Spooky Dog first sketch

Things have been crazy...so above is the sketch for Spooky Dog...Which I intend to have completed by this time next week (!)...Haven't made much progress on the Artomatic painting front...hopefully I will be able to pull something out of my butt between now and the 26th!

See you next week!

My Staycation

I took a staycation. That's right, I took time off from the scene shop, and just stayed at home and relaxed. Well, I didn't really relax, per se, because KT took time off from Olney too. So, we spent the week fixing up the house, and generally getting stuff done that we normally don't have time to do. It was a needed respite after the whirlwind of stuff that happened in April.

But even in a staycation duty calls. To start the week off right, I had my site selection for Artomatic on our first official day off. KT helped me find the perfect space:

KT is excited about my space...8th floor, Area 5, Space 8....or the Northwest corner of the 8th floor, on the end closest to the stairwell...

One of the reasons KT is so excited is that she realizes that my space is facing (well, my row, at least) the national mall, and therefore has a good view of the fireworks on the 4th of July. I like the idea of seeing the fireworks from inside an air conditioned building that is serving beer (unlike those poor suckers on the mall, who have to get sauced before they left home)

The view of the Washington monument from my row...the fireworks should go off between the Washington monument and the crane

...and just for kicks, here is the view if you look to the right of my wall...isn't our city pretty sometimes?

Shortly after selecting the space for Artomatic, we went to the "scenery appreciation night" for Walmartopia. Landless has agreed to institute the "Jared" discount on certian "scenery appreciation nights" so that my friends and family can come, er, appreciate the scenery on a given production for a reduced rate! So, J-Rod, Mike and Jaya were able to see such a quality show for less than what you plebeians have to pay...KT said that Walmartopia was "better than Batboy"...which is high praise from her...

The next day Walmartopia was struck and a small production meeting was assembled for Spooky Dog and the teenage gang mysteries...I should have some sketches (if not progress on building the actual set) for you to see next week.

I also became an NRA member that day...and then got kicked off the range...but hey, that's just how I roll...

On Monday April 27th, I saw Star Trek. That's right suckers, I saw Star Trek almost a full two weeks before you did! (Thanks Paramount, partial sponsors of Yuri's Night 2009!) My review: IT WAS AWESOME! I am going to see it (ahem, again) in IMAX this weekend!

So, other than the home improvements (clearing out the evil plants under our front porch, painting porch railings, installing new lattice, putting 1600 lbs. of decorative rocks under the porch, etc) the week went pretty uneventfully, Until...

My meeting with Red Bull and the Georgetown restaurant Mei N Yu about a photo op commission that they want for their big summer event. They asked me to design something like the "muscleman cutouts" you would see on a boardwalk on coney island...except Asian and with Red Bull...So, I made three sketches:


They seemed to like the last one best. I happen to agree that three terra cotta warriors from china is the most direct "photo op"...that is, you wouldn't have to explain as much to people about photographing with them...plus they can take one away if there are only two people...The Red Bull people have decided that they want to sculpt the armor out of red bull cans, and have already lined up a Baltimore artist to embellish my designs...you should expect to see pictures of these leaving the shop sometime in mid June.

And Lastly, my Staycation was rounded out with the strike for Follies. It could have been much worse (in fact we had planned for it to go very badly) but in reality, we were done with everything by 3am...we had filled 2 1/2 dumpsters with the tiny cut up pieces, but we were done....Follies was one of those landmark shows for an organization like TAP (you can check out the DCtheaterscene article here) and I am proud to have been part of it. But in the end, I am relieved that it is over...

Yuri's Night Photos Start to roll in...and Follies Reviewed!

So, it's really just Kirstra's Camera that has contributed to the Yuri's Night photo pool so far (Thanks Kirstra!) I am happy to post these choice photos on BTT because Kirstra's hard drive had something of a EPIC FAIL, and wiped out her photos...except these lucky few...

Bambi, Heidi, Jim and yours truly...that's just how Yuri rolls!

Lil' Dutch, KT and Sugar Ann Spice

JD + KT + Southern Hemisphere

JD + KT on the stage after the show...whew!

Bambi and I get cosmo-naughty!

Dr. Zaeus and the "schick-schick" doorway

The Dance party was off the hook! Thanks DJ P-Vo!

When more photos roll in, I'll be happy to post them! (you know you've got some!)

I have cleaned up most of the house and scene shop, so I haven't really had time to make any art per se...but I will have some early designs for a photo op sponsored by Red Bull by this time next week! (and of course there is the ramp-up to this year's Artomatic to worry about!)

The other piece of news is that Follies got reviewed by the Washington Post today...It's a mixed review, but not where the set is concerned...Michael Toscano says:

Jared Davis's large set is gorgeous and functionally innovative enough to accommodate the crumbling present and the glittering past.

...Which is officially the nicest thing that the post has ever said about my scenery....

THANK YOU FOR A STELLAR YURI'S NIGHT!!!!!

This year's Countdown to Yuri's Night was the best one yet! Thanks so much to everyone for coming out and filling the Warehouse with your intergalactic alien love! (we didn't even mind the probing this time!)

So, predictably, I ran out of battery juice when I started to take photos that night, so I don't have very many to share (except for this provocative placeholder photo of Lil' Dutch)


So, in the meantime, I want to encourage any of you BTT readers out there that attended Yuri's Night to send me your best photos! We want to compile a bunch of good photos to post on the www.outofthisworldparty.com "2009 photo gallery" so we can give people in the 2010 event something to shoot for!

I will post Yuri's Night photos here also, as I receive them...

Out of the frying pan into the fire...FOLLIES opens this weekend! The Arlington Players have a really good show on their hands...the only problem for you, loyal BTT reader, is that the superb lighting design (by Hal Crawford) looks great in person, but does not photograph well with my equipment...so I offer these shots as a mere taste of what a fantastic show it really is...

Follies Act I Set Design
Pencil and Photoshop 1/8"=1'

Follies Act I

Follies Act I (Buddy's breakdown)

Follies Act II "Loveland"
(hey, where'd that giant fan come from? see the show to find out!)

Also, I must put in a plug for Walmartopia (it closes on the 26th!!!)...I was able to rustle up some photos from Amanda that show off what the Washington Post calls "Spartan" scenery...but what DC Theater Scene says is:

...I feel as though I have watched a theatrical bar mitzvah. At the end I wanted to stand up and say “Today, you are a theater company."

So, it just proves that art is subjective...and that Walmartopia is probably a good show for you to see if you like Spartans or bar mitzvahs...

The somewhat creepy opening number...

With co-workers like this, who wouldn't want to work at Wal-Mart?

WALMARTOPIA OPENS!!!! Yuri's Night JUST ONE WEEK AWAY!

So the headline this week is that WALMARTOPIA opens this weekend (Actually it opened on Thursday) Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get photos of the set during dress rehearsals, like I usually do. So this one is going to be a big secret that can only be revealed if you GO SEE THE SHOW! You can get tickets here



The countdown clock continues:

8 DAYS UNTIL YURI'S NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Countdown to Yuri's Night Logo 2009
Acrylic on Black Velour, 8'x8'

Yep. that's all...we are so very close to launch, that I can practically taste the astronaut ice cream with a Stoli chaser! Get your tickets to this soon, as we have sold a bunch of the 9pm tickets already!

And just to add insult to injury...(I am suffering from burning the candle from both ends lately) Follies begins its load in this week...So, here are some random pictures of scenery that is lying about the shop, waiting for transport to the theater:

SL tower for follies...the idea is that it supposed to look like abandoned scenery...are we close yet?

One of the upstage "ladies" that will become a sort of light box...halfway through the paint job...yeah, its luan, so that's a lot of jigsaw blades...

Final Push for WALMARTOPIA

So, this week has been dedicated to the final push for Walmartopia. You can see that I have made some progress so far:

Wamartopia cutouts in various states of completion

But one of the Act II figures is pretty close to done:

And I was able to make the projection screen with little difficulty:

The most complete item is the Wal~Mart sign...I have changed it (hopefully enough) to avoid the wrath of the vicious corporate lawyers...

Walmartopia opens next Thursday (April 2nd) at the DCAC...go check it out before you are too busy with....

YURI'S NIGHT!!!!

There are only 16 days until Yuri's Night!!!!

This week we made all sorts of behind the scenes progress...but most importantly, I made a quantum leap forward on building an arsenal of space rockets with the help of KT, Jaya, Kirstra and Todd...I don't have any pictures to show for it just yet...so you'll just have to come to the show in order to see our space fleet in action!

MUMBO OPENS, YURI'S NIGHT FLYERS and WALMARTOPIA ACT II

Yuri's Night Countdown Clock:

ONLY 23 DAYS UNTIL YURI'S NIGHT!!!!

So, as promised, there's lots to show you this week...Lets start with the completed flyers for Yuri's Night:

Front of the Postcard/FlyerBack of the Postcard/Flyer

Look for these to start popping up everywhere soon!

I also scored some really great set pieces from Signature theater...they were just throwing away a 10'x10' lightbox arch, two hefty doorframes, and silver curtains to frame it all....I have created the rendering below in order to start thinking about how the whole thing will come together to become the scenery for YN09...So, in short, its a work-in-progress...

First Sketch Set Design, Yuri's Night 2009
Pencil, Photoshop 1'=1'

The other gigantic news is MUMBO! It opened this week and even has this really great article in the Baltimore City Paper (you can click on the picture below to be sent to the article)

Here are some photos I took during load in (and when the CP photographer was taking the article photo)

Go see MUMBO this weekend...if you miss it in Baltimore, you will have to catch it somewhere else in the USA or Scotland!

And finally, I finished the set design for Act II of Walmartopia...

Set Design Wamartopia Act II
Pencil, Photoshop 1"=1'

The major component for Act II is the fascist figures flanking the set...here's the sketch they will be based on:

Walmartopia Act II cutout figure design
Pencil and Photoshop 1"=1'

One month to Yuri's Night 2009!!!!

Do you like the new party logo that Alan Defibaugh created for us? you can see it in all of its vector glory at www.outofthisworldparty.com!

Its one month until Yuri's Night!!!!

Okay, so its been crazy these past two weeks, so much so, I skipped a posting last week. Unfortunately, it has been filled with intangible (or at least not picture worthy) moments that, although productive, do not make for great blog reading...

First order of business...the Yuri's Night press releases are going out this week...complete with this emergency image of Trixie and Monkey (they are really busy this week putting the finishing touches on MUMBO, so they had a hard time finding a spacey photo with both of them in it...so I made one)

The rest of the progress this week belonged to Follies. I finally made the designs for the portals:

Woman Portals Design Follies
Pencil, Photoshop, Illustrator 1"=1'

The TAP carpenters are creating lots of sawdust cutting these 5' wide and 16' high ladies out of 3/4" plywood. Below is what they should look like during act I:

Follies Act I
Pencil and Photoshop 1/8"=1'

I promise to have more to show next week!

WALMARTOPIA First Sketches

Yuri's Night Countdown:

43 Days until Yuri's Night!!!!

The big YN news this week has been the official sponsorship of Stoli! Did you know that Stoli was the first vodka consumed in space?
You can see the tube of Stoli right there...1975 during the Apollo/Soyuz mission...depending on who you ask, some people will tell you that the Russians pasted vodka labels on to tubes of borscht...but I ask you, do you think that any self respecting cosmonaut would just bring the label and not the vodka? No way. So here's to Stoli, and Yuri Gagarin! NOSTROVIA!

Here you can see the last of the Mumbo scenery before I schlepped it up to NYC...

Elephant and Seal Animal Banners, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 4'x8' each

So, MUMBO opens in Baltimore next month (whoops, next month is suddenly Sunday...)

This Tuesday was the Clarendon Mardi Gras...
I was helping escort the Obama Family in the parade, so this is the only picture I've been able to scrounge up...

Lastly, I have fired the first salvo in the design for Walmartopia. I kinda have a hard time with this script. It can come off as kinda preachy...and it begs for a huge budget, so its a challenge on many levels.

Walmartopia first sketch
Pencil, watercolor and photoshop

I have a production meeting with the director tomorrow, so hopefully we will both come together on the concepts I am attempting to illustrate here. I am trying to rely heavily on projection in this show, because the script calls for a different location in every scene...so we cant change scenery very easily...but we can change projections as well as the clothes on the two cutouts of WalMart employees...it should be funny during the hooters sequence...

MUMBO almost done!

Before we start with the ABJ news this week, lets check in with the ole Yuri's Night countdown clock:

51 days until Yuri's Night 2009!!!!

The great big news about Yuri's Night's Lineup is that we will have Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey AND Miss Saturn!!!!!! This is shaping up to be a truly star studded lineup!

Speaking of Trixie Little, I am in the home stretch for MUMBO! I did the final designs for the animals that will be framed by the scroll banners pictured last week...

Animal Banners Elevation, MUMBO
Color Pencil on Black Paper, 4"x8" each

And the final painted result for two of the four animals:

Zebra and Tiger Animal Banners, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 4'x8' each

I also completed the central portal...

Central Portal, MUMBO
Acrylic on Black Velour, 8'x8'

I have intentionally not cut the portal out (i.e. the black area is intended to be cut away to create a portal) because Trixie has requested that it stay intact until they get up to Vermont. During the workshop process, she will decide if it needs to be cut away, or simply a slit cut in the middle, or some other answer entirely...that is the beauty of the workshop process!

So, this Saturday I will be taking all of MUMBO's scenery as well as my pipe & drape up to NYC to do a "hand-off" with Trixie. Its kinda silly, but its the first time I have delivered anything theatrical to New York. It really feels like I'm doing something on Broadway! (even though I know I am not, it still feels good to pretend!)

Next week, I should have pictures from the Clarendon Mardi Gras, Follies, and Walmartopia!