High Society images: closure
Oof. On Sunday the 21st I textured the deck. As I write this on Monday, the strains and pulls are ripening like the buds on the crabapple tree by our door. If you needed convincing that we live in a world of marvels, let me just say one word in your ear: Aspirin.
Steve and Julie are well into the lighting; yesterday they were gelling and programming (and, as I waited for the paint to dry, Julie was telling me about molletes, the great all-purpose food of Mexico's Gulf coast). The photo at left shows the pretty much completed look, at least for some scenes.
The Lord mansion turned out to have lots more rooms (and hence windows) than we thought. I was lucky that the painting crew figured out the floor plan: Some rooms show us two windows on different walls of the house and therefore have to have the same curtains.
If you looked closely at the first photo, you noticed the black draperies behind the scenery. Not only did the plan call for natural muslin masking, we actually had it hung that way on Saturday. Apparently they found something seriously wrong with the plan, because after Sunday's rehearsal they struck the whites and replaced them with blacks. That kind of thing does happen: a bit of the design that looks right up until the moment when everyone realizes it was wrong.
This piece, on the other hand, is just right. Nikki created the exterior as seen somewhat closer-up. The flowers appeared rather suddenly between Sunday and Monday.
Director Amy wanted a "marble" effect for the floor; that would serve for both interior and exterior scenes. It was clear to me, maybe before it was to her, that we'd have to have a highly informal marble treatment. I adapted a technique from the faux painting class at Athens Tech, laying down the stripes and then blurring them, à la Frank Bieleck, with a big sponge. A brown and a green went down in parallel, then a set of narrower red veins. Finally, I prepared a wash of the base color (Santolina Blooms (career tip: the paint companies will pay you big bucks if you can create color names like that)) and sponged it over the whole affair to take some of the boldness out.
A wise professor told one of our friends, "There are two kinds of dissertations: those that are perfect and those that are done." A good principle for community theater sets as well. This one's done. I'll miss working with the cast, but I look forward to seeing their show. High Society opens March 26 for a two-weekend run; it ought to be good entertainment.
| Previous image | Image index | First image |
| Approved Ben Teague web site |
 |
Images