Facebook 3X5 Artists challenge images all in one place

Here is a roundup of all of the 3X5 Facebook Artist challenge images all in one place. It has been really great for me, because it got a chance to see where I have been and where I am going...  Of course, you can always look at them (and everything else) on my website, artbyjared.com

Day One: Old School

Day Two: Theater Designs

Day Three: Paintings on Velvet

Day Four: MONKEYS!

Day 5: Recent Developments

Bonus Day: Spooktacular Giveaways

36 views portraits

Back in October, I created a prop for Constellation Theatre Company's 36 Views. It is a fairly central item in the show, so I have been waiting until the last week to show it on my blog (it wont spoil much, but I am trying to balance being polite, and helping advertise the show)

The show closes this Sunday. I saw it last week, and I must say that I was impressed. As you may know, I am a Shin Hanga nerd (Japanese woodblock printing from around 1900-1950 that was a break from the Ukiyo-e "floating world" prints, valued a more naturalistic style, while still maintaining the separation of labor in the production of the prints.) so, although they may not have known it, I was a very good person to call on to produce this prop.

They knew what they wanted, but needed me to articulate it in a sketch first (I hesitate to call this part of the project "design"...that is, I don't know if I can say I "designed" the image, because they were so specific on what they wanted) Anyhow, after about 5 back-and-forth sketches and consultations, this is sketch I came up with:

Sketch for 36 Views Portrait. Pencil and Photoshop

 They wanted two identical portraits of this Japanese woman, and it supposed to look very old. The old part I could deal with. The "identical" part is what made it difficult. So I did my best to paint two portraits side by side. When I would make a stroke on one, I would make an identical stroke on the other. When I would make a mistake on one, I would try to make the same mistake on the other. Below is the final product (not actually the final product...they were painted on the same piece of muslin because they were going to be cut out and mounted to scrolls in the traditional Japanese silk painting style)

36 Views Portraits final state. each is 20" x 24" acrylic on muslin

Its a bit hard to see here, but the biggest concession I had to make in producing this was in line quality. That is, when you are painting with a brush the stroke has a character. It's thicker here, thinner there, more expressive in some spots. That is very hard to reproduce twice in the same way. So, I opted to make all of the black outlines be approximately the same width throughout the paintings. This creates a more mechanical, or modern look, which is not desirable if you are making a very old looking painting. But that was one of the trade-off that had to be made in order to fulfill the demands of the script.

36 Views closes on Sunday. Check it out...I'll be interested to hear if you could tell the difference between the two...

Propaganda Arm of ArtbyJared Goes AWOL During Month of February...Few Notice...

Yeah, I took a month off from the blog...lots happened....I might tell you about it, but because so much is happening right now, I think we should just stick to the Headlines:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog opens at the DCAC! Scenery Appreciation Night will be Saturday March 12th, Get your tickets HERE

DC Premiere! Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" name, literary material and characters and musical compositions used by permission from
Time Science Blood Club, LLC. (c) 2008 Time Science Blood Club, LLC

March 3 - 27
7:30 pm

DC Arts Center, 2438 18th Street, NW
(in the heart of Adams Morgan)

The internet sensation comes to Washington, DC.

Don't miss it!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the hit made-for-the-web musical miniseries of 2008, comes to the stage in a production by the Landless Theatre Company. Co-created by writer-producer Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly), it follows the tongue-in-cheek adventures of aspiring arch-villain Dr. Horrible; his nemesis, the hunky Captain Hammer; and love interest, Penny. The show, directed by Andrew Lloyd Baughman, kicks off Landless Theatre's 2011 "Season of Horrible Taste."

For tickets and information visit the Landless website at: www.landlesstheatrecompany.org!

Of Course, for you loyal BTT readers, I can share with you the design of the the set:

The show is going to be awesome, and not just for you Whedonheads...So buy your tickets today!

The next Headline on the agenda is: What are you doing for Fat Tuesday (NEXT TUESDAY 3/8)? Well, if you are like me, you will be going to the Claendon Mardi Gras parade. Once there you will be able to vie with the throngs in order to receive beads from...THE YURI'S NIGHT FLOAT!!! Below is the super top secret plans for the float...don't tell anyone!

And just in case you thought I was kidding...here's the poster for the event (designed by Richard Thompson!)

Speaking of Mardi Gras...I just wanted to share a Mardi Gras project from a few weeks back...it was for the DC Mardi Gras in the Dupont Hilton...I just painted the seafood, but I think it turned out pretty good (despite the crappy cell phone camera photo)

On Sunday I will be attending the WATCH (Washington Area Theater Community Honors) Awards...Seems I am nominated for two awards...both for Outstanding Set Painting in a Musical...Reefer Madness (Dominion Stage) and The Producers (Arlington Players)...this will be my 8th nomination with no wins...Wish me luck!

I did sell a painting this week...He's a collector of my work, and kinda a monkey enthusiast. Anyway, he surprised me when he showed me a tattoo of a piece of mine that he bought:

That shady looking monkey is "the spy" from 2006...I like how the nipple looks like the sun rising over the "near east" skyline...

And Speaking of Monkeys...I have been working on a monkey painting for Yuri's Night....I can share some progress shots with you, so you can play the "I remember it when" game...

This is the very first stage of the painting. Its a larger painting that I am used to (in fact, the table top easel is not working for me because I cant reach the top of the painting!) but at 30" x 36" its child's play compared to what I do for theater!

Here's the painting after I've blocked in the color. Its going to be called "Monkey Moonshot"...so it is only natural that the monkeys would try to go at night when the moon is out...I am having a lot of fun playing with the light from the moon, spotlight and match...Hopefully I will be able to get it done by the drop off date for C2YN in less than two weeks!

Just in case you haven't heard, here's the scoop on C2YN (and check out the video below!):

C2YN (COUNTDOWN TO YURI’S NIGHT)

TUE MAR 15 –SAT APR 30, 2011/FREE/MEZZ GALLERY

OPENING RECEPTION: THUR, MAR 17, 5:30-7:30PM/FREE/MEZZ GALLERY

18 artists exhibit work centered on the theme of Man’s journey into space. Exploring both science-fact and science-fiction, these artists deliver unique perspectives on the cosmos. C2YN (Countdown to Yuri’s Night) launches the 50th anniversary of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight, which will be celebrated at the Artisphere on April 9th 2011. Some of the exhibiting artists include: Chris Bishop, Stephen Blickenstaff , Scott Brooks, Jared Davis, Alan Defibaugh, Dana Ellyn, Elstabo, Todd Gardner, Linas Garsys, Sherill Anne Gross, Rob Hornung, Emily Greene Liddle, Rob Lindsay, Dave Savage, Matt Sesow, Michael Enn Sirvet, Steve Strawn, Andrew Wodzianski.

www.outofthisworldparty.com

Jared Davis (Countdown to Yuri's Night) from Artisphere on Vimeo.

CANNONBALL MONKEY!

That's right folks, the kid is back! And he's paintin' monkeys! Its been a long time coming (LEECH!, the last formal painting, excluding the cut luan installation I created for Artomatic, was finished in December of 2008!) and it feels great to get the little buggers out of my head on on to the canvas. Without further adieu, I present the first in a series (I hope) of new monkey paintings:

CANNONBALL!
Acrylic on Board, 16"x20"
(as always, click on the photo for larger view)

I think I will be working on a few more of these daredevil monkeys in the near future...watch this space...

The other events of this past week largely revolve around Landless' announcement of the 2009-2010 season: "Season of the Damned"

EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL

Directed by Melissa Baughman

Choreography by Karissa Swanigan

Frederick Preview: October 2 and 3

Shows: October 9 - Nov 8 (16)

FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER AND THE HOLY MUG OF GROG

Shows: Dec. 11, 12, 18, 19, 26 and Jan 1

FREDERICK SHOWS: January 8 and 9

HIGH FIDELITY THE MUSICAL

Frederick Preview: Feb. 12 and 13

Shows: Feb 18 - Mar 14

PEREZ HILTON SAVES THE UNIVERSE

Frederick Preview: April 30 and May 1

Shows: May 7-June 3 (16)

ROCK BOTTOM (CAPITAL FRINGE)

Frederick Preview: July 2 and 3

Of course this announcement comes directly on the heels of the FringeNYC production of

Diamond Dead!

If Aria is this stoked about performing in a tent, then I cant wait to see them in NYC!!!!
Oh, and check out this video...it may be instrumental in planning your FringeNYC itinerary...

But what the announcement of "season of the damned" really means is that we are actually going to be doing these shows...so I have made myself useful this week and I have made scale drawings of the DCAC space, and some accompanying "stitched" photos to use for designing purposes:

Scale Floorplan...

Stitched photo of stage from House Left...

Stitched photo from House Right...

Of course all of this preparation is really for EVIL DEAD the MUSICAL...which I sent along a preliminary sketch of this week:

Preliminary Sketch for EVIL DEAD the MUSICAL
Landless Theatre Company

Boy this was an active week! I should also mention that we saw the opening of a new wine bar on 10th street called Room 11, we are all very excited about it!

New tile floor in Room 11

When I was not swilling wine this week, it seemed like I was at a production meeting...the first one was for the upcoming Dominion Stage show, REEFER MADNESS
"What? Jared is designing the set for REEFER MADNESS? I wonder if I can get invited to one of his 'research' parties..."

The other production meeting this week was for SPOOKTACULAR X. Those of you who have been around the block a few times know that Artbyjared Labs (Team Spooktacular? whatever we call ourselves...) throw a kick ass Halloween party every year...well we pinned down a theme for this years shin-dig: X Marks the Spot! "Wha?" you may be saying to yourself...Well, this is our tenth Halloween party in DC...so we decided to celebrate the decade by using the roman numeral X as our jumping off point...so start thinking about those costumes...keep an eye out for anything that sorta says "treasure hunter, sleuth, pirate, or squirrel..." (but, like an evil squirrel...)

Musical Of Musicals the Musical OpensTONIGHT!

Musical of Musicals the Musical opens Friday. For those of you not familiar with the show, here is a brief outline taken from the Dominion Stage website:

Step 1: Take a plot straight from old melodrama.
Step 2: Take the same plot and concoct five spooofs in the styles of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander and Ebb.
Step 3: Cast four dynamic and entertaining performers and one dazzling pianist!
Step 4: Shake it all up and serve one funny and entertaining show!

Ive seen some dress rehearsals, and its pretty funny...but the scenery is a bit difficult to capture on film:
Above is the Dear Abby! sequence of Musical of Musicals the Musical

And the finale, where all of the show titles are revealed...

This is my best attempt at making a "minimal" set...So I primarily used stock scenery, which was necessary because I had a budget of less than $300...

I am also working on the set design for Obama Wonderama at the Warehouse theater (actually, the scenery is going to be up for the whole weekend, spanning four events, so I needed to make it a bit more neutral than I normally do for a burlesque show...)

Obama Wonderama Scenery Sketch
Pencil and Photoshop

You can get your tickets here.
Speaking of L'il Dutch, I am going to be at the Dutch Oven tonight at the Palace of Wonders, they are having a Sci Fi themed show, where I will be giving away some Yuri's Night prizes! See you tonight!

Comedy Tomorrow!

That's Right, Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opens tomorrow! Above you can see that the cast has really gotten into the spirit of the show...

The Set seen from House Left...

The Set seen from House Right

You can click here, and the flyer above for information and tickets...

In other, non theater related news, I will be exhibiting some of my new velvet paintings at the Washington DC International Arts Expo at the Washington Convention Center, this weekend! Click here or the flyer below for details...And Lastly, I have a first draft sketch for President Harding is a Rock Star, to show you:

Keep in mind that it is a rough sketch...and that the designs for any show with the restrictions of the DCAC (must strike every night, setup in 15 minutes by two women, backstage storage cannot exceed 8' square feet...) so half of the "fun" is finding ways to get more with less...but adding a band onstage has really compressed the space...so for a first draft it isn't bad...hopefully I will be able to work with the director to make it a bit more "glam rock" and less "1920's DNC"...