SCENERY PAINTING FOR THE AMATEUR MUSICAL THEATRE and PANTOMIME

JEKYLL AND HYDE THE MUSICAL- page three
Designed by Brian Logan
Scenery constructed by Ronny Kelly, Gordon Kelly, Mark McCandless and Michael Sweeney.
Performed by Ballywillan Drama Group, Riverside Theatre, Coleraine January 2007

CURTAINS

 

Setting up the dining room walls flats.

Another job I was asked to do for Jekyll and Hyde was to paint a set of flats to represent the walls of a Victorian dining room. Here they are being erected on the stage. The set was a huge affair consisting of many walkways, bannisters and sets of stairs. This is just a corner of it. Note my "Paint Table". I couldn't survive without that. The top is a separate sheet of board (Now thick with paint) which overlaps the real table top. The board has small castors at each corner so I can take it off and put on the floor if working on low projects.
WS Curtains Close-up of curtains
Above is a detail of the curtains. (Photo takn in the church hall where I painted the scenery.)

Above is a close-up of the curtains.
I first put on a base coat of the main colour of these drapes. However, unlike the doors, whilst the paint was still wet, I added a darker colour to be the folds. In the background of the above left photo I have left a little of the real curtains for you to see the various values of colour. The dark folds are darkest in the depths of the fold and get lighter as they near the outside. I often do this by first dipping a clean wide brush in clean water then dipping the edge of that brush in a dark colour. Now I do a few "practice" strokes on a spare piece of board which evens out the colour so that my brush is loaded with dark colour on one side which gaduates to clear on the other side. I then paint this as the folds. Next, once the folds have been painted, I put in the highlights of a lighter version (a tint) of the base colour. And finally I use a small brush to paint pure white to put in the bright front edges of the folds .
What also helps to give these curtains the 3d effect are the shadows I painted to help the illusion of panels and walls. Note the shadow on the rail is further out than on the wall. (I think that is the wrong way round! but it works)
 
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