I was at the Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society shop recently. The globe I painted for their production of Princes Ida had been taken out of storage and was sitting in the rehearsal hall. It was such fun to see it again, I thought I would share it with you.
The land masses are patterned after the 1616-1622 map covering a small table globe I was asked to use as a model. Most of the words are also from the little model. The illustrations are a mix of the old map and my own creations.
The globe is made of many layers of kraft paper pasted over an exercise ball. When dry, a wooden disk was added to the North and South Pole, holes drilled, metal pins added so the ball could be held within its wooden rim. Acrylic house paint was added and the globe was ready for decoration.
Click images to enlarge.
I drew in chalk first, just to be sure I wouldn’t run out of space for land or end up with an extremely huge ocean. Then I drew more carefully with a brown laundry marker and added the little illustrations and all the words.
Next I colored the inside edges of the land masses and illustrations with water based paint, and finally the rest of the land mass color was added.
The base is solid wood with carved styrofoam added to the legs, which were then covered with cheese cloth for extra protection. The base was also painted with acrylic house paint. I added the zodiac to the top of the stand.
When all of the illustration was finished, Nathan Roda, the set designer, turned the base into ‘old oak’ and added an oil sepia wash over all the illustration to complete this ‘antique.’
Click here to see more set painting for the Seattle G&S Society.
