Unfinished Clockwork

Thanks to the glories of the internet, I have stumbled upon some progress shots of the clock set! The photographer's focus was the actors and not what stood behind them, but there is still some set documentation to be found. When this photo was taken, the clocks were at a midpoint - faces painted, but without the details of borders, hands, numbers and other symbols that were to come.


The actual clock-face painting process was an unexpected breeze. As I mixed the four yellow tones, a helper showed up with friends in tow! Friends! In tow! There was a person to go with each can of paint, and I was thrilled by how quickly we managed to get every single circle covered in a new tone. After only 6-7 hours, we had completed this step for the entire set, a pace that blew my dreams away.

Now then. In this particular scene, the lighting was designed to be a more cheerful yellow than at any other point, so the colors are a bit warmer than they really were, but look- behind the actors- you can see the variety of clock sizes, the 4 yellow tones, the greenish background. Now imagine about 13 times as many clocks as you can see here (a conservative estimate) and you'll perhaps begin to imagine what was happening on my drop cloth.

Unfortunately, I had to leave town before getting any shots of the finished set, but I'm hopeful that some will surface before the show's 5-week run is through. I may have to send a friend on a photo-expedition.

Thanks to A.R.T. in Fresno for the image.

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.