Just back from a production meeting for the play Peter Pan, where I presented my design for a painting that's to cover the back wall of the stage, providing a theatrical backdrop for much of the play. Thankfully the director loved it, though I may enhance some of the colors, and he wants an Indian camp added to the forest...there are always changes to be made.
I love doing scenic work. Since so much of my work is now digital, I rarely get a chance to do 'old school' style painting like this - with brushes and paints, and all the mess and unpredictability that goes with it.
My watercolor sketch for this mural is deliberately light on detail - scenic backdrops don't need detail, because the audience is far back and won't see it...this type of work is more 'atmospheric' in nature...it's actually a great contrast to my digital work for the publishing world, which is clean, tight, and carefully planned down to the the smallest details....and involves sitting for hours in front of a computer screen.
Painting a 10 by 20 wall is an entirely different experience - I might make the barest sketch on the wall; just enough to map out basic areas, but after that it's all about laying down paint - big, broad strokes that you put your whole body into - you're jumping up and down on scaffolding, running back to look at it from far away, then back to the wall again-I tend to work pretty fast, so it's exhilirating, a real workout. And very meditative - when you lay down real paint, there's no going back...you have to be completely into the image...it's everything - the colors, the mess, the paint-spattered clothes - the total exhaustion you feel when it's finally finished...there's nothing like it.
