ALICE IN WONDERLAND - SET DESIGN PART 2 (TAPING, LADDERS, COFFEE, AND LIPSTICK)

Part 2! (FINALLY) 

I finished the mock up for the second set of panels and I'm pretty proud of the way they turned out. This is meant to be the front doors to the Duchess' house. I wanted hints of Harts to be visible - since the Duchess is such a suck-up to the Queen - but also have it's own unique sense of absurdity. I have spiraling bushes on either side of "bronze" doors with relief-sculpture-style swans facing each other. It'll all be set against gray stone with windows as a border, and a large stained glass window set above the double doors with a large script "D" for Duchess. Unsure about the windows, but I'll probably worry about that later. Approval came in, and I'm going to sketch it out on the canvases and then get back to my Rose Garden.

Taping, painting, peeling, and stepping back.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat until you die.

BACK TO THE GARDEN: I've begun outlining what will be a wrought-iron gate with blue masking tape. I was hoping this would help me paint straight-as-die lines without too much effort, but, as it turned out, masking tape on textured canvas isn't the most secure of seals. The black paint ended up bleeding beneath the glue of the tape just a little. It DID curtail the painting process, but I was forced to go over the lines again freehand and shore up with blurry edges so they're very straight and dramatic. 

While I wait for the gate to dry, I'm sketching out concepts for the Queen's castle. I want it to be very weird and a little bit unnerving, but with very OBVIOUS heart details. I'm pretty happy with it so far. 

Meanwhile, I keep working on the garden itself. The greens are turning out to be absolutely GORGEOUS and I'm really happy with the way the roses turned out. I normally am REALLY BAD at painting flowers (especially with no model to copy), but I found a technique using a large, broad brush, and with just a few deft strokes I managed to make very dramatic roses. 

[I had to keep reminding myself to paint the roses BIG because, being that close to the canvas, my instinct was to paint them life-size. Unfortunately, from the audience's perspective, life-sized roses would have been ridiculously lame.]

The days were long, and the nights were longer. I pulled several all-nighters during the painting of the Rose Garden scene. As is evident from the images below, however, inspiration of multiple forms was necessary to maintain my creativity. (see "LIQUID CREATIVITY") I became the Queen of Hearts and made sure to holler cruelly at myself when I did not paint my roses properly. (Not really. I am relatively sane. I think.)

That is my coffee. Mine. It bears my seal. 

I'm excited to keep working, and I'll post the next part of this AMAZING painting process real soon!

-Chimmy