Idle Moments

The Vanishing Points cast and crew were a playful bunch. During the run of dress rehearsals and performances at the tiny Boho Theatre and its especially cramped dressing room/makeup/backstage area (there was NO privacy! I saw the women in their underwear...and they saw me in mine, the poor things....), the director and the stage manager saw to it that our off-stage time was occupied with other pursuits so as to keep our voices from drifting out onto stage when they weren't wanted. On the first day of tech. rehearsals, the grueling sessions where the backstage crew cram into a couple of days what the actors have been drilling for weeks, we found in the dressing/makeup area a box full of magazines, puzzle- and coloring books, as well as a box each of coloring markers and Crayola crayons!


Backstage at Boho. In the left foreground are the objects of our
distraction. (Photo: Morgan Manasa)

I thought it was just silly at first, but as my boredom grew, I took a crayon in my hand and flipped through the coloring book, looking at a couple of samples that cast member Mark Penzien had already rendered. I noted that he had applied some shading to some of his works, an idea that had never crossed my mind for coloring books, as I hadn't colored in a coloring book since, maybe, age 8?

I found a picture to my liking and started filling in between the lines.

I discovered along the way that, either due to paying attention when I didn't think I was to my ex-wife's graphic art work, or something I just picked up along the way, I have sort of a knack for shading. Granted, they were just coloring book pictures, but some of them struck me as pretty darn good, if I may say so myself. And I just did.


This was the first one I did.


Since I had very small roles in the play, I had a LOT of down time....



I sorta goofed a little on this one....


I like the shading at the edges of the "fur" in this one.


I love how shading can add character to the
characters! The bug is a little crappy in
this one.


Probably my favorite of the bunch....

There are a few others, but I don't feel they're very good.



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