Final Bits and Bobs

Lee wasn't in today so I got put on the face of the Demon Cave, which I was pretty scared about as A) I didn't want to muck up his work so far and B) its quite an integral part of the cave! Jude and Suzie did assist me at points to speed up the process as it had to be on the van at 2pm to take down to the set, and I think overall it looks really quite good!

Fly away Demon Wings

Yay! We got the wings done!

Hole School

Whilst researching my specialist research project I came across an amazing type of stencil street art nicknamed 'Hole School' by the Italian artists Sten & Lex who were the first to kick off this technique.

Tired - Brain also seems not to be working

So tired today, and I felt I was just not very good at painting today - my brushstrokes all just seemed a tad mental! We worked late today as the van to take the 'demon cave wings' comes on thursday at 2pm so we really need finish them! They are made out of a sort of strong foam material which was pretty hard to prime as it sucked up the paint like a sponge, however by 8.15pm I think we were all shattered that we called it a night ... so hopefully we shall get them finished tomorrow.

I also worked on the pyramid door today, it took me a while to find the right technique. To begin with I thought it looked like total rubbish but after some helpful hints from head scenic artist Sarah and my tutor Gary, Suzie and I managed to make blend the colours really well and I'm rather happy with the end result.

Gosh its only 21.41pm but I think I need to go to bed, I'm so tired ... can't wait for everything to be done - we've been working on Aladdin for 12weeks now!

Timorous Beasties

Psychedelic, tripping on acid and beatuiful are the words I would use to describe my favourite interior design company - Timorous Beasties (their website). It is this quirky company founded in the West End of Glasgow in the 1990s that made me interested in researching handpainted wallpaper. Okay, so technically speaking my research project is on hand painted wallpaper and er Timourous Beasties does use machines to create some of their designs but they still use handpainting approaches.

Paul Montgomery Studio

I've just finished reading a book/catalogue about the hand painted wallpaper company 'Paul Montogomery Studio' and their work is amazing! Seeing their detailed hand painted Chinoiserie, European Panoramics, Decorative Panneaux designs ... it just motivates me to be as good them and makes me all the more determined to understand the process of hand painted wallpaper.

Wahoo nearly finished panto!

I feel the whole  the scenic team is working really well together, we got so much done yesterday meaning that today wasn't manic and also meant we didn't stay late tonight :)

Long Productive Day

Yestreday started off a bit slow, there wasn't any work for us to paint again so I went back on my personal project for about an hour, and i just can't wait to be finished - all i need to do it finish off Erich Honecker's  (the man on the right) forehead and chin. 

The rest of the day went really well but it was so long as we stayed late but thankfully we got so much done and which meant we didn't need to stay late tonight or come in tomorrow! Lots of people helped out with the UV painting, I was offered a chance to do it but I was having so much trouble with painting the legs for the pyramid I just wanted to get them done and I had done some UV painting before in props so I just carried on painting away.

Personal Project nearly finished!

I woke up today feeling so ill, blocked nose, sore ears, croaky throat ...  I went into uni thinking this was going to be a terrible day, but y'know just powering through made me feel so much better. Today we were back on our personal projects and okay it may not look that I have done much, but I feel I'm nearly finished my personal project. I just have to:

Fix the lettering
Fix Erich Honecker's sking tone
Fix the suits

A bit of a bummer that we were back on personal projects today as there wasn't anything for us to paint today, I feel this has been a bit annoying throughout the production as I think our momentum keeps on dipping and it just means we are going to have to work so so so hard up until monday night

Murals vs. Hand painted Wallpaper

From the beginning of my specialist research project I have been so confused about the cross over in Murals and Hand painted wallpaper. When I think of a mural I normally think of a picture painted on a wall, but when I think about hand painted wallpaper i think of a chinoiserie scenic setting painted on fine paper. However, I guess the word mural is so vague, and from doing my research it seems anything can be a mural if its painted directly onto a wall/ceiling/floor, so I came to the conclusion that hand painted wallpaper is basically a large mural. And then ... I got confused again, if the wallpaper is painted on panels then maybe it isn't mural? Is it only a mural if your just paint the design directly onto the wall? Oh golly i'm confused again!

So to make things easier for myself, I'm going to focus on hand painted wallpaper styles either in a mural style or not.

A.L. Diament & Co. - Fine hand painted wallpaper

I've been very bad at blogging for my specialist research project, and its not because I can't be bothered, rather the contrary - I just don't know where to start! I come in from SLS (for those who don't know thats Spiers Lock Studios where I spend most of my time painting in the scenic department) and I go online to blog about my day. Once I've finished blogging, my fingers automatically type into google 'hand painted wallpaper.' Typing that into google is lethal for me, literally I could look at opulent wallpaper all day every day; I get lost thinking about one day painting my walls in a Chinoiserie style, I look at hand painted wallpaper companies one after another and then when I log back onto blogger I just don't know how to begin blogging about them!

Panto Paint Call

Long day today. The task wasn't that hard, it was just annoying waiting so long for paint to dry, but heyho thats the way the cookie crumbles. I think we all worked really well as a team today, and understood fully the task in hand, we beasted through and finished by 7.30 instead of 9. (Oh my photos didn't come out so good, so the first one is actually of the model box!)

Glitter, Glitter, oh and more Glitter

Half term today. Really? Well not for us scenic artists - too much to paint before panto, er well to glitter!

Funny Friday

Friday was not a good day for me, I just felt so funny/ill and it was really getting to me.

Murals in interior design

Today everyone likes to have a nice interior, so it isn't surprising that having a hand painted mural in your home or hip restaurant is back in vogue. Think of the feature wall, its normally some really nice wall paper, a bold colour or more recently something really eye catching. This craze is something I'm really interested in, why do people want them? Who is likely to buy them and how much do they cost? How do you go about painting one?