The Big Hoot is Open!

Back in May/ June time I was busily painting a space themed design onto a giant model of an owl for a charity exhibition in Birmingham. I'm pleased to announce my owl made the journey safely to Birmingham and is now on display alongside over 80 other owls. If you're in the city between now and 27th September you can enjoy a fun day out spotting all the owls on the trail  (Mine is no.6) 

My friend and fellow owl painter Kate Leonard took these photos at the launch. Thanks Kate! 

The Big Hoot Owl in progress

Earlier on this year I created a design for the Big Hoot (a charity art exhibition to be held this Summer in Birmingham). He or she is entitled One Giant Hoot for Owlkind to reflect the space theme of the design. Although I don't want to give away the whole piece now (and spoil the excitement!) here are a few shots of the owl developing over the last 3 or so weeks. To find out more visit www.thebighoot.co.uk

(This last photo isn't an owl, it's my cat Cleo "helping" with morale, by pretending to be a shrub.

The Elephant in the Room!

A few months ago my design was selected for this years Elephant Parade UK tour. Over the last couple of weeks I've begun working on the real thing, a life sized model of a baby elephant over a metre high, which has taken over a large area of an office canteen space where I'm painting. It's located near St James Park so is as close to Buckingham Palace as I am ever likely to have an art studio!

Although I've done this before (back in 2010) it's always a little nerve wracking being confronted with a giant white elephant.

I soon got over this and gave it a couple of coats of a bright blue base colour, with the help of my assistant for the day Emma (http://www.emmas-graphics.co.uk/) and 2L of ready mixed Homebase paint!

I've made quite good progress, over the last week or so and the background to the design is finished, now onto the more fiddly bits. Here are a couple of work in progress shots...

and some pictures of some of the St James Park wildlife, a hungry squirrel who was briefy considered following me for more snacks and a motionless heron. I'll post another update soon!