Today was definitely one of the most useful days of my placement so far, possibly one of the least productive, but I learnt the most.
Natalie and I got to spend the day with the wonderful scenic painter Anna Stamper, who is just a joy to work with.
Unfortunately, given that today was their last day with us, the painting team were exceptionally busy meaning that they really didn't have time to talk us through everything step by step or give us much hands-on experience in terms of painting stuff- just because they were too tight for time.
But Anna and her team were still so helpful and gave us so many tips- how to paint things to look like wood (including 'give your brush a bad haircut'), how to texture paint etc etc. And at the end of the day she commented on 'what a nice team' myself and Natalie made, and gave us both her number with the instruction to call her if we any needed any help or advice. What a wonderful lady!
So I learnt a huge amount today, mainly painting techniques, but I physically DID very little. There was one creative job on set which Anna delegated to myself and Natalie, but given that I had got the creative job of working on the Gerhard Richter painting yesterday, I was more than happy to let Natalie have the main part in this. I spent most of the day holding ladders and washing-up brushes (Anna even had a good tip for doing this) and as usual I painted some more things black, but I was happy in this role because I felt I was learning a lot and I knew Natalie would do a great job. Our job was essentially to transcribe a painterly line from the set model onto the wall 25 times the size. It was such an interesting exercise because getting it right took alllllllll day, you wouldn't believe! Yet in the model box, I'm sure it was just a hap-hazard absent minded brush-stroke that the Designer put little thought into but was happy with the result. It just made me realise how important it is to make your model boxes so incredibly accurate ESPECIALLY when working with scenic painters, as they strive so so hard to replicate everything impeccably from your model; it might be something that didn't even cross your mind when you made the model- the angle of a wall, the splat of paint on the floor, but if you have a good production team, chances are any happy accidents will be replicated to full scale! It was an important lesson to learn.
I was actually very glad to have taken the back-seat for this exercise, even if it meant doing more menial tasks, because it was so hard to get the brush stroke 'just right'. The Designer came in half way through and told us what she thought could be improved, but it was only until after she left that we realised that each one of us had got a completely different interpretation of what she meant- it was like an optical illusion- do you see the vase or the couple facing one another? - like with this it was more the case of 'is it a white brush stroke on black, or a black brush stroke on white'. The problem was when the designer had said 'more paint at the top' (for example) half of us construed it as black, the other half as white.... so complicated. Poor Natalie had to keep at it for so long, and to be honest the sight-lines for this set are so unusual that only a very select few of the audience can see the line anyway. But still, I am in complete support of replicating the Designer's vision- she knows what she's talking about and it's important that she's happy with the results of the set.
She also talked to me about the painting, I think primarily she was happy with it (which I was surprised about because I have grown to abhor it) she asked me to blurry up the features a bit more, which is like a 10 min job, so I will do that on monday or tuesday before I go. I hope she is genuinely happy with it, I wish I'd had more time- could have done a better job I'm sure....
I learnt a lot today.
 |
| Perfect for Painting wood: 'Paintbrush with a bad haircut' |
 |
| Mid-wood-effect... faux mahogany. |
No comments:
Post a Comment