Sun Yat-Sen

I've been down in Santa Fe for a week. It's only a 7 hour drive. This time I drove through snow at the Colorado New Mexico border. Yes, the weather is nuts.

I love Santa Fe. I lose 5 pounds out of my wallet and gain 5 pounds around my waist whenever I drive through.

I've had a long relationship with Santa Fe, and more specifically with the Santa Fe Opera.

I went down this time to visit with designer Allen Moyer and director James Robinson.

They're doing a North American premiere of Huang Ruo's Opera "Dr. Sun Yat Sen"

Lucky me! Last week there were rehearsals on stage. Unfortunately I didn't get to hear a rehearsal with the orchestra (or see James Schuette's costumes or Chris Akerlind's lighting). The piano accompaniment just doesn't do this score justice as  maestro Carolyn Kuan says "there is no beat" and the piano just isn't fast enough to keep the seamless flow of Huang Ruo's music. (His music reminds me of Ancient Voices of Children by George Crumb.)

I have no pictures for you but I was able to do a few sketches. I love doing these on an iPad mini. You can draw quickly  with a stylus or with your finger. During a rehearsal fast is good and I found myself doing speed drawing for speed poses.  Sean Curran's choreography is just stunning.

The style is linear. The story is cyclical. 

Your eye follows the motion and the curves.

Your eye follows the  flow which is seamless and rolls out like a rice paper scroll.

It's a love story after all...

within a Revolution.

The opening is Saturday July 26 2014.

(Yes, breakfast at Tia Sophia, lunch at Pasqual's and dinner at Geronimo's, no,  not on the same day. Now I need to recuperate.)

Epilogue: The NY Times review

Elixir in Saint Louis

Here's a follow up on the post on "Elixir of Love" 

for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Allen Moyer is the Scene Designer.

James Robinson is the Director of the original Production 

and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Here are some in progress pix from the Saint Louis Scene Shop.

and here's the set during rehearsal…

Here's a little reminder of what the model looked like…

and what the rendering (my contribution) looked like…

Stephen Lord , Conductor

Jose Maria Condemi , director

Susannah Biller, Adina

René Barbera , Nemorino

Tim Mix , Belcore

Patrick Carfizzi , Dr. Dulcamara

Leela Subramaniam , Giannetta

Saint Louis Post Review

Alive Review 

Rene Barbera

Photo Ken Howard

Playback:stl Review 

Broadway World Review 

Go- buy tickets!

Elixir

Since I've written about "work" I though I might as well show you some.

Allen Moyer asked me to work as his assistant for a production of Elixir of Love which will be produced at the Saint Louis Opera this summer (2014).

Allen's scale model using the rendering from the San Francisco production.

It's a project I've worked on with him before for the Colorado Opera and the San Francisco Opera. For those two productions I was the Scenic Artist/Scenic Supplier as well (that means I not only painted the scale rendering but painted the full scale pieces in my studio)

Here's a record of painting the scale rendering for this production:

It's all based on Grant Wood paintings. The first job was to create a composition which fit onto the stage using Grant Wood as inspiration and scans from the previous show curtains. This was done in photoshop:

A little perspective fiddling had to be done to get everything to sit on the ground together.

This was going to be 3 walls. The total width 70'. We settled on 3/4" scale because of the size of illustration board available and the level of detail needed in the rendering. I was a bit concerned with that since I wouldn't be painting it myself and all the "shorthand" I'd used in the previous renderings needed to be written out longhand this time.

I printed out the photoshop piece at 3/4" scale onto vellum and then transferred the "cartoon" to board. I do this the old fashioned way with a paper I've rubbed with graphite. Store bought transfer papers leave a greasy mark where you've applied pressure which acts as a "resist" to the paint. 

After transferring the design to hot press watercolor board it was time to start. I prefer hot press because cold press is a  textured surface.  It's much easier to get a good calligraphic line on a smooth surface (and Scenic materials are normally smooth as well). This is 3 boards taped together.  

This is Cresent brand board. I like Strathmore *a lot* better it's got a tougher skin and absorbs better. The Cresent pulled up under some of the masking fluid (not good).  

Since it's watercolor it will always be highlights first- shadows after.

I did this in 6 hour days. That's primarily because the light was right for 6 hours. Too early or too late and the colors start to change. 

Day 2

Day 3. There's endless detail in Grant Wood you just have to pull back and stop at some point.

Day 4 and I start to fill in the fields. 

I've used masking fluid (rubber cement) to cover the people in the fields.

Finally on day 5 it's beginning to look like something.

Now on Day 6 it's time for some "sweetening"

I cover the entire painting in masking film and start peeling back specific areas. Actually this is from my stash of Zipatone Parapaque photographic blocking film- it's much better than low tack masking film but no longer available.

These areas are spattered with color to add depth,

  and texture.

Then it's time to pull all the masking film off and do a few touch ups…

and then off to FedX

I hope to post pictures of the full scale production later this summer.

Here's a little taste from the San Francisco production.

This is a big challenge to light since it has so many delicate colors and it's difficult not to have something go to mud during a cue. If you want to see how Paul Palazzo solved that problem- buy the dvd.