Summer and Smoke

I haven't posted for quite a while, but those of you that follow would already know that. I have been quite busy as always with school, work, family, and the theatre, and I sometimes wonder if I will ever not feel sleepy again, but it's all good, and I am actively working towards paring down a few of the activities in my life so I can breathe.

I finished my second semester at Clemson with another 4.0, which I'm proud of considering I mounted 2 1/2 shows at the theatre during the course of the semester, with the other 1/2 show going up now. I start summer semester next week with 3 classes, two of them are online classes, and the other I have to go to twice a week, so I don't have much of a break. In addition, we open the play Summer and Smoke on Friday, which is just two days away. Not only am I acting in it as the crazy Mrs. Winemiller, but I have been painting and decorating the set, and I am quite proud of what it looks like.

Here is a picture of the angel I sculpted for the set. She is about 6 1/2 feet tall to the tops of the wings. I made her by building an armature of wood and window screening, and then using muslin dipped in a mixture of glue and paint I sculpted the rest. I am really pleased with how it turned out. You can't really see in the photo, but the fountain has real running water in the basin at the bottom. Austin and Alexis are sitting on the "stone" steps which are made out of foam insulation scored to look like stone and faced with the muslin and glue/paint mixture. It has been labor intensive, but it really looks neat. I am currently looking for greenery to add to it to make it look more like a park. I will post more photos of the completed set when I am able.