scene painter

In his spare time, he served as a scene painter for local theaters.

In the 1930s and 40s, movie backdrops had to be created on indoor sound stages by crews of scene painters who conjured up everything from cityscapes to rolling hills.

A successful San Francisco businessman, then 38, he decided to become a Western scene painter.

Mr. Briggs peppers his abstract canvases with objects and motifs from his day job as a scene painter, primarily using Benjamin Moore paints bought from a hardware store rather than an art supply store.

Michael O'Reily, an apprentice scene painter at the Royal Opera House, chose the quiet room as his canvas.