Black is the new Black

Went out Saturday night as Glinka with a bunch of friends, the traditional pre-Halloween Halloween in the Castro, held before all the yahoos invade the neighborhood on the actual day of.

We all did variations on a witch theme-- the idea was to be a coven-- we didn't quite get 13 to participate, we were eleven altogether. I was a SandWitch: I made these Wonderbread sandwiches with rodent, bat, spiders and skeletons inside (you can see me with the tray, second from the left)...

Don't ask me who the dude is to the right; he's scary!

Painting 101-- Swiss Guard Self-Portrait

A sweet classmate in my painting class (talented painter too!), Mim, took this photo of me yesterday with a semi-completed painting of mine.

It's based on my Swiss Guard costume in the opera "Tosca". I was trying to paint it in the style of Rembrandt. Hey, why not take on an interesting challenge? Maybe I'll do a copy of the Sistine Chapel next...

Technically, I'm getting better, in that the paint is not flying all over the place quite as much when I try to apply it to the canvas-- but it is still very much a learning experience each time I go to class. Ahh, I guess that's why it's called "class!" Duh!

Ultimately, I don't know if I want to paint realistically or not. My own drawings are still tending toward the abstract. I showed some of them to my teacher and he suggested that my next painting be based on one of them.

Commedia Corner

A fellow super, John Martin, takes these fantastic studio portraits of performers in some of the operas; this is an example of his work, as translated poorly thru my Verizon phone. The original pics are 8 x 10 and gorgeous.

He sets up a mini-studio in the Opera House basement canteen with all professional equipment and lighting and helps get the right poses.

I have been loving every minute of "Rigoletto." I will hate to see it end! Our Gilda, Mary Dunleavy, is an extroardinary artist and a very nice person-- abducting her has been one of the highlights of my supering career...

Rigoletto Opening

Rigoletto opened last night. Here I am in my sinister Abductor costume for Act II. Do I look sinister? I heart my Abductor cape. :-)

I didn't fall off the two-story ladder I have to climb up when I and my fellow abductor, the charming Simon Elliott-LehBon, abduct Gilda from her bedchamber.

I'm taking a break from doing these endless color charts for painting class. Warms to Cools, Warms to Warms, Cools to Cools. My patience is wearing thin and I feel like I'm breathing in hella-poisonous solvent!

I'm sure that Andy Warhol had way better ventilation at The Factory; either that, or all the drugs in the air maybe cancelled out any of the harmful effects of the silkscreening solvents he used...