Designed and painted by Brian Willis. Sets constructed by Sean Magee
Will be performed by Coleraine Provincial Players, (2010)
We have bought one new backcloth for this year's show. Below is a photo taken in the workshop of the new cloth after I have sealed it - which took overnight to dry - then put on the one foot grid and transferred the main outlines. Grid and transfer done with charcoal.
17 feet by 11 feet cloth. Steps deliberately left in the photo for scale. Slightly wonky angle of photo as I can't get back far enough.
Note I have not bothered to draw a grid where it is just sky. (Top right) The less grid marks the better because they are inclined to show through if I paint with a transparent wash of emulsion paint. So I have taken to using a clean bucket of water and a stiff brush and wash off the grid once it is no longer needed and the outlines drawn in. See photo below.
Yes I know it looks mucky but paint will cover that.
Whilst I am working on this cloth, Sean is going to build the two Palm Tree wings for this scene so that when I paint I can keep my greens the same on cloth trees and wing trees.
Once the cloth is completely dry from the washing I then put masking tape on the inside of all the lines. (Not actually on the charcoal lines as it wont stick) This enables me to paint sky and sea right across any element which I can then remove the masking tape to have the outline preserved. Here I point to the outline of the palm trunk after I had painted the sea right across it and then removed the tape.
Below is a photo of the completed cloth.with a 2.5 litre paint tin for scale.
2.5 ltr paint tin for scale.
In retrospect... if there is a reflection of the ship - why are there no reflections of the mountains? Too late now. And I also forgot to put in the seaweed draped over the boat's ribs. They were an important design element. I will try to paint them in when we get to the hall.