Gulp...

[amberdreams]

I've been chugging away at submitting designs for various sculpture trails all over the country, and now the intital selection results are starting to come in. I've got one penguin design on the Dundee shortlist, and all THREE of my giraffes have been shortlisted for Worcester. Okay, this doesn't mean I'll definitely get any of them commissioned  but I might...so when do I start panicking? LOL!!!!

I'm just in the middle of doing three more designs for robins for Nottingham's Hoodwinked trail, the deadline is on 30th January. The trouble is that five of the seven trails require the sculptures to be painted during the same time period - and not only that, but that time slot clashes with my May conventions, effectively cutting it by 2-3 weeks.

When I get back from my Mum's next week I really need to get my hare finished to clear the room for anything else I might end up with! I'm vacilating between worrying about having too many giant critters or that I'll end up with none at all and be massively disappointed.

Anyhow, here's a few in progress photos of my hare. Ignore the massive mess in the background (I usually do ha ha!).

Nose to nose we're about the same height but he has the advantage on me due to the ears. LOL

I think he looks like he'd quite like to fly away himself right now!

The river is going to run round the front, with lots of trees, I've got one more building to lay down the base colour for plus some smaller flying hares round the ears, then it'll be all adding the fine details and making it look less of a mess.

Comments

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

I may be biased and all, but I think you're heading for a house full of sculptures!!! ;) I love your your hare; he's looking very handsome!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I dunno! It's hard to guess what a sponsor is going to like. But thanks!

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It is great news...but yeah. If you're commissioned to do them all, life could get hectic! :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Hectic is one word for it... LOL!!

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

There are going to be beautiful fiberglass animals all over England by the time you're through!

Maybe you should look around and see if there is a place you can use for storage if you end up having more than one animal at a time. Maybe a friend's spare room or even a small rented storage unit?

I love the way the hare seems to be looking out the window. :) The leaping hares painted on him are great!!!

How tall are the giraffes??? :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I'm already thinking about alternative painting spaces, let alone storage... The giraffes are 7ft tall! LOL

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Do you get any money at all for doing these? At least to pay for supplies?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yep, they pay us a flat fee from which they then deduct transport costs if you opt to paint in your 'studio'. It varies between £750 and £900 and the most I've had to pay for transport was £100 each way for the lion. So I think I ended up with £600 for that one. You'd have to paint a lot of sculptures to make a living, and the problem with that would be the timing of them - nearly all the trails want to run over the summer so need the painting done between February and May.

The sponsorship the charity gets covers the artist fees and other expenses they face putting on the trails (like fixing the sculptures in place, the concrete bases, the sculptures themselves etc, and then anything they raise during the trail campaign is pure profit for the charity.

[fufaraw]

I love your hare--please share pictures when he's done!

How long do these sculptures stay on display? I'd think your city would be absolutely magical with these guys around! Have I missed giraffe pictures? Because that's a job I'd love to see.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The trails usually run for 3-4 months over the summer, though there are a couple this year starting in the autumn which is nice of us aspiring artists! But you haven't missed any giraffes - I haven't posted any of my designs yet. I might do that sometime, but I'll probably wait and see whether any of them make it through the selection process. :D

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Your giant animals bring so much joy even on the screen. I do love the design, but have to say it's the giant hare ears that really made me say wow!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The ears are big! :D

[jennytork.livejournal.com]

So are these permanent sculptures, or...? I'm a little unclear on how this works.

I do adore your work!!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Not permanent, no. Each town/city will have the trail of sculptures for a few months then all the creatures get auctioned off to raise money for whichever charity puts the trail on. For instance, one of my bears fetched £3900 last year, and my pig went for £3600. Some go for a lot more, some less. With so many trails this year though I'm wondering if the auctions are going to go so well but we'll see!

[meus_venator]

He's gorgeous (your hare). Wow, at this rate, you could single-handedly redecorate all of England yourself : )))

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha I know (real) artists who've done way more of these than I have. One has raised over £100k in the charity auctions from all the sculptures she's painted over the years!

[sillie]

Ooh, he's turning out really nice!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Hopefuly!

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Just amazing. AMAZING!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

heh I bet you could do even better!

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

the hare looks so good! and so tall. O.O imagine if your penguin and all three giraffes get in! your house will be full of painted creatures. :D

what do they do with the statues during the winter? if the trails only run during the summer.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The auction them off at the end of the trail so they go to people's gardens, offices, wherever! That's the main money raising bit for the charities. I need to tot up what my paintings have raised so far - it's not a bad total I think. :D

[hugemind.livejournal.com]

That's a lot of trails - you're going to have a zoo in your house. The awesome hare already looks like he's going to make a run for it. ;D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Maybe, if any of the designs get through the next stage! I'm hoping for a couple more, anyway. *grin*

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

He's looking great, can't wait to see him finished.
It sounds like you could end up witth a complete menagerie in your house. Will there be room for Paul?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

If half the designs I've submitted get commissioned there'll be no room for either of us!! LOL!

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's epic, and ahaha, you never thought you'd get a houseful of sculptures when you started this, did you? Congratulations on the short lists, I mean three, in one list, that's amazing! Just a quick question, Giraffes, life size? *giggles*

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Seven foot tall so baby giraffe life size I suppose. It's tall enough! LOL

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Seven foot tall? How tall is your living room??

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I think it's about 9 ft - and it is big enough to be able to lie the thing down - though if I get more than one all bets are off! LOL

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

LOL! I really want you to get at least two, it'll be like a life sized zoo in your house :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

And a possible penguin, plus maybe a robin to two, and a bee... At least if I get a Gromit to paint I know I won't have to fit him in too as they are only allowing you to paint on site in Bristol.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, love, how many of these things did you sign on for/enter?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Mm let's see - 1. Worcester giraffes
2. Dundee Penguins
3. Manchester bees
4. Nottingham Robins (doing those designs at the moment)
5. Bristol Grommits
and on a slightly later timetable
6. Ashford Snowdogs
7. Brighton snails

And of course, the Norwich hare which luckily for me was ready early. LOL! So year, 8 trails, each of which you can enter at least 2 and up to 5 designs.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Holy moly mother of Chuck O.o *stares* Did you intend on having any living room space ever again?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

But I may not get any more at all - who knows???

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Oh hush woman, you've been picked enough that you know your designs work and are really interesting, plus, I wanna see the giraffes so don't pop my bubble :D

[gatorgurl94.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow. I absolutely love it. Will we get to see him in his "habitat"?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

You will indeed as Norwich is less than an hour from me by train so I'll definitely be visiting the trail!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

You are CRAZY, but it's so awesome to see you do this! That hare is coming along nicely. I hope you get to do a giraffe:)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

it's a crazy thing to get involved with but definitely fun. Thanks and I'll keep you posted, obviously!

[somer.livejournal.com]

alkfjhlasgjdhlsg SO BUSY!! But I love your sculpture adventures! The hare looks great!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! :D

[reapertownusa.livejournal.com]

I am never going to be able to adequately express how awesome these are. It's such a fun, quirky thing, and you do such amazingly beautiful work with them--it's no wonder they're considering you for so many pieces. I hope it all works out as far as the schedule, and I have not doubt that you will do gorgeous work on any of the sculptures that you are commissioned for. The hare is coming along so beautifully!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the encouragement! Sadly my penguin designs weren't picked so now I'm just waiting to hear about 3 giraffes, 3 robins, 2 Gromits and 2 bees... He he he!