The Shaun Auction

Tonight 120 Shaun the sheep sculptures will be auctioned off in aid of children in hospital across the UK.  These are the sheep I was lucky enough to get my painty hands on.  Fingers crossed a huge amount of money will be raised for the charity.

Paddington Shaun

I was commissioned by the good people at Paddington to produce a design and a completed 'Shaun' based on Paddington bear.

Here is the design work and the painting in process:

He was a fun one to do, though I was very mindful of the fact that Michael Bond's Paddington is such a well-known and well loved character it would be a lot to live up to!

 

I have added some of the classic details; his suit case, marmelade sandwich and duffle coat.  I particularly enjoyed creating his textured fur with hundreds of individual hand drawn marks.

 

'Paddington Shaun' was one of 50 sheep sculptures out on the streets of London as part of Shaun in the City.  He was on display at Merchant Square, Paddington Basin.  He will be auctioned later in the year with proceeds going to The Grand Appeal and children in Hospital across the UK.

The Pearly King

Here is my second Shaun design, 'The Pearly king', based on London's cockney royalty known for their distictive pearly button covered clothes.

Here is Pearly in progress:

I really enjoyed painting this Shaun, and pain stakingly applying all the buttons[There are over 4,000] used to make the decorative patterens, I'm only glad I didn't have to sew each one on!  I particulary like the LAMBeth walk joke on his tail!

The Pearly King will be on display to raise money for Children in hospital across the Uk at Liverpool Street Train Station in London from 28th March until 25th May.

Thank you Saunders Creative for their assistance with producing thousands of vinyl buttons!

Frida Baa-hlo

I am excited to be able to share my designs for the Shaun in the City sculpture trail, starting with 'Frida Baa-hlo'.  Based on the Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo and the portraits she painted of herself with her pet monkeys and parrots sitting on her shoulders. 

 

Shaun in the City is a 'trail of two cities', where 120 giant sculptures of Shaun the Sheep, created by artists, celebrities and designers, will go on display across London and Bristol, before going to auction to raise money for children in hospitals across the UK. 

 

Here are some photos of Frida in progress:

I particularly enjoyed painting her distictive plaited hair-style and the flowers she wore in it. 

 

 Frida Baa-hlo will be displayed in a prime location at the BFI [British Film Institute] on the Southbank in London from 28th March until 25th May 2015.

Counting sheep

Its been a bit of a blog-free zone round here the last six months or so, but I'm back with lots of news and so I plan to blog daily over the next week with a series of 'catch up' posts to get myself back on track.......starting right now:

In September I was delighted to discover that one of the designs I submitted for the Shaun in the City project was chosen from over 2000 entires.  This is a Shaun the Sheep sculpture trail, following the huge success of the award winning Gromit unleashed  art trail in 2013 which raised an amazing £2.3 million for the Bristol Children's Hospital when the sculptures eventually went to auction.

By November I was happily back at Aardman HQ [where I spent time in the summer of 2013 for the Gromit Unleashed project see here] painting my sheep sculpture.  Whilst working here I was commissioned to paint more Shauns, some my own designs and some for other people. So, I have found myself installed in the Aardman painting space off and on for the past 5 months, which is no bad thing in my books!  At this point in time I am unable to disclose any of the designs.

Shaun in the City is 'a trail of two cities', organised by The Grand Appeal and Aardman, this time to raise money for children's hospitals across the country.  There will be over 50 'Shaun' sculptures on display across London during March, April and May, and then another flock to be exhibited in Bristol over June and July [both 2015].  I am chuffed to bits to be part of this brilliant and fun event and for such a good cause.  I can't wait to see all the other designs and have back the happy buzz that the Gromit trail created in Bristol.