The End

I can't believe that's my three years at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland over. Man it went quick and I have had the best three years of my life. I've made amazing friends, and there has not been a single day where I haven't looked forward to going into uni - something I bet not many students can say.

My last week has been spent doing bits and bobs for the West End Festival and finishing my oil painting for Gary Fry. 

So this is it, my last post of my time at the Conservatoire. Thanks to all the people who've read my blog and my tales of my Scenic Art life. Who knows if I will continue my blog in my new adventure of professional life where I will be trying to make it in the big bad world as a Scenic Artist!

The Influence Realism has had on Contemporary Culture

Today it could be argued that anything can be labeled as 'Art' in a gallery and that the word is beginning to lose its meaning. Many people are growing tired of the 'modern' and 'post-modern era' where they can't relate to pieces as there is to much depth and conceptual thinking behind them.

There is now a movement known as 'The Contemporary Realists' which is a reaction the the modern and post modern-era. They are influenced by the old masters, and the realist painters of the 19th centrury and are painting subjects of modern times.

Such artists in the 'Contemporary Realist group include:
William Bailey

Andrew Wyeth

Philip Pearlstein

Sources:


http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/the-contemporary-realist-movement-156836.html

The Importance of Realism

The Importance of Realism:

• Depicted the current situation of life instead of longing for the past or the 'ideal' (i.e the art of Classical mythology favoured by Renaissance artists and sculptors)
• Idealism was rejected and ugliness was accepted
• Realism believed it was unethical to depict what could not be seen, gave realism a moral dimension and shifting the function of art
• Brought to light the inequalities amongst social classes
• Influenced Impressionism and many other art styles, and the style retains its influence of the visual arts today

Source: http://www.arthistoryunstuffed.com/role-realist-artist/

Manet and Realism

Édouard Manet (23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French painter, his works are largely popular but I thought I would blog about him, as he was an important figure as bridge from Realism to Impressionism. Manet considered himself at the time as Realist artists painting everyday leisure scenes from all social classes. 

Merry Wives of Windsor on Stage

So that's the final big show of the year finished. Man it was a huge show to fit in a small schedule of 4 weeks. There has many arguments, tears and laughs but thankfully it looks amazing! I think last years opera design of 'Magic Flute' was a bit more striking, but I feel we have executed this design to a higher standard

West End Festival

On Sunday the 9th of June myself and several other Production Art Students will be walking in the west end festival. The aim is to promote what we do at the Conservatoire as many people don't realise what we do and our work goes unnoticed. As a group we have decided to go with the theme: 'Fairy Tales of the Unexpected' so prop students are making a large dragon, the costume students have made evil and fairy-like costumes and well ... Jude, Rosé, Rosie and I weren't very sure what to make as all we can do is paint!

So we decided to use the turrets from the Panto 'Beauty and the Beast' and make two good turrets and two evil turrets. We are also going to hollow them out and hop inside them whilst we walk in the parade!

Possibilities and Victory

What another fast week! I've been on my toes trying to keep up with everything! We finished painting Victory and its looks amazing! And we have almost finished Possibilities! Possibilities has been a fun show to work on, and I've been able to take a biggish role on the direction of the look as Jude and Rosé where finishing off Merry Wives of Windsor.

Notable Painters in the Realism Movement

Notable Realist painters of the 19^th Century

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• Gustave Courbet, 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877
  
• Most notable painting: Burial at Ornans (1849-50)

• Jean-François Millet, October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875
  
• Most notable painting: The Gleaners (1857)

• Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875
  
• Most notable painting: Souvenir de Mortefontaine (1864)

• Édouard Manet, 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883
  
• Most notable painting: Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe (1863)
  
• Ilya Repin, 5 August 1844 - 29 September 1930
• Barge Haulers on the River Volga 1870 -1873

• Jules Breton, 1 May 1827 – 5 July 1906

• Most notable painting: The Songs of Lark (1844)

Source:

Nineteenth Century Art: A critical History - Stephen Eisenam and Thomas Crow

Gustave Courbet

I think it would be wrong not to do a post about Gustave Courbet when researching into Realism. Courbet, led the movement in the 19^th and believed that ‘the only possible source for a living art is the artists own experience'

Oil and Opera

There hasn't been much production work this week - just the odd bits and bobs to do for Merry Wives of Windsor and Victory. Therefore we were able to do personal projects in the free time we had.

Bo Barlett, Self Portrait 1996

I decided to start painting a portrait that Gary has asked me to do for a leaving present. It is a self portrait by an american artist called Bo Barlett. As I have never worked with oil paints I thought I would try and use them to challenge myself.

Under Layer done in Acrylics

I was pretty nervous when I started to use the oil paints at first, however I am really enjoying them and much prefer them to acrylics. They give a nicer high quality finish, blend really easily and if you make a mistake it's much more forgiving then acrylics as it takes forever to try. I've only worked on it for two days so still have a bit to go!

Stage I am at so far

We also had a paintcall on Friday nights, we got a lot done but there was a few things in the list we didn't manage to do. I have to say the set looks pretty amazing, I think it is one of my favourite designs I have worked on during my 3 years at RCS.

Merry Wives of Windsor

Peredvizhnikia

Peredvizhnikia, alson known as ‘The Wanderers’ were a group of Russian realist artist who went against classical academy training and formed an artist’ cooperative. They created the Association of Traveling Art Exhibits to bring the Arts to the masses and educate ordinary people throughout Russia to appreciate Art.

Victory

Victory Model Piece

Can't believe the first week has all ready finished! We have been working on 'Victory' which is one of the shows for The Tron Theatre. My good friend Sophie Martin is the designer and I have had a really great time working on the set.

MACCT

Well the Easter Holidays just flew by! I can't believe now I only have 17 days until I have finished all my credits for this Academic Year ... freaking out!

Anyways I'll blog about my freak out after I've updated what I've been up to!

Jean-Francois Millet

Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) was one of the founders of the Barbizon School and was part the Realistic movement and Naturalism. He was a son of farmer and is known for painting the scenes of everyday farming life. Despite living with landscape painters of the Barbizon painter, he preferred to paint the ordinary lives of the peasant workers, showing their hardship in rural society and everyday life.

Characteristics of the Realism Movement

Young Ladies of The Village 1852, Gustave Courbet

Subject Matters:

• Rural and Urban working class life
• Scenes of street life
• Scenes of cafes
• Frank approach to the body, nudity and sensual subjects

Source:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm

Merry Wives of Windsor

So my next disaster was wallpapering the Second Angled wall. I had another challenge to face because there was two walls it meant my wall paper had to match up with the first wall. Once again I had to use maths and it took for ages. However, once Rosé and I did all the problem solving the wall papering went really quick and the overall finish to the walls ended up looking fab.

The Gauze

Well I have to admit that I have been very lazy for not blogging all through the production of Merry Wives of Windsor which is the summer Opera for this year. Cordelia Chisholm is the designer again, I love her designs they are so beautiful and elegant (she is also from Motley!) So I'm going to make up for it now!

Carrousel

Carrousel has to be one of the most stress free productions I have ever worked on. So hats of to my friend and head scenic artist of this production, Rosé Sims!

Realism in Theatre and Opera

Realism in theatre was a general movement during the 19^th century, which aimed to show ordinary life on sage through text and performances. It was similar to the ‘naturalism’ movement and focused on everyday drama, normal speech, and mundane settings.

The Origins of Realism

Before realism, many art schools such as the Royal Academy believed that Art should be informative, morally uplifting, sophisticated and beautiful, all inspired by the Classical tradition. However, during the 19^th century, the world was changing at a fast pace, countries throughout Europe where wanting a revolution, the Industrial revolution had already sparked a modern era with lighting, technology, food and transportation. Artists and sculptors no longer wanted to make Art praising the Classical era or biblical stories, instead they wanted to create art which related to the present, their own perceptions in life and their contemporary environment. A new artistic movement was born, Realism, lead by Gustave Courbet who believed if he could not see something, he would not paint it and instead his art would have a social consciousness which would portray the real world, in with no fabrications or longing for the past.

Biblical Art - Leonardo da Vinci, The Last Super 1495-1498

Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet 1854

Sources:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm
 

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/glossary/realist-movement

Realism

In a nutshell Realism was the mid 19th century European art and Literature movement that was stems from the 1848 French Revolution. The movement was a reaction against Romantic and Classical idealisation, and favoured them of everyday life and ordinary social settings.



 Jean Francois Millet Sheperdess with her Flock

 

Source:

 

http://www.nga.gov/collection/sfp/noflash/realism/1941_6_1.htm

Art History and Period Styles

I originally thought I would research into the Impressionism as this if by far my favourite Art Movement, however after some delibiration I thought why should I research into something I already know lots about! So I have decided to research into Realism. Not going to lie, the only artists I know about in this movement in Coubert and Daumier. So hopefully by the end of this module I will have a great understanding and love for Realism.

Source:

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rlsm/hd_rlsm.htm

Gustave Courbet - Un enterrement å Ornans



Carousel and Painting

It has been a funny old week to say the least - it went awfully quick! There hasn't been much to do this week for the Musical Theatre Production - Carousel.  We spent some time making things look a bit more distressed, like the huts, and carried on with the textured floor. As there wasn't much to do we were able to get on with our personal project and wahoo I finished the painting for Andrea.

Man, on Friday it was a bit hectic, I had asked construction last week if they would make me a frame and they were like sure, i asked again if they were on it and they were like yup, and then on Friday I was getting rather worried that I wouldn't have a frame on time so I was like I'll make if you want - but everyone knows i'm not very good with the machines. However, thankfully I got a frame at 12. I originally glazed my painting in matt, however it really didn't do anything, so I glazed it using gloss - but that didn't do much either! So I had to use the mega gloss (it's really expensive) Then Gary wasn't sure about the white things at the top, so we had to dull them down a bit - tbh I think it looked better with the white bits there!

Bridge Week

I could have been lazy, stayed at home and have nice long lie ins, go out with my friends at night and not need to worry about getting up at 7 to go into uni everyday this week. However, the reality is that I finish uni in 12 weeks. 12 WEEKS! So despite my lazy self wanting to have a nice relaxing week, I know I have bigger fish to fry and that is to get my portfolio up to scratch!

I was fortunate to be chosen to do a painting of Patty Pravo album cover 'Occulte Persuasion'  for Gary's friend. So during my bridge week I thought I would tackle the painting.

My brief for the painting was to make the pink less vibrant and the yellow less acidic, and the writing to say 'giura, solo un po'. On Monday I went in feeling good about starting the painting despite being a bit jet lagged. However, I really don't think I was in the right frame of mind. I really don't know what was up with me on Monday and Tuesday - I just wasn't thinking straight and I was definitely not painting straight either. Gary even said my first attempt at the painting was a 'dogs dinner' which is probably very true! I think because Jude was stressing out, the fact that there is 12 weeks left of term I just went crazy and got really nervous that I wasn't good at painting!

However, on Wednesday I pulled myself together and made a logical plan on how to go about painting this picture. Instead of painting in upright on the frame, I got a new canvas and painted the background on the floor using a water technique, and then after the background had dried I popped it back on the frame to tackle the face. Hopefully I will be finished by Monday!

Titan Props and Glasgow Graffiti

It's Bridge Week, so no students are actually scheduled in this week for production work - instead it's sort of a half-term (bridge) between semester 1 and 2.  During bridge week I have been painting a personal project for a commission and on Thursday I took some time off from painting to go on a mini trip with some people from the scenic department - Gary, Jude, Rosé and Rosie.

The five of us headed off to Titan (http://www.titanprops.co.uk/) props after lunch as Simon from construction had told us about their workshop/warehouse facilities. It was literally like walking into Aladdin cave, there was a studio space for photography as well as filming, a workshop for construction/prop making/scenic and thousands of props you could hire. Sadly lots of the props weren't actually there (they had been sent down to London for the Doctor Who set) but it was great to know it was there. In the middle of the warehouse, there was a great scenic set and the painting was really good. It was originally a set for a film, but the film company went bust! Titan props was really good to know about as if I ever need to hire space in the future I know it's there and they also have student, as well as recent graduate rates which is always a plus!

My final week at Juilliard

Sadface. It's all over. I had such an amazing and insightful experience at The Juilliard School. I have returned back to Glasgow equipped with new skills and a determined drive to succeed.

le don pasquale set on stage!

During my last week at Juilliard I spent a lot of time doing the jobs scenic artist dread doing, like washing endless buckets to an inch of their life, filling dodgy flats with plaster of paris and priming. However, I did not mind at all - I was just grateful I was there being to help in anyway I could.

Wahoo, part of metallic gold portal!

My final week was the week before Tech Rehearsal for Don Pasquale and therefore it was final touch up time! I painted the backs of the flats on stage in a dull grey colour so that there was no chance of raw wood being distracting. Even thought this seems like an unimportant it came evident to me that Juilliard have high attention detail. At RCS, we normally leave the backs of flat raw as we just presume they will never been seen, but at Juilliard they cover all their tracks, and this is something I will take back to Scotland with me. I also did a few other touch ups here and there for Don P. such as glazing the posters with Nick and Rachael, as well as painting some of the red wooden flats. It was interesting to see the process for the red flats, as at first glance it looks like they are paintined one shinny flat red colour, with a series of dark washes. However, the richness of the red flats are achieved by priming them in a dull red and glazing them with a very vibrant red - this was a technique I had never done before, and the results speak for themselves!

La Donne

The last few days I was there I was sent up to the third floor to help out in one of the studio theatres to work on the show La Donne. Along with Rachael and Hunter, I helped prep the walls for wall paper, which turned out to be quite laborious job. The large revolving walls where made up of several flats, but the seems weren't entirely flush so we had to use a lot filler and sometime time sanding down the surfaces to get a perfectly smooth surface for wall papering.

The team in action

On Friday I was gutted to be leaving. I wish I had opted for the longer secondment as I felt there was so much more I could learn in a professional environment and I even though I tried so much to to show my scenic talent, I felt I didn't get to show my skills off to their full potential.

Before I left Rachael and I bought One Direction, painting watches .... I  HEART 1D!

I feel very fortunate that I got this amazing opportunity to work at Juilliard. I have an ambition in my scenic art to career to always to try work with people better then me so that I can aspire to be like them and so I can push myself to work alongside them to the best of my ability. At Juilliard I was lucky to work with a bunch of extremely talented individuals, all who gave me helpful guidance and made me feel very welcomed during my time in New York.

Well it's back to reality for me tomorrow. I'll be walking down Great Western road instead of Broadway to my paint my first commissioned painting! Wahoo! It's going to look a bit like this: