That bonnet I was working on

 Here are some pics of the bonnet, all trimmed and ready to go.  I was pretty happy w/ how it turned out.  I'd do the ribbon ties differently in future, but otherwise it looked perfect on the wearer and on stage.

 

 

"Editorial" makeup

 I'm taking a Stage Makeup class this semester and this week's assignment, in preparation for our midterm, is "editorial makeup".  Apparently that refers to the really out-there kind of looks you see during, say, Fashion Week or other avant garde settings.  Here's what I came up with.

MT workshop has only met twice and I'm already learning a lot

The Musical Theater Workshop I'm taking this semester meets once a week for a 3-hour class period.  We've only met twice so far, but already I'm getting a new perspective on auditioning and performing an audition piece, and about how I need to rethink both.

I've sung in choirs and choruses on and off, but mostly on, since grade school.  That's a LOT of singing, but no instruction on technique.  It wasn't until I was fairly well established in my career, and had done community theater with a lot of excellent singers, that I decided I both wanted and could afford to take voice lessons.  Over the ensuing coupla decades, most of those lessons have been remedial work - unlearning all the bad habits I developed because a choir director doesn't have time to correct singers' vocal production techniques.  Only recently have I gotten to be a singer, not just someone who likes singing.

This class has already shown me that I've spent so much time working and concentrating on my technique that I focus on that when I sing, whether in performance or audition.  They don't care about my technique (unless it's awful, of course); they want to hear me put my heart & soul into what I'm singing, bring it to life.  A pretty voice is all well & good, but directors want to cast someone who inhabits the music.  Now that I realize that, I need to work on trusting my technique to take care of itself while I learn how to really deliver a song.

I hadn't *planned* to take any classes over the summer but...

The department advisor sent out an email on Friday announcing summer class offerings.  Nearly all were the same ones we'd been told about as the spring semester was ending, but one was new - Hair & Wigs for the Stage.  It's an intense schedule - 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, for 3 weeks.  Three credit hours crammed into 3 weeks - whew!  I hadn't planned to take any summer classes, and of course they cost tuition, but it gets me 3 credits closer to graduation and I'll be able to apply the knowledge almost immediately in one community theater production or another.

I just ordered the textbook.  Not cheap, but it's a brand-new (2015) hardback, it got rave reviews, and I know I'll use it long after the class is over, so I look on it as an investment.

Getting ready for more music learning...

This afternoon I met with the head of the Voice department at school, who answered all but my admin questions about becoming a Voice major or minor.  She also recommended taking piano, so that's what I'm gonna do.  It's always been on my "things to do once I retire" list, so on the way home, I stopped by a local music school and signed myself up for piano lessons!

I'm taking it slow:  just 6 weeks of 30-minute lessons, but it'll include ear training and theory, so I'll have lots to keep my brain as well as my fingers busy this summer!  I start 2 weeks from yesterday - can't wait!  I'll never get to Mom's level - I'm starting MUCH too late - but if I can learn to play well enough to learn new songs and maybe even accompany myself a little, I'll be delighted.

They asked if I want to participate in the end-of-session recital.  After just 6 weeks of lessons, in my whole life, ever?  No way!  As I told them, I don't want to subject the audience to my baby rendition of Mary Had a Little Lamb or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

This was NOT on my To Do list when I left the house this morning, so I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm actually, finally gonna be taking piano lessons.  When I told the Chief when I got home, he was happy that I'll finally be learning to play the electronic keyboard I bought several years ago and which has essentially been a very large, very expensive pitchpipe and metronome.  We'll see how happy he is once I start practicing scales and fingerings and my Piano 001 arrangement of Mary Had a Little Lamb or what-have-you. :D

I can't help thinking of Mom.  I'm sure she'd be delighted that I'm doing this.  And she won't have to listen to my halting scales.  The Chief will, poor guy - pray for his sanity! :D

That's the first class finished...

Today was the last session of my Fundamentals of Theatrical Design class.  No final exam, thank heaven!  Instead, we had a final project due today - a Cornell box based on our design concept (earlier projects) for Sarah Ruhl's play, Eurydice.  We've been working on these in class over the past couple of weeks, with lots of helpful suggestions from our instructors, two MFA Design candidates (one scenic, one costumes).  I was amazed at how many different takes on the same story our class came up with, each of them with its own unique spark of genius.

I'm not thrilled with how my box turned out, but it isn't horrible.  Given that I've never tried anything remotely like it, I think it's OK, and some of my classmates had very nice things to say about it.  After literally losing sleep over it (I'd wake up during the night and my brain would start working on what to put in it, how to arrange this or that, how to anchor the glasses...), at this point I'm just relieved to have it behind me.  No idea what kind of grade I'll get for it, but I've got an A+ (101.56%, thanks to a bonus paper I turned in for "insurance") for everything else I've done this semester, so unless the instructors really hate it, I think I've got at least a B+ for the class.

This was quite an education in techniques.  I had to decide what kind of paint to use on the box so the wood grain would show through; I settled on well-watered acrylics, and ended up not sealing it with anything.  Anchoring the shelf was another challenge; regular nails were too big, screws ditto, and finishing nails tended to push the shelf supports away from the box.  I ended up relying on wood glue, which was OK because the heaviest thing on the shelf is the clock, which has no battery in it.  I had to use glue to keep the string wrapped around the nails, and museum putty to anchor the clock and the glasses in the bottom.

One of the instructors suggested "distressing" the clock so it wouldn't look so new and the purple paint wouldn't look so bright.  I first sprinkled it with water and dunked it in the ashes in the grill.  That didn't really work - the ashes didn't adhere to the plastic very well - so I set it in some used coffee grounds overnight.  That did the trick; once I shook off the excess, it looked old (which it's not) and dirty (which it definitely is, now).

Some of it was fun, like the painting once I figured out what technique to use.  (Scene Painting tips and techniques came in handy here.)  The glasses were a happy thrift-shop find, as were the glass "pebbles", seashells, and dyed nutshells that went into them.  Lots of idea were raised and discarded along the way - this art thing is quite a complicated, drawn-out process! :D

Marble

In this week's Scene Painting class we played with creating the effect of marble.  I'm happy with how mine turned out.  I had a little trouble getting some of the effects I wanted, so we got into a little bit of a time crunch (no wonder we meet for a single 4-hour session!), but I still think my "marble" looks pretty decent.  The curving arc makes it look kinda like a geode.  Not bad for someone who'd never attempted anything like this until I started this class.