Golden Calf - Ready and Waiting
Come and see The Golden Calf - book your tickets for Faust now! |
Come and see The Golden Calf - book your tickets for Faust now! |
This is the fun part, painting my design. I've primed the wood and painted the black areas with enamel. After some colour tests I've decided to use acrylic paints for the rest of the sign - my brief is for it to be gold on black, but I've added some blue and red. Nearly finished! The calf's eyes seem to stare at me as I work. |
To get my angles and lines and curves right I have drawn a more precise sketch on A4 graph paper, which I will enlarge to A1 and use as my guide when working on the wood. Drawing the letters on a curve is challenging - even though I was once a professional calligrapher, I expect the letters to be the hardest part. I've based my lettering on the Albertus font, which was in use in the 1940s when our production of Faust takes place. |
I have drawn my pencil sketch (on A5 paper) for the Golden Calf pub sign. I don't usually make thumbnails or lots of sketches because I generally 'see' a picture in my mind and then put that down on paper. Here are some thoughts that went into my design:
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Before I get too involved with the Golden Calf sign, I am finishing preparations for my table at the Heber Craft Fair on April 8th.
I'll be displaying mostly brooches, pin cushions and handmade greetings cards. These have been great fun to design and make, but I need to spend some time now planning my display. I'm fairly new at this (I've spent most of my artistic career illustrating children's picture books) and I have been touched by how generous more experienced exhibitors have been with their tips and help on the day. In the meantime I'll be thinking about the Golden Calf sign - mentally sketching in a way.
Rehearsals are going well for our May production of Faust. Cast and crew not only have music and moves to learn - we also have costumes and props to assemble.
In a leap of faith (as I rarely do any large-scale work as an artist or work on wood) I have volunteered to paint an A1-sized sign for our on-stage pub, The Golden Calf (where the chorus seem to spend a lot of time!) and blog about my progress. I'll get my inspiration from images of cows and pub signs, then let ideas bounce around in my head until I know how I want to proceed with the design.