PROJECTS
That's me up there! A team of us worked diligently in 2018 to repaint the stupa's four colorful entrance gates in an engineered coating (fancy paint) that's designed to withstand the elements.
Prepping the Buddha, just prior to the Dalai Lama's consecration in 2006. Here, I am assessing the smoothness of the Buddha's backside to make sure it's ready for gold paint. Definitely, that's what I'm doing.
This exhibit is one of my favorites because it was soooo important to my mother. She was the historian of her church, and for years she talked about doing a church history exhibit, so in 2015, that's what we did!
I finally finished painting this dragon, a symbol of power and love, on the back of my pea coat in 2020 when the Covid lockdown first went into effect. Years ago, a friend of mine in France drew the dragon outline for me (thank u, Benjamin!), and I had always intended to fill in the design with paint, but I just couldn't get around to it. Clearly, it took a pandemic lockdown to finally get it done.
I painted this bedroom mural form my friend, Pia, which she then presented to her two young girls, who are depicted beneath the tree. Gotta love all that hot pink―her girls certainly did!
MY RUBY SLIPPERS! I decided to dress up a pair of brown leather Birkenstocks by dying them red and branding a pattern into them with a wood-burning tool. Fun experiment!
This floor pattern for "Secret Garden" didn't take me nearly as long as most set pieces and backdrops. Maybe 3-4 hours? That back panel below the colorful flowers is my favorite part―looks like a mystical, primordial forest.
My contribution to this flower shop set involved checkerboarding the floor, painting the cityscape silhouette, and faux-finishing the walls in blue-gray. Nice shop, cool plant monster!
I decided to vary my reds on this brickwork to create a multicolor effect. After the opening number, the brick wall would separate in the center and slide off stage to reveal the flower shop set for the next scene. Clever!
This Dickensian London-scape for Oliver was first cut from wood panels and pieced together―then I went in with a magic paintbrush to add windows, rooftops, and whatnot. Wish you could see more clearly the details on the "Big Ben-ish" clock tower and the dome to St Paul's Cathedral (far left). But that's okay, you get the idea.
For this production, I painted the moon and the stonework on the risers. That moon is actually painted in gray—the color just changes with the spotlighting. I used a sea sponge to give some texture to the moon, and then I lightly sprayed it with adhesive and threw glitter over it to add a twinkle-effect. That's right, it's the magic of glitter!
The main challenge with this backdrop was to create a rainbow sunset with colors that blended seamlessly. So I ended up laying the whole drop out on the floor and rolling the paint on horizontally with a roller, shifting from coral-pink to fuchsia to deep purple, and then blending everything together. Follow? It's pretty darn seamless, and I love the look of that Arizona mesa against it in black.
I love this set piece, but I wasn't entirely happy with it when first painted it. I thought it came out a bit too rosey-pink. But now I think it's pretty spot-on, because it's the GAIETY THEATER after all. ; )
I like my blue brickwork, but I think the best feature on this set piece is the deco doors. You can't imagine how much masking tape I used on that linework? A LOT!
This Austrian Alps backdrop took me close to two weeks to get through. Somewhat grueling, but nothing compared to getting through the Austrian Alps on foot like the von Trapp family. Context!
Ballroom dancing in a decadent villa in Austria―have to admit, it's been a long time since I've done that!
IT'S DECEMBER and we weren't officially open yet, but I created a holiday window anyway. The dress that you see on the mannequin, constructed out of newspaper & burlap, was created by my talented niece, Gabby (Jen's daughter). Spectacular!
Although designed and built in the Victorian era as a public library, the Kagyu Center for World Peace in London fits perfectly in this building. Good karma!
Here I am with Buddhist sculptor, Lama Thubten, drawing a map of the mysteries and solving some zen koans. Or then again, I might just be taking orders for lunch.
One afternoon at ROKPA, a humanitarian NGO headquartered in Zurich, the Dalai Lama's sister stopped by for tea. Nice surprise! Pictured L to R, ROKPA Director Lea Wyler, the DL's sister, me, and ROKPA Administrator Gabby Lenk.
Here's a presentation board that I created for the Shambala Retreat Center (now closed) in Scotland to help promote their plan to build a stupa. I worked into the wee hours one night to get this board finished, hence the dark circles and the coffee cup in hand. In the end, the stupa project never got off the ground...good display, though!
I/Ralph painted this for a writer in Switzerland who hired me to design and paint some classic western-style lettering above the saloon-door entrance to the family kitchen, as a birthday gift to his wife, Ursi. Came out well...and Ursi loved it! Happy wife, happy life, as they say.
