Death Trap- Preliminary Drawing

Once again, I am doing a couple of posters for our regional playhouse Pioneer Theater. Last year I did work for A Christmas Carol: the Musical and this year I have agreed to do two new posters. The first is for a murder mystery called Death Trap, the 1978 thriller by Ira Levin who also penned the creepers Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives. The plot revolves around washed up playwright Sydney Bruhl who is approached by a former student Clifford Anderson to read a new play he has written. The play turns out to be fantastic and Bruhl hatches a plan to kill Clifford and steal the script for his own. Many plot twists ensue and the ending is quite a surprise. The weapons in the drawing represent the collection of stage props that decorate one wall of Sydney's house and are also used to knock off the main characters. I wanted something that was ambiguous enough to not give away anything but mysterious enough to draw in the viewer. As soon as I get sketch approval I will move to finish on this one.

Jekyll Or Hyde?

Jekyll and Hyde- 11" x 14", mixed media by Greg Newbold

I did a series of theater posters a while back for Pioneer Theater Company and one of the shows was a production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I wanted to give a sense of mystery without resorting to the tired "half in half" sort of depiction of this character. I decided that instead of having Jekyll in his "Hyde" disguise, or vice versa, I would simply add a sort of  mad glow to his right eye. I got a lot of mileage out of this one including getting it accepted into the Society of Illustrators Annual.

Also see Cyrano De Bergerac from this same series here
Check out my new painting video here

Happy New Year!

Cyrano de Bergerac - mixed media, 10" x 13"

With a New Year comes new possibilities and new goals. I think the tired old tradition of making resolutions, of which most will be broken or forgotten by Valentine's Day should be tossed aside. Someone I admire greatly once said "just do the best you can". With that in mind, I think I will simply choose to work hard at doing better. I'll be better at recognizing my blessings, work out harder, love my spouse more, spend better quality time with my family,  reach deeper to make my paintings better, explain concepts to my students in a more meaningful way, and be more satisfied with where I am in my journey. I figure working to simply be "better" than the year before will keep me on the right path to happiness. I wish you all much joy and prosperity in the coming year and may we all be a little bit better.

Naughty Marietta

Naughty Marietta - 11' X 14"

Acrylic/mixed on illustration board

I did this piece a while ago for a small theater in Louisiana called the Jefferson Performing Arts Society. I didn't get to take advantage of the free ticket offer from the theater because of proximity, but from what I gather, the operetta is highly entertaining. It tells the tale of Captain Richard Warrington who is asked to unmask and capture a notorious French pirate calling himself  "Bras Priqué" – and how he is helped and hindered by a high-spirited runaway, Contessa Marietta. I love doing theater work and hope to keep having opportunities to do paintings like this.

Overpainting part 2

Lady of the Camelias - Acrylic/mixed on illustration board

Seen here as it ran for the playbill and poster

I did a series of paintings a few years ago for the Pioneer Theatre Company. One of the pictures was for a new play called Alexadre Dumas & the Lady of the Camelias. It was about Dumas, the man who wrote the novel upon which Verdi based his opera La Traviata. In the play he reminisces about his love affair with the woman he based his book upon, all while a rehearsal of La Traviata plays out on stage.

Reworked version eliminated the old man

I fought to not include the old man in the picture and focus instead on the love story, since I felt it looked like he was leering at the young lovers. Alas, I was overruled and I reluctantly included him in the background. I was always dissatisfied with it, so when I got the painting back from the client, I painted him out. I like this version better, but you can decide for yourselves.