New Paint!

Just a quick note to say that our house has undergone a makeover, and the *best* part about it is that *I* didn't have to do it!!

Before:

A blue-gray that I actually liked, but it was getting a bit tired.

After:

A gold-leaning tan...

...with the classic red door--this is called "Sun-dried Tomato" which is on the darker side, which I like. The kick plate is on the right side of our door rather than on the bottom for a good reason.  Our dog, Kaiser, likes to open the door himself, and previously scratched up the door right around the handle. 

This is Kaiser.  Here he is in perspective--size-wise...

Without the kickplate, he would scratch a hole through the door!  (He nearly did.)  :-]

Do you like our door-knocker?  I love it!  My husband found it in Hungary.

AND:

Look at our front porch! No, it's not really tile...

It's painted to look like tile, and I *love* it!

Next I'll show you how the new finish on our pool turned out.  Pretty!  :-]



Shout! pictures :-]

Here are some of the costumes I did for "Shout, The Mod Musical" that is running at our high school.  This was a fun show to costume, and I really wanted to be as authentic as I could with what the script described and the time dictated.  My daughter Carolyn directed the show, so she introduced it.

The show is about five young women that make their way from 1962 to 1972, chronicled by the magazine "Shout" with its various features about fashion, music, and "coming of age" in the sixties.  As our disclaimer at the beginning of the show says, "We neither condone, nor condemn what went on in the Sixties Generation". haha...  Each of the women are characterized as a "color", which matches their personality.  Orange, Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow. 

Orange Girl--maternal and idealistic.

Red Girl--youthful and awkward.

Blue Girl--model, actress, in her "Mary Quant mini".

Green Girl--how can I put this nicely?  Um, the "free-spirit"... ;-]

Yellow Girl--"loud and thoughtless, quite possibly American".

Fashions changed through the years.  Here is the Blue Girl in her sequined top and plastic skirt:

Here is Orange Girl releasing her "Inner Purple".  She stays purple through the rest of the show.

Notice the Cage Dancer in the back.  We had two Cage Dancers.  I dressed one in a white dress with black fringe, and the other in a black dress with white fringe.  It was mesmerizing!  The ensemble girls I dressed in black and white bold prints. Similar to the psychodelic artwork of the day, but not in color so as to compete with the Color Girls.  You can see most of them here. 

At the end they all had 70's costumes on.  I know I can relate to each one of these styles!

Hot pants with a bolero vest, the Maxi dress, long-sleeve top with mini skirt, print tunic with split bell-bottom jeans, and a long flowy scarf with a mini dress.

Welcome to my world! Next show is "Forbidden Broadway" opening in April.  That one will be loads of fun to costume and to watch.  The show parodies all the major hit musicals on Broadway in the past 20 years or so: Annie, Les Mis, Spam-a-Lot, Chicago, etc. And some of the more memorable stars: Carol Channing, Mandy Patinkin, Bebe Neuwirth... 

Can't wait! 

busy busy busy...

...costuming costuming costuming three shows!  And they all open the same day.  Why can't I say no?  That's a topic for another time I guess...

One show I'm helping my daughter Carolyn with, and only doing a few costumes.  It's Shakespeare's "The Tempest", and I love the concept.  They are making each character as a character from a different story.  For example, the boatswain is Captain Hook, Prospero is Merlin, the Sprite Ariel is Superman, etc.  What a great idea, huh?  Should be fun to watch.

Another show is called "Sherlock's Last Case".  1900's England, one of my favorite eras to costume.  There are five characters, and not so much to do, but I did have to make two Sherlock capes *and* two deerstalker caps, which I had never done before.  Also a lady's formal gown and a couple of lady's everyday dresses.  I love thrift shopping for things that I can make into period pieces.  For the formal gown I found a rather plain dress with a lovely jacket with fancy trim.  The jacket was perfect for the time, and I simply made the dress into a skirt by putting elastic right under the arms!  It turned out nicely.  [I'll insert pictures when I'm finished and will get the actors to model them, so keep checking back!]

The last show is huge.  It's the musical that Carolyn (yes, she can't say no either...) is directing for her high school.  Oh, and she's also in the ensemble...8-/  The show is "Shout! The 60's Mod Musical".  The costumes are really fun--five girls, each represented by a certain color: Yellow, Blue, Red, Green, and Orange (which changes to Purple mid-show).  They each have at least three color costume changes spanning 1962-1972, each have Union Jack dresses (British Flag--luckily we were able to order them online), and each have their color raincoats. 

In addition to the Color girls, there are five ensemble singers, which I'm putting in black and white bold shapes, two cage dancers which will be in fringe dresses, the band, in 70's hippie outfits, and the editor of the "Shout!" magazine who is a conservative Dolores Umbridge type. 

I love costuming.  I have done Children's Theater (Anne of Green Gables, Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame, to name a few), Community Theater shows (Jane Eyre the Musical, Oliver!), and school shows (Twelfth Night, Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe).  Here are some pictures of those past shows.

                      Cast of Jane Eyre. Many modified prom and bridesmaids dresses, and...

                                                 ...curtains!!  This is Blanche Ingram's ballgown.

 Jane Eyre I put in browns.  The play starts out with her memory of her childhood, so I made all those costumes in sepias.  I had her start out in brown, then gradually brought color (reds) into her costumes as she gained more and more confidence in herself.  I made a lot of capes for this show!

 I costumed Fagin's Gang for Oliver!  My daughter Carolyn played Dodger. She is fourth from the right, in the top hat.  Several people were surprised when they found out she was a girl at the Meet and Greet after the shows.  BTW, I also painted the backdrop that you see there.  :-]

This is The Raven (Death) from Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe.  My favorite costume from that show!