Lights, camera ...

Click here and here to see even better photos of the set from the actual performance, with the beautiful lighting, costumes and (last but not least) dancers.

Set Painting. Why Not:

80 hours of painting to pull it off.

But as I was in the midst of it, I kept being surprised by how much fun I was having. I kept thinking, "This is what I love to do!" It wasn't a slog. It wasn't a chore. It was genuinely fun. (I hope the other folks helping out can say the same). I listened to a few hundred TED.com talks while working on the cottages in my basement. And I renewed my knowledge of 80's music while working on the stage (the backdrop section was 13.5' tall by 28' wide, not to mention the 6 flats by the wings).

I guess I forgot how gratifying it is to be a part of a community effort. You get to know all these people in a whole new way. Everyone does their little part and then it all comes together as something great. Of course, it doesn't hurt that, in the end, the whole thing is this great experience for the young, dedicated dancers who are actually doing the performing. In the end, it's their show.

So would I do it again? I've already started planning for the Nutcracker...

photo credit Bridget Shore

Set Painting, Why Not?

This spring, I ended up volunteering to design the background painting for the Blue Heron Dance Company production of Giselle.  I wasn't planning on undertaking this huge endeavor, but then I realized a) nobody else was stepping forward and b) I do, in fact, have a degree in painting.  I could come up with a German forest.  Why not?

I tried to come up with a design that could be done in a weekend by a small crew of volunteer artists and non-artists alike.  To keep it simple, I painted the mock-up in stages so we could do sort of a step by step, painting background to foreground. 

Step 1

step 2

Step 3

Step 4