amberdreams: (Bum)
[personal profile] amberdreams
*waves from lockdown* hope everyone is doing ok!

I'm actually quite busy at the moment, which feels weird when most people I know aren't. Mind you, once this elephant is done, I will be looking around for things to fill the days...

It's been an age since I did an update on my annual animals, and even though all of this year's sculpture trails have now been postponed to 2021, I was lucky enough to have had several designs commissioned prior to the current disaster. So I've painted a cow, an octopus, an otter and an elephant, and am in the middle of painting my second elephant right now. I'm enjoying it a lot!

The one I'm working on now is another Beatles themed one, because the trail is in Maidstone. The Beatles filmed some of Magical Mystery Tour, Strawberry Fields Forever and I Am the Walrus just outside the town, at a disused airfield, and so it was the perfect excuse to revisit a Magical Mystery theme.

So far I've nearly finished the Walrus side
Magical Mystery Maidstone Elmer
and started on the Yellow Submarine side
P1044079
The elephant's bum has the red cast iron gates from the real Strawberry Fields in Liverpool, while the front is going to have a vintage bus to Penny Lane with the four Beatles popping up out of the top deck.

Meanwhile the finished elephant is sitting in the conservatory waiting to be varnished. It's an Olympic themed one called Olympiphant, so it's a good job the Olympics have been postponed along with the trail!
I featured paralympians as the main figures for lots of reasons, but design-wise, I thought they are more dynamic and the wheelchair fits better with the shape of the elephant.
Side one
Maidstone Olympiphant
Side two (before it was finished)
Maidstone Olympiphant
The main body has the Japanese rising sun, while the front has the Union flag with the GB lion. The rear has the Olympic flame, and other sports are represented by pictograms around the feet. The cherry blossom is part of the Japanese theme.
Maidstone Olympiphant
I won't spam you with all the sculptures at once, so I'll do another post to round up the rest. And I'm due a sketchbook round up at some point too - bet y'all can't wait, huh?! Ha ha!

Date: 2020-04-10 08:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dizzojay.livejournal.com
Those look brilliant, you're making great progress on them. I love them both, but I think my fave is the Olympic one.

Just think, one day you'll look back on this time and tell people how you were locked down in quarantine, just you your husband and two elephants! XD

Date: 2020-04-10 08:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] amberdreams.livejournal.com
ha ha - happy days...

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