Welcome to 2013!

End of term snuck us on up pretty quickly and it was the Christmas break before we knew it! I managed to get my Degas finished just in time for my mums Christmas!

The week after we broke up from uni I was at the Lyceum helping them work on 'A taste of honey' It was a really good week, the people there all made me feel so welcome and on my second day i felt like id known them all for months. I was actually quite sad when it came to the end of the week. I did some stenciling on bits of metal grate, the design was quite an interesting one, im not sure the designer really knew what she wanted, but hey, I got a chance to do stuff I hadn't done before! Oh and I did some wallpapering, always a good skill to learn!

Christmas and all its dramas came and went as did new year and suddenly January here! I came down to London for my work placement on the 2nd with my brother. Spent the first few days getting to know my way around and get the hang of the tubes! It's actually not as scary as i was making out, downloading a tube app on my phone has definitely been a lifesaver though!

On the 7th I made my way to Covent Garden for my induction at the Royal Opera house, it only lasted an hour, watching a couple of videos on the history of the Opera House and how it works, very interesting. I then managed to persuade my friend to come on a little trip to Purfleet in Essex so that I could find my way to the workshop where id be working. It seems a very random place to have a workshop, not very much around, a few new houses an industrial estate. But the workshop itself looked huge from the outside, huge and modern!

 Woke up on Tuesday not feeling great, I was full of the cold and had a sore throat but I tried to ignore it and got to it. When I arrived Emma introduced me to her first intern Lizzy who was lovely and gave me a little tour of the building....which is massive! I spent Tuesday working on a cloth for the next show 'Eugene Onegin' and priming some flats. I was chatting to mark who is the assistant head scenic artist to Emma. He was telling me about the 5 cloths they were working on at that point (all of which were on the paint shop floor, just to give an example of the size of the place!) It was a bit daunting on my first day but I did enjoy it and was working on a few different bits and bobs.

When I woke up on Wednesday I felt absolutely awful! I'd hardly slept as I had been up half the night in pain from my throat and woke up with swollen glands and feeling like I was swallowing razor blades. I found Wednesday pretty difficult. There are about 15 scenic artist working there at the moment, some full time and some freelance. The ones i've talked to have all been lovely but as a whole i felt a little out of place, i didn't feel very welcome. There were times where I had nothing to do and i ended up just taking it upon myself to go and wash buckets. They kept saying they had so much to do and that they were running behind yet there seemed to be nothing to do. I did feel a little like they weren't prepared for me coming.
On Thursday i was still feeling pretty ill and had hardly slept. Mark and Emma gave me a little project to do, a large charcoal drawing using charcoal on a stick. I did quite enjoy just being left on my own as at least I had something to do but i did end up getting a bit bored and went to see if i could help anyone with anything. Unfortunately i felt isolated and pushed in the corner for the rest of the week and as much as i tried to not let feeling ill get to me and affect my work I did not enjoy my first week and each day could not wait for 4.15 to come quick enough.

I know how much of an amazing experience this is that i'm getting but it is not at all what i expected. Last week I tried so hard to fit in and feel part of the team despite feeling like absolute shit and taking paracetamol and lemsip at every opportunity. The more I tried though the more I realised that it didn't actually have anything to do with the fact I was ill. It felt as though they get so many work placement/ interns that maybe they just don't care anymore. They are also treating me a little like I don't know anything which I feel is a little patronising. Like they asked if i had used a spray gun before, and if i had ever done lining or used charcoal on a stick....
I've spent the weekend with my brother relaxing, seeing London and art galleries and trying to get better, I'm still not feeling 100% but i'm feeling better and i'm going to go back into this week with a positive attitude (not that i didn't have one last week) and hopefully try and get all I can get out of it!
So that's week one done! I'm loving the London life though, even the commute and having to get up at 5.30am to get to work for 8am isn't too bad, its tiring but luckily i'm a morning person and i guess my experience from working at the fringe and being able to work on only a few hours sleep helps!

The last week!

As I sit and wait for the man to come and fix my boiler I figured I should get some blogging in...

Where has the time gone!
This term...oh sorry semester has just flown by! Panto was looking lovely and the floor was down and all the pieces of set were taken away to get fitted upi. We had a few last minuted bits and bobs to work on but it was a bit of a slow week. After my week with Irwin I managed to persuade uni to give me another week off to help her on her second show, sleeping beauty. The set for that show was even more beautiful than the previous one id worked on. It was the final week of painting before the show got fitted up in the theatre so it was a pretty full on week and there was never a moment of not doing anything. I was working on some gargoyles for the top of the organ and some candelabras which were covered in glitter! And I also helped Irwin paint the pros for the front of the stage. Im really looking forward to seeing it, gutted I couldn't make the dress as it was on at the same time as our panto dress.
Last week was a lot of watching the techs and dresses for panto and taking lots of photos, we had a few touch ups to do and one late night paint call but it was still very calm and relaxed and panto just seems to have sailed by this year, not at all like last year!

In our quiet week I managed to get my Van Gough painting finished and have also made a very good start on my Degas painting and hope to get that finished this afternoon! 

I think we start on the Shakespeares this week. Then we have a trip to Pitlochry which should be good fun and on the final day of term I have a meeting with Cordelia to see the set for Opera 2 which im excited about, but as Gary said, it will either make or break my christmas holidays! Haha. Hopefully it will make and the set will have absolutely no bricks what so ever!

Next week i've arranged to work at the Lyceum for a week which should be interesting. Then a few days of relaxation with the family then its off to London for 2 weeks at the Royal opera House!

Its going to be a busy but exciting few weeks.

Panto slows down

I love these guys!!

Its now week 8, and compaired to last year this panto has been a doddle. Its been busy and tough and we haven't quite kept to schedule but its not been stressful. Last year we did so many late nights until 9 and did a couple of saturday calls, this year we've done about 3 late night and the latest we stayed was 7! Last year we were all getting ill, we were so tired but this year its been fine. Its weird, its good though, its actually made Panto enjoyable! And it all looks great, I cant wait to see it!




Saz did a great job over the week off and got a load of stuff done which I think got us back on schedule.
We laid the floor yesterday and it looked fab, got all the set out the workshop and its all getting fitted up now...

Tankus the henge! <3

On wednesday we were even able to go out to a gig, my friends who i worked with during summer were playing in ABC and we ended up going out for drinks with them after and it was such a good night! I love hanging out with uni friends, were all so similar and get on so well, its great!


I've finally made a start on my Van Gough and actually made pretty good progress with it on monday! From afar it looks good, up close im not so convinced but I have found his style very challenging, after doing a few photo realism paintings its hard to just throw yourself into something that is more about catching the emotions  rather than the the actual detail. But i've made a start and im pretty happy with it, I do need to get it finished soon though so I can get on with my degas and get back on schedule with my negotiated goals!

Now, I need to get some work done on my website!

Independent learning week...

So last week the whole conservatoire had the week off to catch up with work, or sleep. I had been offered some work with my boss from Underbelly and Irwin who I worked on outpost with, so I used my week to go and work on the Carnegie Hall panto 'Hansel & Gretel' which was great fun. The set was beautiful and Irwin clearly had full trust in my abilities and gave me a project of working on the woodcutters cottage and just left me to it.
I also did a bit of work on a beautiful forest gauze with her and we textured some trees with muslin and PVA.
The people I was working with were lovely and they made me feel like one of the team straight away which was really good. I really enjoyed working in the theater and working with the crew and carpenters. It made me realise just how much I love what im doing and it made me really look forward to graduating and being in the real world.
I was talking to Irwin about it and I know that its going to be hard to get jobs and there are going to be busy and slow periods but im excited!
It also showed me, although I kind of already know this from working at Underbelly, that its the kind of industry where you have to be thick skinned, you cant let things get to you and you have to just be laid back and not easily offended. Its good to have a positive attitude and from working with underbelly and theater crew in general, you need to be able to have a laugh, I think its quite a male orientated industry so its good to  have a joke and be able to take everything on the chin. I think even working with Gary and Matt and Simon, they're quite cheeky, especially Gary but I don't take anything they say personally and just give as much back as them, I think that's the best way to be.

The model box

Forest gauze

Woodcutters house

Almost finished

Im so happy that I was approved next week off as im really looking forward to working with Irwin again, as she is just so lovely and im learning so much from working with her!

Panto Panto Panto

Its been all go on Panto and we've had some first years in on rotation which has sped up the process a lot, they've been great, although strangely the Technical students have been a lot more hands on and willing to work than the Applied arts and design students. I think were even ahead of schedule as we haven't needed to do any late nights yet, although that could be because construction are running behind....

Its been really good though, there's been a really positive attitude in scenic the last few weeks and the set is looking great. 

Unfortunately my negotiated project hasn't been going quite so smoothly, I just haven't had any motivation to do it. Panto has been full on and i've had issues with my flat, and SAAS that have been taking up a lot of my spare time and just exhausting me mentally and physically.

Im going to hopefully attempt to get it finished this week, hopefully tomorrow. Graeme has asked me to do some printing on some material for him so i've got that to do tomorrow morning too. I've not even finished my wee painting of my Geisha i'm doing at home, although that's because my heating has been broken and my flat has been freezing... I have put my woman in the water on a frame that Simon very kindly made for me, so i've go to find a wall big enough to put her up.

I've had a lovely weekend though, we went to Sarah's for dinner and some halloween fun on friday then on Saturday i went up to Girvin just outside Ayr to stay with my friends in their cottage in the middle of nowhere, we went to a light festival and watched some fireworks and went on a wee walk down by the sea, it was a very relaxing weekend and a nice little break from Glasgow.

I got myself some work over the bridge week, so I'll be working on "Sleeping Beauty" for Kirkaldy theatre which should be good. And Fiona at the Lyceum has confirmed I can go and work with her on "A taste of Honey" over the christmas break. 

Let the final year...begin!

Ok so were now onto weeks 4 of being back at uni and I haven't done any blogging, the reason being I got evicted from my flat at the end of summer so just moved into a new flat a week before staring back at uni and my internet still hasnt been installed!
But now its a monday afternoon (everyone knows how pointless monday afternoons are) and im waiting for paint to dry on my personal project so thought id get a spot of blogging in.

Its been all go since we started back at uni, Day 1 was meetings, meetings, meetings and we were given a huge folder of paperwork with all our module briefings in it and course outlines for the year, it made the whole "being in our final year" a lot more real, and pretty scary!
I finally managed to finish my painting of the woman under water, I tried to get her finished over summer but ran out of time as I was offered some work in Edinburgh.

So day 2 was back into scenic, loving life! We started straight into Panto right away. Im loving the model, so excited to be working on it it looks beutiful, as always with Robins designs! Kind of forgot how to draw up a little bit but after a few minutes it all came back to me.
The floor was the first thing we were to do, we were using spray guns, which before I did my painting of the woman under the water I was terrified of, but now I feel alot more confident in using them. It was quite tricky to do the floor as the Ath floor is 6 flats along in width but unfortuately we could only fit 5 into the worshop so that was a bit frustrating. It took us just over a week to do though and I think it looks great!
Then we got some of the village flats, which are huge! I think this year we work really well as a team, Rose, Sarah and I get on so well, in and out of uni which I think really helps us keep a positive attitude in the department, Lee is a good worker too and we can all easily have a laugh, theres not as much dramas as there were with the 3rd years last year. Our 2 majors in second year, Rosie and Gillian fit in really well too and i think its going to be a great year.
We had some of the new first years in who were pretty quick at their painting which helped us along a bit, I think were on schedule, I think we all started off a bit slow but now that we've all got our heads into whats to be done I really think the pace will pick up.

On monday afternoons we now have a choice module which im doing a negociated project for. I've decided to replicate 3 famous artists pieces of work. The first one im starting with is a Van Gough, its not a very well known one but I fell in love wth it as soon as I saw it, its a sea scape, its beautiful, it scares the crap out of me and i dont know where im going to start with it but if I manage it it will look great in my portfolio. The other one I want to do is a Degas ballerina, which will be a present for my mum as she loves Degas, and I havent decided on a portrait to do yet.

I started a wee painting at home yesterday of a Geisha, its a portarit that I found before summer and thought id do over summer but literally didnt have a minute off work, packing and flat hunting to even attempt to start it. But I made a good start to it yesterday, its got a long way to go but im happy with what ive done so far. I also want to do a painting for my brothers christmas of one of our travel photos as he's just bought his first flat so I want to give him some art work that means something to him. Its going to be a busy couple of months up to christmas!


I have managed to arrange my work placement with The Royal Opera House in London which is in the second week in January which im really looking forward to! Im also hopefully going to be helping my boss from summer and work on some panto stuff for him in our bridge week in November. AND, I've also been in touch with Fiona at the Lyceum to see if I can work with her for a week or 2 over the christmas break, no rest for the wicked! I dont have time to mope around this year, got to be a lot more proactive!

Summer time and the living's....busy!

I managed to arrange a work placement at Scottish opera the week after we broke up from uni. I was working on The magic flute...again. Im quite glad I was working on that as it was interesting to see another design of the show from a different designers point of view. I painted a lot of gold. The style it was designed in was Steam punk so after we had painted them gold we spattered them with a bit of silver then used FEV's and meths to try and create a mottled kind of look. It looked great.
I really enjoyed working with Kelvin, he's such an interesting man and is clearly so passionate about what he does. He was showing me some of his previous work and it was all gorgeous. I felt so privileged being able to work with him and im definitely going to keep in touch with him as I think he is a great person to know.

After spending 2 weeks with Scottish opera I came back to uni to try and finish my woman in the water painting. I didnt think I had much to do but after having a chat with Gary I realised I still had an awful lot to do if I wanted to improve it. I got it to a point that i liked and gary insted that I do a wash of the sea colour to make her sink into the painting, I wasnt sure but Gary always knows right so I did it and it looked great, it looked as though I was filling up a tank and the woman just got submerged into the water.....until I came back after break and there were white stripes all over it. Stupid me had used a wash with the shitty while emulsion in it so when it dried it had dried all chalky. I was so angry at myself especially as I only had one more day that I could work on it as I had been asked by my boss at Underbelly if I could help them paint some scenery that's going down to london for the Wonderground festival they are putting up. https://www.pricelesslondonwonderground.co.uk/

When I got there the scenic artist they had was Irwin who I had worked with on Outpost. She was lovely and we got on really well and she was very grateful for my help, she even asked if i could help her out in october doing the scenery for two pantos she does every year so hopefully ill be able to help her out with that a little bit.

But now its fast approaching Fringe time and the long days and even longer nights beckon!