Today I’m gonna share the Christmas painting I did for one of my closest friends, Smuck (aka Sean Kelly). The subject of the painting is the one and only Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, the San Francisco opera rival of Sweeney Todd, many of my late night fantasies), specifically it’s him as Dr. Horrible from the incredibly popular web musical. The painting is oil on a deep 16 x 20 inch canvas.

The first background layer.

The second background layer.

Dr. Horrible’s foundation.

The finished Dr. Horrible.

This painting  was a dream to paint. I’m not entirely sure the mechanics behind it, but it was one of the smoothest pieces I’ve ever done. It also came remarkably close to what I envisioned/used as a guideline. Everything just came together perfectly, and it was as tho I wasn’t applying the paint, but the paint was apply itself.….   -cues X-files music-

I apologize for the fuzziness of the camera, it hasn’t been focusing properly. Also, the colour’s a little off. It’s not as royal blue as it looks there, it’s more of a dirty grey-blue. Steel-blue. Cloudy midnight-blue. Mercurious sludge seeping into the river delta-blue.

My second order of business that I wanted to share was what I’ve been doing with the musical now that the holidays are wrapped up for another year THANK GOD. I’m full scale back in business working on the last couple songs, and Dysfunction should be close to done by the end of the month. The part I’m working on now is the first real solo song in the show. After Charlotte and Cameron’s business dinner, Cam asks her on a real date. The scene pauses and Charlotte takes a moment to reflect and sort out the situation. We decided to do it this way because A) Charlotte becomes more important as the show progresses and she doesn’t really get a chance to reveal who she is, and B) This is a rather large decision, accepting/denying a date so soon. Having her just answer yes or no would probably leave audiences unclear on her reasoning. This working towards a decision in her head should really make clear her route to the answer she decides upon.

Every so often I listen to the work I’ve already finished on the musical, and it reminds slash inspires me that I can accomplish something of value. It’s not rare that I forget that I’ve actually written songs, impressive songs (IMHO) for someone who hasn’t had any formal training . As I listened I realized I didn’t have many rhymes I was proud of yet. Not that there’s anything wrong with them, but they lacked the complexity I know I’m capable of. With Charlotte’s inner dialogue I aim to work-out my metaphorical rhyme muscle. The rhymecep brachii if you will. Internal rhymes that’ll make your head spin….. Ok maybe not quite. Here’s a look:

On the one hand we have yes.
Rushing in’s not bad I guess
if you’re cautious and you assess the situation.

On the other we have no.
It begins, when I say so,
and this nauseous feeling is growing. I need to run.

The melody for this song is inspired by Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King. I’ll share that another day tho.

Lastly, I stumbled across a website that transcends modern vernacular, and thusly, must be shown rather than told about. Go there, and learn.

-TCR

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