Work Experience: First job as a paid Scenic Artist

DAY EIGHT:

I spent the morning working on my painting. I was mainly concentrating on the fine detail on the face as that requires the most work. At mid day Hilary received a call from another set designer who was in need of some scenic painters, so she set the task for me and Jenny Rands. The job was at the Cochrane Theatre in Holborn near Central St Martin on a production called “Cure for a Cuckold”.  The set consisted of one large flat with four windows and a door that needed to be pained to represent sandstone, in quite neutral tones of yellow ochre and a dark blue/grey colour. Part of the set had already been painted by some other freelance scenic painters; however Mark Friend, the designer, was not happy with the work they had done so we were asked to help work back into the piece. This proved to be quite a challenge as I find it is always difficult to repaint over something that was done by another person, as you have to try and make your style blend in with what has already be produced. Also at the same time the lighting crew where doing a set up, so we had to work within varying light conditions, sometimes with no light at all. On the other hand it was interesting to work alongside the lighting crew and observe what it is their job entails, how it works and how what they do has an effect on the painting. Due to the height of the set some of the painting had to be done with a very sophisticated artist’s tool, of a paint brush gaffer taped to a broom handle. Although simple enough this proved difficult to wield and an added challenge to the whole task, especially when used up a ladder. On the whole it was a really good experience to go and work in another environment that was completely different from the National, as we were working on stage instead of a workshop. It just proved that in this business you have to be very adaptable.