Raisin Razzle

Below are a few images of some work I've been

doing recently at the theatre.

This is an old, in-progress shot of the stage for Raisin In The Sun. I did a lot of work on

the brick flats as well as the backdrop.

More work can be seen from this show in my previous posts: 

Old School Raisins and 100 Gallons of Brick on the Wall

We had to make the backdrop opaque in certain places so that it could be backlit as

seen here. Looks like it worked!

After a brief hiatus from the theatre to do other work, I've come back to do 

some lettering and signs. Above is what I'm given. Below are

some in-progress shots of what followed.

Detail shot.

100 Gallons of Brick on the Wall

 Hello! In my absence, I've been busy painting bricks (among other things) at the theatre.

So, here is my second "a day in the office" post.

Working on walls for "A Raisin In The Sun"

Finished product. Looks kinda cool, right?

And now for some "RED"!

It's amazing how much matching and mixing colors looks and feels like cooking.

For those who don't know, the show "RED" is about the artist Rothko.

It's opening this weekend at the Clarence Brown Theatre.

My boss said I could do one of the Rothko paintings that will be on stage

during the show! This was the first canvas I've stretched in years. 

I've still got it! *victorious fist pump* 

An in-progress shot that looks really strange due to a funky glare on the wet paint.

A still from the show that I borrowed from the theatre's Facebook page.

I did some work on those nice, grimy windows as well as the columns. 

Good thing I'm not scared of ladders...

Old School Raisins

Over the holiday break I spent some extra hours in the set shop

at the Clarence Brown Theatre prepping for A Raisin In The Sun, 

coming to the stage on February 21, 2013.

Click here to purchase tickets 

I was thrilled to be given the solo task of drawing out and painting the "billboards" for

the show. Play time for the illustrator!! There were 5 different signs, of which 

I did all of the drawing and most of the painting. 

Here are the two signs I completed first.

The "elevation" I worked from, drawn by the designer for the show.

Finished piece. Sorry for the poor lighting. There wasn't much I could do about it.

A tricky mixture of "tight" lettering and very "loose" handwriting.

The signs needed to look hand-painted and aged. A fun change for me and a

bit challenging at times. Painting in my own handwriting? No, thank you.

Little did I know my hand-drawn lettering days were far from over for this show!

Kelsey, meet the backdrop elevation. 

Thank goodness we had three of us working on it. 

The following images are a close collaboration between 

Charge Artist Jillie Eves, Grad Student Extraordinaire Jason, and myself.

We drew, we painted, we drew again, we're still painting...

How the drop looked when I left today.
(For the record, so as not to overstretch the canvas, we painted all that black by hand..with brushes. Jelous?)

A detail of the left side.

I drew and painted the first coat of all the lettering pictured above (except the "US", Jillie drew that).

I love tedious activities, so I opted to work on most of the signage.

Jillie brought in a bag of Santa candy, so I would reward myself every few letters.

The section I worked on for the last couple days. 

I wasn't done with the bricks on the building yet, but I'm pretty proud of my 

Blue Ribbon sign! My boss told me that if we tossed the drop, 

she would cut that sign out and keep it.

*victory fist pump*

A Day In The Office

Working for the Clarence Brown Theatre is a pretty cool job, 

not to mention a good way to inspire new home decor ideas. This is just one

of the projects I was working on yesterday for the upcoming Christmas Carol show,

making wood plank floors out of giant, white flats.

(In the background are some more planks I've worked on in their finished form.)

Sleeping Sweeney

A just-for-fun, Disney inspired cartoon I drew in honor of my best friend Alex Ward and his most recent success, starring as Anthony in the Clarence Brown Theatre production of Sweeney Todd. His 'promising performance' was noted by the lovely and fabulous Mary Costa  (voice of Disney's Sleeping Beauty), whom Alex had the immense pleasure of meeting after one of his shows. So proud of you, Alex!

*Background photo credit goes to the Clarence Brown Theatre Facebook Page* 

Though, I did help paint those stairs and floorboards!

Mmmeat Pies

I'm honored to have been asked to return to work helping paint sets at the University of Tennessee's Clarence Brown Theatre. And I'm even more excited that I have since been kidnapped/adopted by the Prop Shop also! 

My first solo project: Figure out how to make disgusting looking meat pie filling for Mrs. Lovett's (played by the talented Dale Dickey) meat shop.

Check her out ---> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0225460/

(Above) In process photo. Gross right?! 

Model magic & Acrylic paint

The finished product! I lathered on some poly to make it look slimy. Deliciously gross!