November, I hardly knew ye

November was a busy month for me, so it went very quickly. Since I started this blog, I tend to have my camera with me most of the time and I can't resist sharing photos I'm fond of, whether they document projects or just make nice looking images. These are from a clever & funny Dunkin' Donuts commercial I worked on. I made some signs, aged props and varnished pieces of toast among other things...


We filmed on location on Crosby between Houston and Bleecker Streets.
I'm a fan of vintage cars in general and it's always fun to see the picture cars rented for particular films and commercials.


Tough grips waiting for their next task!

I appreciated this sign for Star Shoe Repair and had them fix my favorite pink watch at lunch. I had been carrying it around with me for months :)


This building on Bleecker is one of the most beautiful in NYC in my opinion. I just love all of the intricate detail!


Above, a food stylist trims the perfect strips of "bacon". Wish I had taken pics of their delicious looking fake donuts. Below is my mess of a table, we were now shooting in a carpet warehouse in Williamsburg, Bklyn.




Below are photos taken from the 59th Street Bridge on the way from Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan. It was a gorgeous day as you can see and I got a nice shot of the Roosevelt Island Tram.




Our destination was East Side Social Club on 51st St. between 2nd & 3rd Ave. My friend and fellow scenic, Bryon Finn took on a restaurant project. Below they are prepping to place tiles on the facade.

Unfortunately, I did not take any true "before" photos, but this was about 1/3 of the way into it's progress. The look is old Italian Social Club. Our goal was to take all of the bare wood, layer various stains and then distress it in a way so that it appears the restaurant has been around for many years. We painted and glazed a beautiful embossed anaglypta wallpaper and Bryon painted a "Bay of Naples" mural for the back wall.



It was a lot of work and a pleasure to see finished! Happy Massee designed the space. There are a number of owners with a great deal of experience between them. The two partners we worked with were Patrick Fahey, also the contractor and Billy Gilroy, who has made it a real family affair :D His son is the head chef, his daughter, general manager, while his brother is running the front. It's open for business and the food is delicious as are the cocktails!! Try it! Open from 6:45A-4A


Great little public park on 51st across from restaurant.

Always surprises me when, by chance, a paint stir stick looks like a little painting.

Mom bought me these flowers while she was in town. We saw a great play with stellar performances by Daniel Craig & Hugh Jackman in "A Steady Rain". Also had the privilege of seeing NY Times Center interview with the brilliant writer, John Irving promoting his new book, Last Night in Twisted River.


Walking to C train on Spring Street, noticed how sweet these row houses looked.


Home at last! Smith and 9th Street Station has great view of the Big City :D

Christmas & Holiday Cards

My Christmas and Holiday Cards are Here! You can browse & buy single cards or packs of 8 @ Artwork by Allyn




Sleepy Snowman is brand new! I often feel like him in the morning.

Some of you are sure to recognize my favorite characters in their Santa Hats. Below you can see the box of 8 packaging. Keeping it simple.





Most of my cards are 5"x5" and come with white or blue envelopes. Snowman & Joyeux Noel above are 5"x7". You can also find Party Invites and Thank You note cards on my site :) Plus Birthday and blank cards for any occasion.

Sherri finale

Friday the 13th was the Season Finale of Sherri Lifetime Network's 1st sitcom, starring Sherri Shepherd of The View. I worked on the show as a scenic artist, painting the sets and also as the camera scenic, standing by during filming. I thoroughly enjoyed this project because of the quality, professionalism and great personalities on the prep crew, camera crew and cast members! If you haven't seen it, you're missing a lot of laughs. It's a very funny show on Tuesdays at 10pm on Lifetime. 2 more left, but sure they'll be repeating some :D Hoping the show will be picked up for another season, think it will!! Here are some of the photos I took our last night...

I'm not sure where this guy above came from, but he hung out in our paint workroom.

Below is the last swing set they built, Bo's classroom (Bo is Sherri's son on the show). Swing sets are the ones built per episode, as opposed to the permanent sets. I missed working on this particular one, but I thought it looked great! Bo's image is 2nd from the right, lettin' his hair grow up & out ;) Rachel Dratch of SNL played the teacher in the final episode.

The 3 permanent sets were built last summer-- Law Office, Breakroom and Sherri's apartment below. Once the sets are built or in progress, which is usually the case, scenics come in to prep all the surfaces, paint, wallpaper and faux finish anything that needs it. For example, her floor is faux wood, painted directly on the concrete stage floor. We also age or distress anything that looks too fresh or new. The lighting really brings it all together in the end.

Her apartment hallway is attached to her office breakroom set as a way to save space. One of my jobs was to make sure the hall plug that covered the breakroom window looked as if it were flush to the wall. I used painted tape for this. *Camera scenics spend a great deal of time just painting artist tape to hide imperfections, cracks, etc. This is so changes can be made quickly in between shooting. The plug comes off each time they film in breakroom (on/off...on/off...)

Above is the breakroom and below is her law office set. Sherri, Elizabeth Regen, Kali Rocha and Tammy Townsend play paralegals in NYC.

This is Shawn Shea, the 1st Assistant Director. Shawn is great at her job and was so much fun to work with. I know it was sometimes hard for her to be here, because her home is in Los Angeles. Most importantly, that is where her beloved dog resides!

Above is our art director, Toni Barton. I love her! Here she is hugging the equally lovely, Kevin Walsh the lead person (head set dresser) for Sherri.

I adore this camera man, Alain Onesto!! He's filmed many shows including Kate & Allie and Hope & Faith. Alain also films performances of various operas at The Met in hi-definition. He is full of positive energy and very supportive in general. My postcard invite for my last exhibition hangs on his camera and he made sure to get excellent shots of my toddler tees that made it into a kids' store set on the show. Of course, they made it in thanks to Sharon White our wonderful set decorator!

I thought this shot above was interesting because of just how tight it was fitting in the cameras, another was inside a doorway to the left. We had a total of 4 cameras rolling for majority of time.

Here is Sherri in a scene with Elizabeth and below with Theo ;) I mean, Malcolm Jamal Warner!

Hot scene above!!

We filmed on Thursdays & Fridays. Friday nights were with a live audience, which was fantastic!! We had DJ Babaloo and a comedian to entertain the crowd between shots. The show often took on a party-like atmosphere. Above gaffer, Tigre McMullan and electric, Evin Lowe. These two were my regular dance partners when the music was good ;D Most of the crew stand-by in the background while filming occurs.

Above is key grip extraordinaire, Dave Bowers!

Alain Onesto again :)

Kali Rocha plays Summer. Here, she gazes at the shellac-glazed licorice jewelry created by Donna, played by Cindy Caponera. Cindy is hysterical as Donna and is also a writer and producer of the show!

This was the last night and Sherri was very gracious and thoughtful in her speech and thank yous :)

I cannot say enough about Sherri and her cast. They are all so talented and extremely funny! The 4 women have terrific chemistry and each character has their own individual style, charm & humor. They cracked up the crew over & over despite the number of times we watched the same scenes again & again. I appreciate just how nice and down to earth they all are as well! It really set the tone for the entire crew and feel of the show.

Striking their poses... Karen Wald, far right, an amazing script supervisor and actor/stand-ins. Deborah is a dancer and trainer. I often asked her for tips on diet & work outs ;)

Holly Moore, charge scenic, packing up and pouring excess paints out in eco friendly canisters to be picked up by city :)

Below are some of my baby & toddler tees appearing in the Halloween episode...

I took these with my cell phone. They came out somewhat readable I think?! I was thrilled when I saw that they used the take where Sherri hands the other actress my Space Mouse onesie!

Below, are most of the scenics I worked with on the show when we were at Pasita eating, drinking & looking at David's mural/scenic work here *(original blog post in September archive).

**A final goodbye from the cast! I'm so happy I was part of the show and wish it many many years to come!!!** Thank You :D