Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Orlando De la Paz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Orlando, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
This year, a Very Meaningful Project has fallen onto my lap. This year is the 50th Anniversary of My Favorite television series, Little House on the Prairie and somehow, I ended up becoming the Art Director for the event that will take place March 22, 23, and 24th in Simi Valley, where the show was filmed. As a decade-long Set Painterm mostly for Theaters here in Southern California, I have been tasked to apply all my knowledge and experience to painting 11 Flat Facades that will represent buildings from the series that once stood on the grounds of Big Sky Movie Ranch in Simi Valley. In addition, I will be drawing several portraits of Principle Actors on the show that are no longer with us, as well as creating art for several backdrops that will be placed in various locations of the event. It is truly a dream come true for this fan. Not only have I been fortunate enough to be friends with several of the cast members and crew of the show, I will have the privalege of travelling with them to various locations in the U.S. as they celebrate their 50th Anniversary. That is a far cry from where I was in 1974 when I first heard about the show, back in the Quezon City, a suburb of the greater Metro Manila area in the Southeast Asian Peninsula of the Philippines.
In 1974, which is the year the Series premiered, I was attending a Catholic School in Quezon City. Strangeky enough, my obsession with the series was ignited by a painting I had done. My Schoolteacher had assigned a project that would best represent our talents and strengths. By that time, I was already quite passionate about the arts and I wanted to display my proficiency in painting. My mother being very supportive of my interests, had purchased a Walter Foster step by step Painting Book of landscapes. One of the lessons in the book caught my eye, which was a log Cabin in the middle of a clearing. I think it was because the previous Christmas I had received a Box of Lincoln logs from Santa Claus, the subject matter caught my eye. I painted it in Acrylics on Canvas as I recall and presented that to my class. My Schoolteacher at the time though tit would be interesting if my Classmates were the ones to give a title to the piece. Unanimously, they all shouted “Little House on the Prairie. ” I had never heard of this show, nor of the phrase. I asked my classmates aftewards what is “Little House obn the Prairie. ” I learned it was an American Televesion Series that was on Mondays nights. Asd that was a Monday I decided to watch andthe whole family of course Sat around the set to watch it. That nigth it was the Episode about a Raccoon that the main character, Laura Ingalls, played by the impish Melissa Gilbert. Well, I was hooked. I don;t know if it were the values of family life in a close-knot commuinity, the nostalgia of an era gone-by, the Costumes, or all of it that instantly caught my imagination, but I could not stop watching that show every week. Or maybe I related to it because I have three younger female siblings that associated with the three daughters on the show. Today I most relate to it because like my family, they were an immigrant family that moved from their comfort zone to somewhere and that together they could survive whatever calamities might arise in their new world.
By the time my family migrated to the U.S. in 1978, the series was in its 5th Season. By that time, it would have been uncool to watch the show and let everyone know I did, so I became a closet Bonnethead ( as the series’ fans are often referred to ). Also by then, I had learned that the series was based on a set of Children’s Books written by the actual Laura Ingalls Wilder. So I began to read them, secretly, by borrowing them from the School Library at Alice Birney Elementary in San Diego, CA. Secretly that is until it was announced on loud speaker that young Orlando de la Paz had failed to return copies of Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie back to the Library. Well, did the teasing start. But I continued to watch the show despite my proclaiming I was now a Star Wars fan instead and began making lunch money by drawing R2D2 and C3PO for various kids on campus. So my stint as a Social Pariah was short lived thanks to the arts.
A few years later, after Art College, and not long after being employed as a Character Artist for the Disney Company, I met one of the former cast members of the show. It was, of all people, the actress who played the villain on the series, Alison Arngrim. It was her birthday and I was the plus one to one of her close friends. Well, that meeting has blossomed into a friendship that has lasted over 20 years. Years after that , I would change my career from a Disney Artist to becoming a Set Painter in Theatre. And by chance I would be hired to paint a set for a Production of Little House Christmas at the Playhouse in Sierra Madre, CA. for Scenic Designer Stephen Gifford. And of course for one of the performances, Alison came to the show with her friends wh0 just happen to also be former Cast and Crew of the series. Those also have evolved into long lasting friendships. Then one day, a common friend of Alison and mine, invited us to his wedding. Alison would be the presider, and he asked if I could sing a song for it. I gladly accepted. The wedding took place at none other than Big Sky Movie Ranch where the show was shot. This would be a serendipitous occassion. The caretaker of Big Sky was giving us a tour of the Ranch, Steve Howell (also an Emmy Winning CInematographer) when he remarked, ” Wouldn’t it be great if someone put cardboard cut-outs of all the buildings from the show and placed them in the actual locations?” And I said ,not realizing the gargantuan task I was about to assign myself, “I think I can do better than that. You see I’m a set Painter and I think I can get you some builders, and we can put life sized Flats here that can look like the buildings from the show. ” I immediatley contacted another common friend of ours who is a super fan of the sh0w and builds miniature models of the buildings from the show. His name is Eric Caron a Parisian who had moved to Montreal, Canada. I asked him to draw up Schematics of 11 of the principal sets and I decided I would create prototypes of these facades as part of a proposal. That started a momentum that went from Zero to a thousand. Within days of that, Alison received an email from the Chamber of Commerce suggesting that maybe Alison would help them try to put an event together that would allow people to see Big Sky Ranch becasue of the volumes of call they get from other fans of the show. Well, Alison immediately introduced me toi the President of the Chamber, Kathi Van Etten and the rest as they say is history. That was four years ago, and just recently I had completed with the help of fans and volunteers, 11 of the Facades from our original proposal and this week they will finally be erected at Big Sky Ranch and I am proud to be serving as the Art Director for this event.
I think my only regret about being part of this event is that I wont get to share this with my parents. They both passed away in 2018. I wish they could have been here to see the fruits of their sacrifices, their pulling up their roots and starting over in a foreign country, their dreams of making sure we had dreams that would come true. I dedicate all my work on this event to them. As a family we wathced this show, laughed and cried with it and grew up with it. That is why this event is such a meaningful Project to me. It is the culmination of everything I’ve learned in my career as an artist, the reason why my parents came to America to have a better life for their children, and I think the pinnacle of my vocation as a painter.
Orlando, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I don’t know if I already answered all this in the previous statement about Meaningful Projects. I got into becoming a Set painter in Theatre when one day I saw a children’s play of Aladdin. For a Backdrop, they had a Poster from the Movie of the same name. After the show I approached the director, a former choir Director of mine, and asked if I could help at their Next Production doing sets. I believe that would later be The King and I. I would do this Voluntarily for several years, until one day a friend asked if I could paint the sets for a Production of Nickled and Dimed at the Hudson. I said Yes. It would be my first paid gig as a Set painter. During that production, Trent Steelman, the Executive Director at the Colony Theatre in Burbank saw the show and wanted to meet the Set painter. He loved the Marbled Floor I painted and wanted me to show my portfolio to him and the Artistic Director Barbara Beckley. They ended up hiring me for the show Breath and Imagination, Directed by Saundra McClain and Set designed by Shawn Motley. Motley then recommended my name to his former classmate Stephen Gifford who I’ve painted many shows for in the last 10 years. Since then, I have been a professional Set painter. I am truly passionate about it. I love making magic with just a brush, and some paints. I’ve become proficient with different types of techniques often requested for live theatre. I’ve painted from, realistic to abstract, to surreal. I’ve been asked to paint anything from Marble Floors in a castle, wood planks in a log cabin, a basketball court in a gym, even a gigantic piece of notebook paper on an entire stage floor. I’ve done Cobblestone floors, to Brick walls, to large Sky backdrops to a wall of colorful autumn leaves. A set Painter should be able to do whatever he is tasked to do, interpret a Set Designer’s vision, and do it in a timely manner. That means really doing the homework of looking up references, studying different surfaces, understanding how different types of paints and finishes behave together. One of my motto is “Under promise and over deliver. ” I m also a fanatic when it comes to Trompe L’oiel, aka techniques that trick the eye with paint. I believe I am in the business of a making magic, and part of that magic is really learning how to work with other Magicians within a production, i. e., the lighting Designer, the Props designer, the Costume Designer, the Director, and the actors. It’s all very collaborative and synergetic. I love it.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a set painter is getting to watch the reaction of actors and audience when the light first illuminates the set I painted. I love when actors or directors peek through the door and immediately have an emotional connection to the set, as if it helped them find the character by seeing the world that they live in. I love hearing the audience respond to the opening of a curtain or when the Lights come on. It’s exhilarating.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Nothing changes a career more than a Pandemic. That immediately closed a world for me. Theatres closed their doors. Stage lights shut down. Suddenly I had no clients, no sets to paint. The first thing I thought of doing. I needed something else to fall back on. So I changed gears and started doing commissions for paintings in oil. I did Portraits, landscapes, etc. and painting backdrops for people doing vlogs, tutorials. That somehow has transitioned after the Quarantine into doing backdrops for events, especially Autograph shows. I still do theatre but for the most part I’ve made a living as a backdrop artist. I suppose that s what I should call myself now.
Contact Info:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/olan.paz