Fawlty Towers Poster Design

design © 2010 Peter Bond

Something non-paleo this time:  Here is the final version of the poster that will advertise the upcoming SMP show, Fawlty Towers.  In the show, which will be made up of two of the television episodes, I get the honor of playing Basil Fawlty.

Yes, him.

While learning John Cleese's many ad-libed lines, I have also thrown together a smaller, bookmark-sized advertisement for easy distribution.

So if you happen to be in the North Vancouver area during late October, stay for a spell at Fawlty Towers and see this amateur artist make a complete fool of himself!

New Portfolio and Updates!

Update: 
In keeping with the blog redesign and the online transition of Bond: Unprofessional Doodler (just fooling around) to Bond: Amateur Artist (on the track towards professionalism), I have created a new professional-looking portfolio!  Click here to check it out!

The portfolio is hosted (free!) through deviantArt, and I am quite pleased with the results.  Having had an account with dA for a few years, I found it very easy to organize and transfer images.  If anyone is interested, my deviantArt profile is here.

Art Update:
I am currently working on a few things:

• a coral reef painting - a large piece to hang above the fireplace, full of colourful coral, fish, and invertebrates!  I have had this image in my head since scuba diving in the Philippines, of slowly drifting towards the edge of a reef and peering down the wall into the dark depths...  The painting is still in the initial stages; the reef has been sketched and the background ocean blue has been painted.  Stay tuned for updates, as I am quite excited about this one...
• an ichthyosaur piece for ART Evolved - one month until the very exciting Ichthyosaur Gallery, and I haven't even started a piece yet.  My plan is to sketch simple outlines and then digitally colour it using the same photoshop technique I used on the spinosaur.  I just need to decide on a subject - which genera of ichthyosaur?!  Perhaps I will get inspired before the AE liveblogging session in a few days!  Remember, you too can join in the liveblogging!
• a playbill poster for Players 99 - Back in 1999, the acting group I belong to (SMP Dramatic Society) put on a cabaret show, and the SMP producers have asked me to create a poster for the archives.  I preformed Monty Python's Bookshop Sketch and sang a Cherry Poppin' Daddies swing dancing song, while a couple swang danced. Uh, swung danced?  Danced swingingly???

 Anyway, have a Happy Easter!  I hope you all had loads of chocolate.  Mmmmm, chocolate....

The Wizard of Oz, or Why I've Been Away from Blogging

Some of you might be wondering where I've been there last few months - 9 posts in the last two and a half months!  Well, I've had my plate full with Ruby Slippers and Munchkins!

I belong to the acting troop SMP Dramatic Society and every year for the past 15 years we've been putting on a pantomime in January.   For the uninitiated, a pantomime is a British tradition of putting on a family fairytale play that appeals to both kids and adults.  There are usually amazing costumes and sets, a lead boy played by a girl, a Dame played by a man, and lots of audience participation.  In short, they are really fun to experience!   This year, we decided to do the Wizard of Oz!

I personally wear two big hats in this production of Oz:  Set Designer and Dame.  Behind the scenes, I have been designing the various colourful sets for the show, and in the spotlight, I've been acting in a dress!

Set Designer

There were five main scenes to design which included Munchkinland (where Dorothy's house lands on the witch), the Wicked Witch of the West's castle, and the Emerald City.  Something I wanted to experiment this year was to use a projector to project part of the set (this would save space in storing painted flats, and allow us a very cool Floating Wizard's Head.)  So far, it's working very well!

Here are a few sketches and photos of the production of the sets for the Wizard of Oz:

Early Munchkinland sketch

Early Castle sketch

Two final flat drawings from the Castle

Watch for more production pictures in subsequent posts...

The Dame

A Dame is an older motherly woman with a healthy libido always played by a man.  It is usually one of the larger roles in the play (both figuratively and literally!)  with by far the most lines to remember!  In the Wizard of Oz, the Dame is Aunt Em - who just happens to come along with Dorothy on her adventures in Oz.

Aunt Em from the movie

Rehearsal pic of cast in the Emerald City (I'm third from the right!)

As for what my costume looks like, you'll have to wait until the next post!  I'll just say it looks nothing like the above image of Aunt Em from the movie...  Imagine a whale with blue hair.  Huge.  Ugly. Dame.

The Wizard of Oz opens on Thursday, to a run of completely sold-out shows!

And this is why I've been too busy to blog!

Tagged - 8 Random Things about Me...

I got tagged by fellow Canadian Blogger Mitch,

The Rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The game rules are posted at the beginning of the post. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment to let them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

I have been thinking about this post all day, trying to think of random things about myself. So here they are:

1. I had a large gap between my two front teeth when I was very young. I used a retainer for a few years, never braces. I remember having to take my retainer out at every meal, and I would wrap it in a napkin. Only once was it thrown out!
2. For the last 10 years, I've been involved with an acting troupe - SMP Dramatic Society - a group that puts on pantomimes! What is a pantomime? It is a British comedy tradition where you take a classic fairytale, add some cross-dressing, singing, dancing and hilariously bad jokes, and mix in some audience participation! I have played a rat, a sheik, a sage, a lost babe, a farmer, a wolf, and a pantomime horse (front end!)
   
3. I cannot ski. Yeah, I know, I live in a beautiful mountain-filled snow-covered ski land surrounded by skiing opportunities (Whistler, Blackcomb, Grouse, Cypress...). I should be a good skier, but I am not. This is due to me falling over and being unable to get up, when taking lesson in Grade 7. This may have scarred me as I haven't been downhill skiing since! (I guess I can cross-country ski... I forgot!)
   
4. I have shot a few different guns. As James Bond's decedent, I should be competent with firearms! I have fired several different rifles and a 22' revolver, on two separate occasions. And I am not a bad shot, if I do say so myself!
   
5. During primary school, I once started a group which almost every classmate joined! It was (surprisingly) a Dinosaur Group, where everyone was given a different dinosaur name. We would then run around at recess and pretend to be that prehistoric animal and ... uh... fight.. and ...eat. (I was a T.Rex!)
   
6. My favorite view in from West Braemar Road in North Vancouver at the bend at the top of the stairs. That quiet spot overlooks both West Vancouver and Cypress Mountain, and also Downtown Vancouver. I love looking at all the trees and the city lights over the water.
   
7. My first film (made in Grade 8) involved stop-motion animation, fire, camera tricks, and a trip through my friend's fridge. The film was about an alien who arrived on Earth and was shown around by my friend. In fact we went through his fridge twice! Our teacher, Mrs. Hopkins, gave us good marks but told us if we went showed my friend's fridge one more time, she'd fail us.
   
8. My house was broken in when I was in High School and I was the first one home. I noticed the door adgar and, without really thinking, I walked in. Stupid, I know, but I was curious and somewhat shocked! Our TV and VCR, gone. As was the Super Mario Brothers 3 video game (but not the original Nintendo system. Weird.) My Father's violin (the most disturbing of the stolen item's) was recovered by the police. I did eventually call 911 and luckily, not murdering criminal was still in my house!
   

There we go. Now, let's be really mean and tag Craig, Marianne, Randi, Stephanie, and Traumador! (I know it's not 8 people, but I'm not that mean.)

I am doing fine

Well, it's been a week since I've left Jervoice Primary School, and I feel much better. I thank everyone so much who have emailed me and left comments here. This week I've been working at a smaller school (close to Jervoice) - a school with the strangest name: there is nonsuch a school as Nonsuch Primary School! Yeah, a strange name, but a happier school.

I feel the same good buzz I felt last year while substituting in North Vancouver. I had forgot how much I enjoyed TOC-ing! I am booked at Nonsuch for the next week as well, so they must like me too.

Tomorrow night, I am going for drinks with some of the Jervoice teachers - the good ones. It should be very interesting to hear the gossip of what's been happening this week. Leaks of information hint that the parent and kids were unhappy of my "leaving," that another teacher (assistant Head, no less!) has taken a job elsewhere, and that moral is so low that many teachers may not be there after Easter!

And with Ofsted (government school auditing body) to visit any day now, the school looks in bad shape. Depending how the Ofsted assessment goes, the school could potentially close - worst case scenario...

Anyway, with my newfound flexible job, I am planning to do more traveling - Greece at Easter, Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, and Spain in August...

IN OTHER NEWS...

SMP's pantomime Robin Hood and the Singing Nun is in Hell Week now, and opens next week! Break a leg, Guys! Please go and see them - it will be a fantastic show!


This is my t-shirt logo design in stitches! Looks funny/cool!

Pantomime Time

Merry Christmas Web!

Yesterday, a traveling pantomime came to our school! We were treated to Aladdin, the panto, performed by only three people - the Villain (he also played the "bubbles" character), the Hero (good looking girl playing Aladdin), and the Dame (hairy fat man in a dress). And what a DAME!

This was the most over-the-top Dame I've ever seen! Fat, flamboyant dress, white clown face, scary woman make-up, deep male voice, and plastic fluorescent hair! The show was great and the kids loved it! I loved it too!

Somehow, though, the Dame knew my name! She told the school (as she was describing her past husbands) that she was in love with Mr. Bond. And boy did she not drop it. She (or he!) came and sat on my lap (to the mortification of my students!) and fed me fudge, showed me her ankle (ugh), and blew kisses across the hall. And I loved it!

Some of you out there may not know that I've been involved with pantomimes for the last 10 years in North Vancouver. With SMP, I've played the Babe, the Wolf, the Sage, the Farmer, the Villain!, the Rat, even the Panto Horse! Unfortunately, I won't be in this year's pantomime - Robin Hood and the Singing Nun - but I was able to create the poster and logo.


For those of you in the Vancouver Area, I urge you to go see this panto! Go see it now! Well, go see it in January!!! Go watch it for me and let me know! It is going to ROCK!!!

Miss you guys, SMP Panto-People!