The Juilliard School New York

Hello from New York! As part of my course I needed to find work experience for 2 weeks in a professional environment, so I contacted The Juilliard School in NYC. I've always thought of it as an amazing place, it's situated in the Lincoln Centre - surrounded by the heart of the Performing Arts of the city.  My first (very cold week -10!) has been amazing! Getting out here was a bit of a nightmare though ... I can't believe British aviation can't function in a flurry of snow ... not to mention everyone knew we where expecting snow last Friday! Anyways I arrived in New York a day late (yup I slept in Heathrow on a cold floor!) and had no luggage (yup BA managed to loose my luggage for 3days!)

On Monday, bright eyed and bushy tailed I made my way from Port Washington to the big City of New York. I was so nervous to say the least, I still couldn't/can't believe Im in New York helping to paint the sets for Juilliard!

Juilliard is massive! Their paint shop is similar to ours, but they don't have a frame, and not going to lie I feel the organisation in their department is second to none! There are two professional interns, David and Rachel, who are super nice. Then there is the Charge Scenic Artist Jenny, and her assistant Emily who both made me feel very welcomed! There where also some freelancers helping paint this week - Claire, Nick and Hunter, all who are very talented!

I was so so so nervous, especially on my first two days, I was so scared of making mistakes that I painted so slow, and then as I was so worked up I kept on doing daft things like painting a straight line super wonky. Lets just say it wasn't my finest scenic art work. By the middle of the week I became much more confident and started to relax, I really started to push myself to speed up when painting and tried to strop thinking 'they are probably judging me!'

The Paint Shop

Currently at Juilliard they have been working on the opera 'Don Pasquale'.  It's been the first time I've seen a model box where the majority of the model pieces have been photoshoped, I've always been used to models that are hand-painted. The design is lovely though, and I have been working on the portals (they mask the wings), under direction from Hunter. We have been painted them look metallic and 3-D. It's been great learning new techniques such as using textured rollers in a new way and gold leaf (at RCS we don't tend to use gold leaf as it's rather expensive).

A section of the portals

On Friday I had bit of a change from the portals and got to work alongside Rachel and David on some black and white stripy flats. Working on this task I learnt a lot, as at RCS we usually paint straight onto the wooden flats, or if we have a larger budget we will paint on flats that have a framed canvas. However, at Juillard they paint on muslin which is primed with a 1:1 ratio of white latex and water, then sprayed with a starch solution which gives the flat a nicer and sharper finish. Anyways, I got the task of priming them, man I found it hard work and got two nasty blisters!

I've also learnt a lot of basic things that will come in handy when I'm back in the UK. Normally we just wash our brushes in water, but at Juilliard they wash them with Murphy's oil or soap. They never leave brushes in water over break as the water reacts with the binder in the ferrule. Housekeeping is done thoroughly, we usually just wash out buckets until they look good enough, but at Juilliard they wash them until they are pristine. I'm also getting to grips with the imperial system (hello inches). And finally maybe a Purdy brush shouldn't  always be my first brush of choice, at Juilliard they use a lot of Chip Brushes - we usually use those when using substances like using meths or glue!

Look at the organisation!

For improvement for myself as a Scenic Artist, I've realised that I really need to get quicker at painting. I feel I am good at drawing up model pieces, but I think I should start going to evening drawing classes to get even better, and seeing how much at Juilliard they paint on the floor, I now want to do a personal project of a landscape on the floor, painting with a fitch (a small sash brush) on a stick.

It's been a great first week, and I can't wait for next week to do it all again! I really want to move out here next year, I just have to keep working hard and hopefully I can create my own luck and make my dream into reality.

Hand Painted Furniture

Ahhh I'm going to New York tomorrow for work experience today! I can't believe I'm going to The Juilliard School - I am so excited!!!!!

So I have finished both my personal projects (yay) and I'm now on to another!

 As a scenic artist I am a bit scared about the future so as I back up I am painting furniture to a high standard so that I can potentially sell them! Right now I am working on a chair, originally I wanted to ombre it using a grey-scale palette, but after speaking to Gary it seems like a better idea to ombre it using the same colours as the cushion ... i.e blue. I am doing a Timorous besites pattern on the pillow so hopefully it will all go to plan!

Sanded Chair

Negotiated Project

Today was rather calm, there wasn't a lot of hustle and bustle going on so I cracked on with my negotiated projects.

This morning I looked at my perspective painting with disappointment, the figures looked rubbish, I hadn't captured all of the tones in the columns and the stairs to the right of the painting were wrong. So I decided to spend half the day fixing the problems I identified - i guess I'm feeling a bit happier with it but to be honest I still dislike it.

I'm still enjoying the painting of my brother, except I'm a bit scared of talking the nose and the chin! Fingers crossed tomorrow I will be finished with the painting!

Negotiated Projects

Well today has been very productive, and I am so happy that  I am much further on with both projects.

Not going to lie, I HATE the perspective painting - I really feel I have let myself down. I have spent so so so long on it and it's not my best work, additionally I also think it looks really amateur. On Friday when I was painting all I could think is that I don't even think I want it in my portfolio. As I was/am rather behind on my negotiated project I am just going to have to leave my painting as it is, and after I've handed it in and got it back, I am going to work at it while I'm back in my flat until I'm happy with it.

On the other hand, I am rather pleased how the painting of my brother is going. It has been fun being expressive compared to being a perfectionist. Painting in the style of Andrew Salgado has loosen me up and made me quicker, which I am very happy about as I am normally so slow!

 I had to stop painting around 8ish tonight, as I felt I was getting rather tired and I was scared I was going to make silly mistakes.

Not really to sure what I will be up to tomorrow, there is meant to be a paintcall down the road for Macbeth, but as we have several first years in and I guess they will be doing it to get some experience. So hopefully tomorrow I will get time to finish both my paintings!

Negotiated Project

I've been so worried about negotiated project, I didn't realise how quickly 1 semester would go and I am meant to have finished all 3 paintings by the 1st of February. On Saturday night I realised that my goal of achieving this was very unrealistic as I am going to New York for 2 week next friday (I've got work experience lined up at Juilliard!) So I scheduled in a tutorial with my tutor, Martin. Thankfully he realised my goal wasn't very realistic either, so we went through my module brief and changed the 3 painting to 2, and changed my deadline date to the 5 of February. It seems much more realistic and I really think I can do it, I've stayed late twice this week already and tomorrow and Friday I will stay on an extra 2 hours to make sure I make my deadline!

The Shakespeare's

Eventhough I had an excellent holiday (one of the best Christmas's and New Year yet!) I am very happy to be back in the department and keeping myself busy. Sometimes during the holidays I just feel I need to be back in a fast pace environment seeing the rewards of hard working team work paid off!

We have spent the last couple of days finishing the sets for 'Macbeth' and 'Comedy of Errors' and it's been such fun. On Tuesday I helped finish the subway carriage (the door needed dirtied down inside and out) and today I have been busy finishing the suitcases which look really cool!
As the budget was rather small we couldn't buy suitcases and reinforce them, so construction made several wooden boxes that you can stand on and jump out of the top one! It's been good learning the techniques such as leather, metalics and dirtying down!

Lee is managing these shows and I think he has done such a good job!

Front Row - BBC Radio 4

So just chilling watching Project X (the film about 3 school high school seniors that throw a birthday party that spirals out of control) I'm laughing and also being depressed that I am almost finished Uni and the chances of going to a wild party again getting slimmer by the day. Anyways halfway during the film my dad comes in and says I'm listening to Radio 4 and suggests that I should come into the kitchen to listen. Reluctantly I twaddle into the kitchen to listen to some documentary and it turns out to be really interesting.

Negotiated Project day 4

Lindt Factory

My Brother eating a Bratwurst in Aachen

It's so good to be home and being really daft with my brother and sisters. Everyone I talk to thinks my family are bats, and that we have the craziest stories every! Anyways as the my brother and sisters are back I have being swaying away from my negotiated project! On Saturday I went to the German Market in Aachen which was good fun and we also popped into the Lindt factory store ... NOMNOM! However, today I hopped back down to the basement and went with a new P.O.A!

THE SPACE - Arts Council

So my painting is not going well, I have had to paint out my brother's nose as I am so annoyed with it and I just went down to the basement to have a peek at it and now I don't like the hair. BREATHE.

Anyways this post isn't really about my negotiated project ... its about something really exciting called 'The Space' click here for the website. Have you looked at it, do you know what it is? Well you should!  The Space is an interactive, exciting, innovate and free way to experience the Arts for free! You can watch upcoming art events, browse through rare archives, watch live performances ... all on your computer or laptop or T.V or tablet or phone! It's a joint venture developed by Arts Council England in partnership with the BBC. I think it's such a good way to get the Arts easily available to the masses. Think about how many times you haven't gone to the Theatre or seen an exhibition at an art Gallery as you are skint for money, well this is a way to access the Arts or performance you have missed for free. It's an easy way to view our country's vast cultural archive and it is at the heart of how we as individuals use digital technology to perceive art.

I think as a Scenic Artist, what The Space is doing for us but also for other artists, musicians, actors, technologists ... is a great platform to dynamicaly show to our nation what we have to offer. 

For example on the 7th of January The Space will be broadcasting: Royal Opera Live. Starting at 10.30am there will be a live stream for 10 hours of behind the scenes. 21 cameras will be positioned around the ROH, you'll be able to watch what goes on during the day: backstage you can see what  Technical Stage Management are doing, in the pit you can see Antonio Pappano in action and also on the site you'll be able to view Act 3 of Wagner's 'Die Walküre'. Hmmm I wonder if we will see Jude Bomphray (my close friend on my course) behind the scenes as on the 7th of January she is having a tour round the ROH that day! 

Negotiated Project Day 3

Today went pretty well, I worked on my painting for a couple of hours but it's just rather cold down in my basement! I think I must feel the cold really easily - I mean I thought it was cold in the paint shop at SLS (it's not unusual to find me painting near the radiator in there and I'm forever getting told to turn off the radiators so that the heat doesn't warp the wood!) I'm thinking I must look rather odd whilst I paint ...

Negotiated Project Day 2

Well I slept in today - I'm sleeping rather well at the moment ... think it's because panto is over so I'm feeling a big sigh of relief! Anyways I got cracking with the painting of my brother today. I painted down in our basement as we have so much useless space down there and it really is a great space - there's a sink where i can wash my brushes, a huge wall I can pin the canvas on and there are even plug sockets so that I can plug my mac in! However it's extremely cold down there so I was painting wearing my UGG's and my ski hat!

Negotiated Project

Today I successfully manage to find Schleiper on Chaussée de Charleroi and it was the best Art Store I have ever been to! It was absolutely massive (much bigger then Dom Knigi in Moscow) and was a 100x more stocked then any Art store in Glasgow. I picked up quite alot for €60 - canvas, acrylics, paint brushes, 2 pallette knives and a medium to create texture.

Andrew Salgado - Parenthesis

So now I am ready to start painting my next personal project. After browsing for quite a while gawking at Andrew Salgado paintings, I have decided to replicate his painting of the 'Parenthesis' as the portrait actually looks quite scarily like my brother Alastair! I have worked out that I have 6 full days to finish the painting until I leave Belgium on the 28th of December, so I am going to work really hard to meet this deadline!

My brother, Alastair

Back to Brussels

So it's my first day back at home and I went into the centre of Brussels to try pick up some canvas to start another personal project. After traipsing around the city centre in the pouring rain trying to find 'Schleiper' on Zuidstraat- which is a well known Art Store in Belgium, I got to to the shop only to discover in that particular store they don't sell canvas by the meter - There was no way I was going to buy a large mounted canvas board and try manoeuvre that on the busy subway! The man in the store was really nice and spoke English, he told me I could buy canvas by the metre at their Chaussée de Charleroi store, however for some odd reason I thought that was miles away and when I got back home I discovered it was just around the corner!

Anyways, rant over - I shall be going back into the centre of Brussels tomorrow to buy myself some canvas! I really want to fire out another personal project this week whilst I'm at home, as the personal project I am working on at the moment is taking so long. I follow a good blog/site called This Is Colossal  (website) and I came across an amazing portrait artist, Andrew Salgado (website). Portraiture is probably  one of my favourite types of Art, as you can be in awe of a painting and not even know who the person is in the painting, they could have some connection with you and you might not even know it. So I have decided to paint my younger brother Alastair  in the style of Salgado. Hopefully this will help me to become more expressive and free in my style of painting as to be honest I am such a perfectionist! 

Start of Shakespeare's (Week 11)

So that's Panto finished (woop) and I am so happy to be right at the heart of production work again - that's just getting stuck in and painting painting painting!

Negotiated Project

ahsjdflkahsjkldfhla - Why am I so slow at painting at times?! I really, really, really wanted to be finished on my personal project by the end of this term but realistically that's not going to happen. I really pushed myself with this project - the painting is very detailed and I want to make a really good job of it so that it looks good in portfolio, but also that I can be proud that I have finally finished it. I think Gary may think I'm not trying hard enough with it, but I just haven't had the time to get into the swing of it and I'm finding it hard trying not to paint in a 'fine-art style.' So it looks like I will be coming into SLS during the Xmas holiday to finish it. 

I don't even want to go up close to photo it!