Cats

I am so excited!!!

For years and years and years I have been asking the theatre “When are we going to do CATS?”  But was told it wasn’t available to amateur theatre.

We saw the touring company of CATS in Vancouver back in the mid-eighties, twice!  I remember the tickets were $84 each which was steep.  But we enjoyed it so much, the next time it came through, we went again.

Now the show IS available and will be presented in a Grande Prairie Live Theatre/Grande Prairie Regional College co-production in February 2013 and I am the make-up lead!!!

Let me tell you, if the director hadn’t asked me there would have been blood on the floor…

The theatre announced the 2012-2013 season, which happens to be the theatre’s 50th anniversary season, on Thursday evening and as part of the presentation “Memory” from CATS was performed by Sandra Pippus… and I did her hair and make-up for it.  If you are going to be singing that song while announcing the production you have to BE Grizabella!!

I haven’t had a chance to review the production notes but I am very excited about designing the faces for the cast of characters.  At this stage I don’t know if there are specifics laid out in the licensing so I’m not going to get too far along in my own plans for the make-up, but I really hope to make them awesome!

It is a jam-packed season – full of music and comedy.  Usually there is one show a season that I think about auditioning for… this list has four or five!!  However, due to conflicts some of them would not be possible, but there are two I think I will try for which are for next spring.

This week in my little world

Last Sunday I face painted at the annual Swan Festival out at Saskatoon Island Provincial Park.  I was painting from 12:30 to 5 p.m. with a steady line the whole day but it ended naturally exactly on time!  I do love it when it works out that way as I don’t have to turn people away.  Last kid in line was in my chair at 4:58!

It was a really nice event and the people there were great and really thoughtful.  We were constantly being asked if we needed anything, they brought mom food, and helped us with getting mom into the outhouse – it had a handicapped stall in it, but no way to get a wheelchair into the building!  And the park staff even carried my kit and things to the car while I wheeled mom around the long way.

As it was a SWAN festival I painted myself up appropriately (I took this photo after we got home and changed into our jammies!)

No one asked for this one even though it got several compliments.  I only painted two swans towards the end of the day and it was another design I had on display.

I only put out two laminated sheets of my faster designs – 16 each so a total of 32 photos.  I just attached them with poster tape (two-sided) to my A-frame sign as I didn’t want to use the table top units outdoors.  You never know if the wind/rain is going to hit and they don’t work well in those conditions.

Top picks for the day – brow unicorns, kitties, rainbow cheetahs.  Once I did one rainbow design that was it… and I have to admit the UV rainbows REALLY pop outdoors in the natural light.  This is a photo a friend took of her daughter and shared with me on Facebook.  As you can see it shows off my brow unicorn design.

This was the top pick with girls under 8 years old!

That is the extent of my photo record of the day!

This week I finally was able to get my nails done again.  The gels I had done at the end of February and show here were gone and my nails were really weak.  I was painting them with a clear fortifier to try to keep them decent.  It was a scheduling thing mostly!  When Ashley would have been able to do them I couldn’t get over to her, etc.  Finally managed this week.

Got them done Tuesday and have the next appointment already booked to fill them in a few weeks.

I asked for a swirly design in purple, white and pink with some sparkles… geesh, I sound like one of my little “customers”… LOL!  I wanted them a bit shorter than last time – will stop me from picking/pushing at them for a bit.  And it is easier to adjust to them when they are shorter too!  My own nails never get very long as they are too flimsy.

The inspiration was from a photo posted by Barefoot Butterfly on her Facebook page - she does amazing stuff!

Tonight mom and I are going to see ELTON JOHN!!!!!!!!!!!  Seems like only yesterday I bought the tickets.  We are really looking forward to it.

I have to do make-up for Paint Your Wagon before we head over to the show.  Everyone on the cast was repeatedly told/warned that the entire hair/make-up crew is going to Elton John so if they want to get done they had better be early.  I am going to be at the theatre an hour early – with mom in tow – so I can get a head start on any that were able to be there early.

The theatre shares the parking with the arena so I can get  a spot by the theatre and roll mom over to the arena.  They have been announcing on radio to arrive early as there are only 3000 parking spots in the area and there are 4500 tickets sold for Elton John (the theatre, last I heard had only sold 29 seats for tonight’s performance… most theatre goers are probably going to Elton John IF they could get tickets!)

Musings and happenings

It is snowing… after a couple of weeks of really nice dry sunny and warm weather where all the snow melted away, the grass started greening up and the city was cleaning the streets we got hit with snow.  It has been coming down since yesterday afternoon and is getting pretty deep.

It isn’t cold, just -4C with a windchill of -11C, so it is pretty wet snow.  And apparently we are going to be sunny and +8C by Monday so it will melt away quickly.  The wind is blowing enough that it is keeping the roof relatively clear – gusts are causing mini white-outs in front of the living room window.

Looking out there right now it is hard to remember that I actually MOWED THE FRONT YARD last Tuesday.  And put away the snow blower and the snow shovels… [sigh]  And sprayed the weeds coming up in the front beds with weed killer.

One of my co-workers at the office was actually wearing flip-flops and capri pants to work last week!

This week is opening week of Paint Your Wagon so I was at dress rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday – and the show opened Thursday, with performances last night and tonight.  It runs until April 28th.

I didn’t realize that the stage musical is quite a bit different from the movie – which starred Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin!

Most of the cast is male and all have grown a variety of beards and facial hair!  Some are quite impressive!  The women in the show are mostly Fandango Dancers (aka prostitutes!) except for three who are the daughter of the town founder and the two wives of the Mormon preacher.

There are 22 people in the cast and I have a crew of three – two of us are doing make-up and one hair.  It is working out very well.  Usually for a show this size three or four on make-up would be needed, but with all the men only needing part of their faces done since the hair covers the rest, it is speeding up the process considerably.

I am having fun with the Fandango Dancers doing quite bold make-up on them.  And they seem to like it too.

Mom’s new casual aide for evenings is a first year nursing student named Stephanie and so far it seems to be working out great.  She is staying in residence at the College over the summer so will be available.  Last year was a real scramble to try to hire casual staff for the summer and I ended up having to hire from a nursing service as we couldn’t get anyone hired.

I’ve been feeling quite blah for the last couple weeks.  Not sick, but yukky.  I haven’t been sleeping very well this week nor have I been eating properly.  When I’ve got a rehearsal week I tend to mess up my eating patterns but this week has been really bad.

There are a lot of sicknesses going around and several of the cast at the show are quite ill… which seeing as I am touching them and breathing while working in their faces can be dangerous for me!  I keep the hand sanitizer handy and hold my breath a lot.

My new RAV4 was at the graphics shop yesterday to get my wrap installed… they had a glitch so weren’t able to get her finished so I am driving around with a half-wrapped vehicle this weekend, and only one mud flap as they took it off to install the vinyl.  There is a also some tweaking required as some lettering is a bit wonky.

I’ll drop her off again there on Monday before work to get finished.  It is exactly the same as my previous wrap.  Why mess with a cool design?  The company has my vehicle on their company website gallery from when they did my 2007 RAV4 – TrimFX Gallery Click on Vehicle Wraps – my RAV4 is images 8, 9 & 10 of 19 in that gallery.

What a weekend

I am sitting here with HORRIBLE leg cramps… my right calf has been seized up since around midnight Friday and it is now after dinner on Sunday… I cannot work it out, I’ve taken every drug and home remedy for leg cramps I have available but it won’t let go…  I’ve decided ice cream and left over Christmas chocolate might work… well, they can’t hurt can they?!

It’s been a pretty busy, Snow White wrapped up with a matinée today.  It was fun.  My next show is Driving Miss Daisy – get to age a 20 something actress for Miss Daisy and have study up on aging Hoke properly.

Friday night I was hired to paint zombies for the local college’s student association – they were having a Post Apocalypic Party.

I was the “professional face painters on site”… it was fun.  Lots of people came with make-up already, but had me “fix” it, others were in normal clothes, others in costumes.  There were some absolutely amazing costumes!  The best, IMO, were the zombie fighters – there were some great get-ups.

I did some really cool stuff… one great skull thing that I really REALLY liked which, of course, I didn’t get any photos of.  I already have Naomi booked to come in for a painting session to replicate it.

They had gone completely overboard on the decor… sheets of plastic, haz-mat suits, barricades, military security with weapons, barrels burning… it was great.

I was booked from 9 to midnight, and had the option to stay if I wanted.  However, by midnight I was done… this getting old crap sucks.  But in my defense, I’d done a full-day (9 hours) at the day-job, 2.5 hours at the theatre, then headed over to the college… and my back and legs were killing me.

It was fairly steady all evening… then… about 20 minutes to midnight, after chatting with the organizers about staying vs leaving and saying I was going to stop at midnight… a HUGE line forms of people wanting to get painted… the ones that needed a few drinks to work up the courage, you know… THOSE ones? LOL

I sped up for the last bunch doing single wounds and such… and then started to pack up when these wasted guys came over and wanted done, one claiming it was his birthday… so I told him if he could prove it I would paint something “small”… so he produced his drivers’ license… yup, it was his birthday.  So I gave him a small cut.

Then I needed to go… well, the place was locked down!  I had parked where I thought it would be easy to get out – the closest possible spot in the whole college to a door… but that area was secured at midnight and no way to get there.

One of the crew snagged a real security guy to escort me out… he took my trolley and led me out the long “tunnel” to the gate where there was real security, costume military security, barricades… then we stopped at the campus security office where another guard took the trolley and escorted me outside, around the building, up the hill to where I parked… this is when my right leg charley horsed…

I got the car loaded, then stomped around, trying to stretch my calf muscles as I was not going to be able to drive with a charley horse!!  The cops cruised by as I was doing my strange dance… but decided I wasn’t drunk or dangerous I guess.  I was almost at the point of calling home to ask mom’s sitter to come over to get me…. but it relaxed enough so I could drive.

Then Saturday I had a birthday party booked for 1-3 p.m.  When it was booked I had asked how far out-of-town they were and was told about 25 kms.  Well… I had figured my travel time based on that… 43 kms later.  Oh well, just a couple of minutes later than I had said I would be there to set-up.  So 86 km round trip – in the snow.  They lived right on a highway that was in really good condition – the road is higher than the surrounding land so the wind keeps it dry and clear… however, when I got to their property I couldn’t tell where the driveway was… so I guessed and turned to line up with the garage… no idea if I was on the driveway.

It was a nice party… Dad and Mom both got painted, so did Grandma and some aunts… Dad was Kermit, Mom and Grandma butterflies, almost all of the party guests were…. wait for it… butterflies!

Headed home afterwards with less time than anticipated so I wasn’t able to stop to pick-up groceries… Only had an hour at home before I had to get mom ready to go to the theatre as she and her aide were coming to watch the show.  I rushed to feed us and then got mom dressed and loaded – her aide was meeting us at the theatre.  When mom comes to a show she has to come with me, so then gets stuck hanging around for 2 hours… I can’t leave to go get her later as I am busy back stage.  She brings books, puzzles, etc. to keep occupied and we are able to park her in the theatre ahead of time.

Got to watch the show… the dwarfs(ves) were cute, the Dark Queen was really great… her laugh was awesome and the audience loved it.  She got the biggest round of applause at the end too.

After the show we stopped to get groceries – the always needed milk and eggs.

Then today was the last matinée… call was 11:30 and we got everyone done and then cleaned up, packed up, took some photos, loaded the car and came home… stuff is still sitting in the foyer. I need to carry it all down stairs and clean my brushes, but… it can wait.

Grabbed some shots of Snow White with a couple of the dwarfs(ves).

So I’ve got a bit of downtime now to clean kits and catch up on housework.  And hopefully get rid of this damn cramp!!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(ves?)

I’m currently working on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Grande Prairie Live Theatre.  The show opened this past Thursday and runs through the 22nd.  We’ve got three matinees too (two down, one to go… I am not fond of matinees as they kill my weekends!)

I haven’t seen it yet (we are going Saturday).  It isn’t the Disney version but it is child friendly.

The dwarves are all children, age range of 8 to 13.  Two boys and five girls who are all “male adult” dwarves.  I’m having fun making them look like fairy tale dwarves!  Here is a before and an after of them all:

I’m doing really basic “character” make-up on them using Kryolan and Snazaroo… The bases are being applied by my assistants while I finish up The Queen, Snow, and Gretchen, then I slap on the line work, beards and moustaches, brows and one uni-brow.  It is really quite effective on stage.   And taking a sweet pretty little blonde eight year old and making her look like a cranky old dwarf her mother wouldn’t recognize is really a lot of fun!

Here’s The Queen – beautiful and ugly versions… I whipped up the mask from left over Halloween SFX on really short notice for opening night… no one had mentioned it to me before second dress!

Here is Gretchen (the housekeeper, also known as Amy, my mom’s aide) and the two maids (can you tell they are sisters?)

As you can tell by the title of this post I’m a bit on the fence about the plural of the word DWARF… so I googled it… technically “dwarrows” is was it should have been but Tolkien used “dwarves” in The Hobbit and the rest, as they say, is history.  Me, I lean toward dwarves… ’cause half is halves, wolf is wolves, calf is calves, elf is elves… etc., etc.  And it isn’t wrong, so I’m right!

My Year in Review… l am really looking forward to 2012

It has been a year of ups and downs… like most years, but we really managed to hit some peaks and valleys in 2011!

So let’s start at the beginning:

January

We bought ourselves a Keurig as a late Christmas present.  And we love it!!

Mom and I decided to book our flights for our planned trip to England – I’d been checking the prices and first class was down to $1790 vs $799 for economy so we made an appointment with the travel agent for the 15th and went and bought our first class tickets for July 1st.  The 15th was Saturday.

On Sunday the 16th I discovered water pouring in around our bathroom window and the wall was bulging and soggy.  Monday the 17th I called our insurance company… and that was the start of several months of hell dealing with repairs, renovations, contractors, finances and delays.

If we hadn’t already booked and paid for our trip, it wouldn’t have happened due to the cost of the repairs/reno.  I’m very VERY glad we took the trip even though we are still paying for it.

Monday the 31st was Dress Rehearsal for Chicago.

February

Chicago opened on the 3rd.  Absolutely THE BEST show ever done here.  Ran till Feb 26th to sell outs, rave reviews and great fun to work on as we got to glam up everyone!  Lots of gorgeous gals to make even more gorgeous – what a fun job I have.

Got the “problem” fixed with the roof (over insulated attic with no circulation caused it) and were into hiring contractors and having the upstairs bath and one bedroom opposite ripped out by the restoration company.  The insurance adjuster assigned to our case was great to deal with and made that side of things relatively stress free.

Face painted at the Timbits Jamboree (soccer for ages 8 and under)… was given many pizzas to take home (leftovers) – still have some in the freezer wrapped in foil.  They are NOT good pizzas… one way I used some up was to cut up and layer in a sort of lasagna type thing… I may cut up the rest to make a savoury bread pudding or strata type thing.  I hate to waste food.

Dealing with the house repairs on a daily basis… once the bathroom was ripped out mom had no access to a toilet or bath.

March

Continuing with the repair/reno nightmare… why do contractors show up for a couple of hours then disappear for a week?

Naomi came over to model for a face painting for a competition.  Gorgeous as always!

Painted for St. Patrick’s Day at a local club – gotta love painting all those attractive  servers with all that skin showing.

On the 23rd tore my left rotator cuff at work on the day job (I was tossing garbage into a dumpster and reached up over my head to pull the lid down when there was a loud POP…) WCB claim filed and put on light duties by my doctor.  Thankful it was my LEFT arm as I paint with my right!

April

Finally got financial stuff in place to pay for the bathroom renos.  Still a construction zone – but close to being done.  Mom has the toilet back at least.

Dress rehearsal for Harvey on the 11th & 12th, show ran to April 30th.  Really fun show!  Enjoyed it.

Several doctor appointments for my shoulder injury.

Birthday parties and MS Walk for face painting.  Did a postcard mailing.

Tried to hire a casual caregiver for mom for evening and weekends - was not successful so using a nursing agency at over twice the hourly cost.

May

Still waiting for the final things to be done with the repair/reno… !  By the end of the month things appeared to be done – or as far as they will be by the contractors.

Doctor and Physio appointments for my shoulder injury.

Did a bunch of Zombies on the 21st with a photo shoot.

Corporate parties for face painting.

June

WCB flew me to Edmonton on the 9th for an MRI on my shoulder.  More doctor and physio appointments, including a “functional assessment.”

Booked every weekend for face painting – birthdays and corporate jobs.  Did photo shoot at Sulphur Gate.

Had to get a new windshield due to a rock.

Laptop crapped out and tech couldn’t “fix” so bought a new one.  But can’t load my Photoshop or MS Office on new one, printer drivers no longer available and external back-up drive not compatible…

I tried to fix the kitchen tap myself… Plumber came and fixed it the next day.

Had to have a root canal.

July

1st to 17th – off to England!  Had a wonderful time.  First class is great – those pods are fun.  However the wheelchair service at Heathrow SUCKS!  Not impressed at all.

Had a relaxing visit with Anne and Jill, and Bella.  Saw lots, ate lots.  Had several Cream Teas which we absolutely love.  Went to Eden Project, Looe, Mount Edgcumbe, the Devon Moors, etc.

Taught a workshop and attended my first proper face painting jam.

Finally, after being nagged to death got myself set-up on Facebook and ran a contest on my blog.

I turned 50 and mom turned 73.

Started a “return to work” Physio program on the 20th where I had to go for physio every day for my shoulder.

On the 21st, which was my third day back to work on the day job I was LAID OFF.  I was bumped out of  my job by a woman with 17 years more seniority as they finally upgraded their admin systems and her job had been eliminated.  So, she took mine.  I had been wondering why she was sticking around after I got back… so I sort of knew something was up.  I didn’t even cry when the boss told me I was  being “let go.”

Called WCB and my hours of attendance for the physio program were increased to 4 hours per day M-F.

Started looking for another day job, filed for EI, etc. Three interviews the last week of the month.

Birthdays and big weekend festival gigs for face painting.

August

First week attended the physio program and was “discharged” from it on the 4th.

WCB paid me full benefits for a couple of weeks which was wonderful – my case manager was fantastic.

More job interviews.  Was offered and accepted a part-time (24 hours a week minimum) position with a property management company and also had responses to other applications and had interviews scheduled.

Birthdays, weddings and festivals booked.  Also a few photo shoots with photographer on a project.  Designing props and costumes.

Auditioned for a show and was offered a role (a straight role, as in, NOT the fairy godmother!) and a position in an improv troupe!

September

Still interviewing for jobs.  Accepted a casual job offer at the convention centre – it is for events so I am called when they need extra help in the kitchen or to work the concession.  Lots of hours in September – some days I went from the day job straight out to the TEC Centre.

Called for last-minute “panic” jobs requiring glamour and special effects make-up by photographers.  The glamour make-up was for a calendar for the SPCA ”Shelter Bombshells” - my work is December 2012.

Rehearsals several times a week for the show I am in - ”Mad Moose Mayhem” which runs Oct 7th and 8th.

Building props and designing my entry for the “Wearable Art Show” on Oct 1st.

Final photo shoots for the photographer’s project I was working on.

Face painting at birthdays and events on weekends.

Ran another blog contest.

October

Wearable Art Show on the 1st was AWESOME!  I was so pleased with my work and with how my model Amy performed!  She really made it amazing.

Show of the photos for the project I was working on was on at the Centre for Creative Arts.

I was featured in a local arts magazine… as an “artist”.

Mad Moose Mayhem was great!  The improv was hilarious – mom heckled me one night and it was so funny!

Dress rehearsal for Twelfth Night on the 10th & 11th.

Made a group of 20/30 somethings into old ladies for a night of pub crawling on the 15th.

Working shifts out at the convention centre.

“Won” a weirdest pizza contest on local radio station Q99 and had to eat my creation on air!  It was okay… but the English Toffee was a mistake.

Face painted LIVE ON AIR on the 28th at 8 a.m. on Q99.

Face painting at parties and events – painted at the local Cineplex on the 22nd.

Booked solid for Halloween.  On the 29th painted the haunters at a local park, then back home for appointments.  Painted at a Libyan Freedom Party on the 30th.  Customers early in the a.m. on the 31st.

November

Root canal I had done in June abscessed… put on antibiotics and extraction scheduled.

Booked to do bling at a Gala in a neighbouring town. Lots of fun blinging and painting eye designs on women and moustaches on the guys.

Taught theatrical make-up at a local high school.

Christmas parties starting – first one was on November 18, another on the 26th.  Also birthday parties.

Dress rehearsal for Beau Jest on 28th.

Worked the concession at the Festival of Trees at the convention centre.

Bought my Christmas present a bit early – a Dyson!  Look out glitter I’m gonna git you!

December

Booked solid every weekend for Christmas parties – several with multiple painters required.

Attended Beau Jest on the evening of the 10th and enjoyed the show a lot.

Working fulltime hours at the day job until further notice.

Went out to buy ink for my colour printer, but bought a new 4-in-1 HP printer at 2/3 of the price of the ink for my old one.

Had my tooth pulled on the 15th.  Ouch.

Final follow-up appointment with my doctor about my shoulder… doing pretty good but have lost some range of motion.

Mom and I attended the day job Christmas party on the 17th and had a wonderful time… didn’t get home until close to 3 a.m.!! I won the Trivia, our team won the Christmas Cranium and I tied for guess the Stocking Contents, but lost the tie breaker.  My co-workers all think mom is “cute” and funny.

Cooked Christmas dinner for 10 people at home.

Got my bookkeeping all caught up on th 28th!!!  Looks like it has been an excellent year.

Booked by local club for Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day… in advance!  He’d called about New Year’s Eve but we have plans so I asked if he wanted to book now instead of waiting to the last-minute, as usual…

Have multiple events confirmed for 2012 with deposits paid.

So that’s 2011 in review.  Couple of major lows – house damage and injury, but great trip and work opportunities with local photographers and art community.  First week of January I’ll post about my plans for 2012.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmoose and have a great New Year for 2012!!

Another year end looms

Only five more sleeps left of 2011 and then it is 2012.  And if you subscribe to that theory about the Mayan calendar we’ve got less than a year left… so make the most of it!

(If you don’t know what I’m referring to check it here.)

I’m just taking a break from doing my bookkeeping.  Over the years I’ve perfected my system… I do a whole year’s worth of data entry in 2-3 days between Christmas and New Year.  I used to do my books every week – took a couple of hours every weekend to enter and file my receipts and pay bills.  Then one year I just kept adding things to the bin… until the year was almost over.  I sat down to do all of it at once and it only took a couple days to do it all in a blitz.

So I figured out that two hours a week average was 104 hours spent doing it opposed to spending 16 to 24 hours doing it all at once.  I spend an evening or two sorting out the paperwork (bills in chronological order so they are easy to key in), types of payments, bank statements, etc.

It goes pretty fast.  The most time-consuming part is entering all the individuals receipts from my Visa card… then I have to reconcile everything:  credit cards, bank statements, RSP statements.

It all gets done and then I just have to wait for my T4s and RSP receipts before I take it all to the accountant.

At this point I can say that 2011 was my best year to-date.  Haven’t got all the expenses input yet (had a few unexpected such as a new computer, back-up drive, printer) so not sure how it will be in the end, but total gross income is well up.

On Christmas Day I FINALLY got to watch some of the Dr. Who Christmas Specials!  All at once as they were running them in a marathon on Space starting at 6 p.m.  They don’t show them in the regular schedule so I’ve never seen them.  Started with this year’s “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe” and then all of the David Tennant ones… I didn’t stay up for all of them but think I saw five or six.  Went to bed around 2 a.m. or so.

We had a nice dinner here – I cooked for 10 people.   Mom and I are now eating leftovers for lunch and dinner… breakfast we’re having our usual for a break.  I figure we have about another three days of turkey and fixin’s to finish off.

My secret to an awesome turkey dinner?  Butterball pre-stuffed frozen turkey!  Tender, juicy, stuffing is delicious (just like mom and I USED to make, but now I don’t have to… and no one ever realized I stopped making it!)

And last night I… read a book!  Last one I had a chance to read was back in July.  Mom wanted to go to bed early and since I am off this week it was okay (if she goes to bed early she starts waking me up around 3 a.m. to use the commode… repeatedly so I won’t let her go to bed until 9 on work nights.)  So I had a chance to read.  It was really nice.  Managed to finish off one nice thick paranormal romance in a couple of hours.  And I might read another one tonight!  I have a stack of them I haven’t got around to reading yet.

My next gig is theatre – Snow White.  Dress rehearsals are the second week of January and then a three-week run.

Right now we’re watching that true classic of the season…. JAWS.

My Gore Factory

So I mentioned yesterday I discovered something cool for making sfx (that is the abbreviation for special effects make-up if you didn’t already know…)

I was starting to get all my stuff together to start making wounds and things and was looking at the box of tissues thinking that there had to be something easier to use… tearing up the tissue is a mess and it always wants to shred in strips…

My studio is my basement, which also contains the laundry room, and I was wandering back and forth and glanced into the trash bin where I toss the dryer lint and dryer sheets… and I had an epiphany!!  USED DRYER SHEETS!!

There were several sitting on top so I scooped them up and starting to pull on them… they shredded easily, but not too easily, they shredded in any direction I pulled them in, I could regulate the size… excellent.

So onto the next step… will they soak up latex?  YES!  and BONUS… they dried in the position I dropped them in, not flat, and did not need powdering as the fibre soaked up all the latex and it didn’t stay tacky.

I used coloured liquid latex – red and blue – as I had it on hand.  It is going to speed up my zombie and corpse work over the weekend big time.  No need to colour, just glue them on and add blood!

I also used oatmeal and rice cereal to make scabs.  I really like using the coloured latex… makes this all so easy!

Scabs!

I still have to finish up all the pieces… removing them from the lids they are drying on, powdering those that need it, maybe a little more flesh coloured PAX on the wound edges…

I’m actually quite thrilled with how they are turning out… and it is just about time to head back down to get it all organized for tomorrow… have to get the table clear so I can work…

You may have noticed that I stockpile lids from plastic containers… they are REALLY handy to use for palettes, etc.  And if I get them covered is crap I just throw them away.  Philly containers are a great size for using too for powder and other things, the lids are airtight so you can keep alcohol or adhesives in them when working.

Here’s a shot of the “studio” with this year’s photo backdrop hanging up… got the bloody sheet of fabric at the dollar store for $1.50… it was long and narrow so I cut it in half and pinned it to a white table-cloth.

I sent out email confirmations to all my appointments for the weekend and they have all responded… my directions gave my address and the additional note of “and there is a large mummy in the bay window.”  Do you think they’ll find me?

Groovy Grannies

Saturday night was, again, crazy time in my basement.  Naomi and her crew came over to be aged into little old ladies to celebrate a birthday or two pub crawling.  These girls are the same group that did the zombies with a couple of new gals added to the crew.

They go all out… costumes, padding, accessories, even one of them wearing a real Depends… and the props… they bought canes at Dollarama for $2, one of them was a cat lady and was carrying one of those fat mini photo albums FULL of photos of her kitties that she stuck in everyone’s face, they had birthday banners and badges… and one of their mom’s bet they wouldn’t be able to get anyone to kiss them.  They took the bet … I have no idea of the outcome.

Naomi used washable markers to give everyone varicose veins and spider veins.  it was very effective.

So here are some shots I took… they are going to pubs so the lighting won’t be great so I did the make-up theatre style…

Group shot.

All ready to hit the bar, with purses and coats.

The wigs were from my collection (with the exception of the Cat Lady’s, she had bought one for herself that worked great).

They each had their own persona for their granny:

Trailer Trash Granny

Trailer Trash Granny over does her make-up, still… and is always looking for an ashtray, but misses as she won’t put down her can of beer.

Society Granny

Society Granny is well dressed and well-preserved.  She is well made-up… but she’s a little off.  She gets her skirt stuck in the waistband of her Depends and doesn’t realize it.

Fitness Freak Granny

Fitness Freak Granny had exercise equipment with her, wearing yoga pants and workout shoes.  She’s a fit old bird.  Wears her wig like a toque.

House-Granny (fresh cookies always available)

House Granny is always home and always has fresh cookies to offer you.  She’s “comfortable” to hug and squishy if you squeeze her.

Crazy Cat Lady

Crazy Cat Lady granny never married and has lots… LOTS of cats.  She dresses nicely to go out and likes to show off her babies’ photos.

Crazy Granny recently widowed and lovin' it!

Crazy Granny is having a ball.  Her husband recently died and she’s finally enjoying herself without worrying about getting crap.  She’s loud and not afraid to go after she’s decides she wants… she’s really nuts and a little crude.

The aftermath in my basement included feathers everywhere, cotton padding fluff, bits of streamer off of noise makers and a full bag of empties… the party started when they arrived here.  Naomi left her car here overnight and they called a cab (that’s what they said they were doing… and her car was here.)

Spooky….

I can finally show you photos from the project I was working on for Don Zwicker.  These are photos I took, Don will be giving me images soon, but I can’t wait!  When I get copies of his “final” shots that were entered in the show I will post them.

Don was participating in the 5 Alarm Photo Project.  Five photographers were chosen to participate, each of them drew five models each from a hat, then had to shoot five different themes using a different one of their models in each one.  The themes were Horror, High Fashion, Scenic, Romance, and Movie.

These are the photos I took at the Horror shoot.  Don took a campy view of the theme and it was great fun.  My backyard is the setting and Don spent most of two days pulling the set together.  He borrowed a coffin and all sorts of Halloween decorations from a lady in town who goes crazy at Halloween.  He had “food” for the guests – eyeballs and fingers… and normal food for the normal person.

I supplied the decapitated head (I had made if for the play Dracula several years ago) and did the monster make-up.

The featured model in this shoot is Ashley Berteotti - she is playing the straight character in this scene, which if you can’t tell, is the blonde girl.  Cyril Cook is Frank, Stewart Loewen is the Wolfman, Amy Retzlaff is Vampira and the crew were Mark Shpur and William Vavrek.

Frank… the patriarch of our little group.

Uncle Wolf… Frank’s brother-in-law (was married to his sister).

Couldn’t narrow down a name – Vampira/Elvira/Morticia/Lily… pick one.  Amy rocked it.

The odd one out – sweet innocent Ashley.

The set – my backyard.  To the left my rhubarb plant, and to the right my apple tree.  I got 31 apples off it this year!

Mark, Cyril and Stewart chatting between set-ups.

Amy and Ashley chilling on my deck… the bugs were HORRIBLE on this evening and their hair/wigs are crawling with them… well, not really crawling as the hair spray was acting like flypaper.

The picnic… two shots with slight different arrangement of the cast.

Don used a smoke machine for some of his shots.  The shoot lasted a few hours… right through sunset into twilight… appropriate for the characters.