jared: There isn’t a bad seat at the DCAC (there isn’t any room for one! *rimshot*)
Joel: What do you want audiences to take with them?
Jared: The obvious answer is fake blood… But really, I want them to take away a sense that theater doesn’t need to be limited. That is, part of Landless’ mission statement is to bring theater to the theater challenged. Well, this is the type of show that many will look down their nose at, but really, it’s the best kind of theater because it engages directly and viscerally with its audience. I hope that they take away a broadened sense of what theater can be, and the notion that “hey, there are folks in DC doing really cool stuff, and I was, just now, a part of that…and I have the bloodstains on my clothes to prove it!”
Evil Dead the Musical is finally open at the DCAC! If you don't have tickets for tonight's scenery appreciation night, too bad for you...you can still get tickets for next weekend, but you should hurry, because they are going fast!
The previews and reviews have been pouring in steadily. Check out this extraordinarily good review from a commenter on Goldstar.com...he even took a pic of his bloody shirt! Also kudos from Express Night Out, Daily Candy weekend guide and DCist's listing of Evil Dead...Next week should be the banner week for reviews, so I'll post them as they come along.
Okay, as promised, I can now release the final designs and some limited photos of the set, but only for you loyal BTT readers...
Evil Dead the Musical Set Design Landless Theater Co. DCAC Pencil and Photoshop
So, this set design actually wound up being very close to the final product. The major difference is that the set wound up considerably taller looking in the space (I did not do a precise perspective rendering, this was mostly eyeballed)
Evil Dead the Musical set photo
Not too shabby...well, cabin in the woods shabby, on purpose! The final product really dominates the DCAC space, which is good because it really adds a foreboding quality to the show...Of course, half of that foreboding feeling is centered around trying to predict when you are going to get spattered with blood next...
This is a photo of the set with actors on it...Ash and Cheryl are a really fun part of this script. I particularly like this photo because it should be titled "Get back into your hole, you filthy Candarian demon!"
If you cant make it to see Evil Dead on the weekends, then you clear your schedule for the next four Monday nights in order to see Hope Operas! They had a really great opening week, and they promise to do recaps of previous episodes every week. You can visit this great post about the show 20 Million Breast Strokes to Earth to get more info...
Evil Dead opens for previews in Frederick MD this weekend...Three Performances, one Friday and two Saturday...get your info here
The challenge of this past week was getting the painting done for Evil Dead. I wasn't able to get a shot of the paint job with the set fully assembled, but you can get the idea from the photo below (if you want to see the complete paint job, you will just have to come see the show!)
"Rustic cabin" enough for ya?
After painting was complete, we needed to load the thing up into three pickup trucks and a small lawn mower trailer, and cart it up to Frederick. Aside for a little rain that melted some of the paint, the load in went pretty smoothly. I haven't been back for dress rehearsals yet, but I hear that all of the SFX work is coming along smoothly...I'll post some pics once they become available.
I am working on a last minute addition to the set for the finale...any aficionado of the Evil Dead trilogy will recognize this:
Press has been ramping up steadily, as have ticket sales. We received a preemptive shout out from DC.Broadwayworld.com (what's more unusual is that Jared and the set get a shout out too!) Check it Here UPDATE: Evil Dead was also mentioned by the Washington Post's Going out Gurus
I will likely have photos of Evil Dead in the DCAC next week...I want to get good photos of it during dress rehearsals, before its covered in a months worth of blood!
The other big development this week is that we are exactly ONE MONTH away from Spooktacular X: X Marks the Spot! Which means for a lucky few of you, you will be receiving an Evite invitation. One of the special things that we are doing this year is making T-shirts to commemorate the occasion (the original 2003 spooktacular shirts with the Ouija board were wildly popular, and you can occasionally see some OG's wearing them...Holla!) So, I have been working on the new design this week...
Design for Spooktacular X: X Marks the Spot(2009) Pencil and Photoshop 8.5"x11"
I wanted to follow the original Ouija design and feel. So, its going to be white printed on the back of a black tee with all of the elements of the party incorporated...this time as a pirate map...I'm not finished with the design 100% because I am going to be adding some secrets that will only be revealed at the party...but if you would like to order one for yourself, you can go Here (just be sure you order before October 12th!)
Once again its been all-Evil-Dead-all-of-the-time...Below is a progress shot just after victory was declared in the carpentry war on Tuesday:
The set was primed white...but its true evil comes out once the base colors are applied:
I am working in reverse with the color for the set. It's an evil play, so that means a dark color palette. I'll slowly add highlights to each color until I get a rich, deep and foreboding look for this "little cabin in the woods". Working this way also helps hide all of the shoddy construction (Theatrical carpentry is always shoddy...not just mine) and the dark maroon color on the floor will help hide the nightly dousing of blood....MUH-WAHHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Just in case you didn't get the message before...Please get your tickets to the show early (preferably a season subscription) Especially if you are intending on coming out to Scenery Appreciation Night, which has been set for Friday October 9th! ("scenery appreciation night" is when aficionados of the set designs of Jared Davis see the show and then ply him with drink afterwards...they are also privy to insider discounts to shows...and Jared's eternal gratitude...) You can go to Landless' website for tickets.
BTW if you just cant wait to see the show in DC...you can come up to Frederick MD and see the preview performances on October 2nd and 3rd. See you then!
Again, all I have to show for this week is carpentry. We had the first "all hands on deck" carpentry day on Monday (Directly after a lovely NYC weekend attending Scott Brooks' show at Last Rites Gallery, and seeing Toxic Avenger the Musical...) ...and as of this writing we have gotten this much together:
...Which is basically all of the decking (i.e. what actors will stand/dance on) So all that is left is to build are the walls, and the special effects...and paint. (all by next Friday!!!!)
Please get your tickets to the show early (preferably a season subscription) because this show has blown all of Landless' pre-sale records...and I don't want you to miss out!
No more time for blogging! Must-build-set! BRAINS!
I have been in full-on carpentry mode lately, which makes me kinda manic about doing anything other than carpentry. So, the weekly update kinda got away from me this week...I can show you the floor plans for Evil Dead, which were approved on Saturday:
Evil Dead the Musical Floor plan Vectorworks, Landless Theatre Co.
This shows really how small the DCAC is...but it'll be really cool to have this show in such an in-your-face kinda space. I also made a (really crappy, and I hesitate to show it here...) planar study from the floor plan, for those of my production staff that are "floor plan challenged"...Plane study for Evil Dead (I apologize for the quality...)
I've been up to my eyeballs in carpentry ever since I got the green light...which is necessary because this bad boy loads into Frederick on September 26th!
...But, I will be taking this weekend off to go up to NYC (again!) to support my good pal Scott G. Brooks...you see, he has an opening on Saturday Night at Last Rites Gallery called Domestic Terror..So, if you are in NYC in the near future, come on by and check it out!
After two weeks of waiting, the moment has arrived. I have finally finished Gator Wrestlin', the second in the growing series of Daredevil Monkey paintings...
Gator Wrestlin' Acrylic on Board, 16"x20"
Unfortunately this photo does not convey some of the subtleties that the "in the flesh" picture does. That is, Fearless is spotlit and has a very bright and luminous quality when compared to Floyd. That is certainly conveyed in the contrast sense on a video monitor, but in person it is particularly evident...I am still in the brainstorming phase for the next painting, and I'd be interested to hear what you sadists would like to see next in the arena of monkey exploitation...He's already been shot out of a cannon and wrestled alligators...perhaps wrestling bears is next?...giant slingshot?...competitive pie eating? Send me a comment with suggestions!
We had the first official production meeting for Evil Dead this week...its going to be a hum-dinger of a show. The quotable quote from the meeting was from Melissa, the Director: "You need to watch out, you can get lost in this show"...which is quite right, judging by the circles we were going in during the meeting! But things are starting to straighten out...firstly, I was able to acquire some 2x8's for free to build the deck with:
Yep, that's two 2o foot long 2x8's going off the front of the Isuzu!
I'd also like to take this opportunity to let you in on a brand new concept for Landless Theater...Subscriptions! Now, I know what you are thinking, here comes a sales pitch...but wait, I am here to save you money! You can get almost 50% off of all of your Landless tickets and that means 50% off of Evil Dead the Musical!!! All you have to do is go here to sign up!
Unrelated to Landless (other than Andrew Baughman is directing one of the shows) is that Hope Operas has made another leap forward on the technical front. I was able to make an accurate floor plan of how we are going to transform Miss Pixies backroom into a full blown theater, complete with footlights!
We should be able to fit around 80-100 people in to see the shows, and we will even have a small stage! Woot!
2010 Scion XB...The one KT has is black.
This little beauty is the reason I trekked across the Ohio wastelands (and back!) to get to Detroit. See, KT's dad had a salmon pink Caddy, that got 8 miles to the gallon...so on the last day of Cash For Clunkers, he traded it in for a Scion XB, which is the car KT has been dreaming of for years now...Since the Echo was on its last legs, we drove it to Michigan and exchanged it with her father for the new Scion. I am quite impressed with the car thus far, and to be honest, it is both KT's and my first brand new car...when we got back from Michigan, the odometer said 600 (!)
Stocking stuffer paintings for Christmas 2009
Reefer Madness the Musical, "propaganda panels"
