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: