Circles upon circles

The first step of painting the set I recently worked on was finding and buying the pieces to paint. We dragged flats (thin faux-walls) out of storage and purchased sheets of luaun (a thin, pressed wood material) from the hardware store. Then came the actual painting part. We (myself and a friendly young man) painted everything black, to make sure that the final paints would have the same effect on both the new and used materials. Next came a very thin layer of watery gold ("Gold Shag," to be accurate) paint to soften the eventual contrast between the yellows that would come and their background.


See these? Except for ohh, one of the visible pieces seen here, all of these would end up covered in clocks. The pieces leaning on the railing at front, the pieces laying on the lawn, the pieces stacked against the stairs in the back of the photo. Not pictured: the pieces leaning against the wall to the right.

Once everything was not-black, I could begin the actual drawing process. I cut lengths of cord to mark the radius of circles 8", 12", 16", 20", 25", 30", and 35" in diameter and twirled those around pins as makeshift compasses to draw the hundreds of circles that took over my next three days.


This is the center-most piece, which sat above a projection screen at the center of the stage. It's a little difficult to see, but there they are- thin pencil marks outlining the many many circles that would eventually become clocks. This center piece featured the lone 35" clock, the "clock tower" focal point in an overwhelming sea of clock.

It was a bit frustrating as the pieces went under stage lights on the last drawing day. The tech crew and actors needed to work with the set up, so before rehearsal the pieces were screwed into place for a few hours before coming down again. The moment the lights hit them all the pencil marks seemed to disappear, taking every hour of my work with them, along with the justification for my sore fingertips, achey back and bruised knees, until the set was dismantled again. After that, the next day's painting was a relief- but that's when my camera batteries died! Further pictures thus far elude me, but I'll keep looking.