Elephants - not in the room!

[amberdreams]

This time I'm painting in a really nice space called Makerspace - I knew the elephants were going to be problematic at nearly 3m long and 1.6m tall, so I'd been desperately looking around for somewhere to paint. My brother in law had offered up his garage which I'd used for the rocket, but fitting two elephants in there would have been really cramped. Anyhow, long story short, I posted on a creatives group on Facebook, and this Makerspace came up. I had heard of it before but I'd thought they only had the top floor of the premises, which last time I'd seen pictures were full of lathes and printers and laser cutting equipment. But it turned out they'd expanded into the ground floor - had two decent sized rooms with natural light and big double doors - flipping marvellous.

So I've made great progress! One is practically finished, I just need to get sign off from the trail organisers next week so I can varnish, and the second one just needs the special paint applied to the legs and some finishing touches and it too will be done. I'm really pleased. I'd thought they would take me much longer!

So here are a few sneak peeks. I know you won't, but please don't share anywhere, as the trails always want to keep the full designs secret until the launch dates.

This one is called It's a Holi Holiday, and is meant to be a representation of the Hindu Holi festival of colour.


It's all done with cans of spray paint apart from the flowers which were acrylic marker pens, and the hearts which I used a stencil brush. The hands are three different sized stencils I cut myself.

The second one is called We Will Rise, and has a more serious theme - the phoenixes are refugees/migrants, fleeing their homes to make new lives in our country. Luton, where this trail is going to be, has a large population of migrants of varying backgrounds. I got some special paint called Scorched Earth from Jackson Art, which they made for a charity called Migrate. It's a black acrylic, made from ash taken from Kurdish fields destroyed in Iraq. When I read about the making of the paint, I bought 2 tubes in the hopes of being able to use it on something meaningful, so I was really happy when this design got chosen.

I hope people will stop for a moment and think about the many reasons people have for leaving everything they know behind to try and start all over in a strange place.

Anyway, I haven't applied the Scorched Earth paint yet, that's what I need to do next week, so here's We Will Rise as of yesterday.
I can't get back far enough to get the whole side in from this direction

Comments

[goss]

WOW, these are GORGEOUS! I love the colours. <3

[amberdreams]

Thankee! It's certainly cheered me up to be using all that colour!

[mific]

Such vibrant colours!

[amberdreams]

I know right? So fun.

[fufaraw]

I love both designs, but every time I catch a glimpse of that wall with the handprints... My heart just leaps a little. To be part of the tribe of Human, to add one's print to the roster, to register membership...That's what that graphic says to me. And here, in such vibrant and glorious colors, it's especially full of joy and life. Beautiful!

And yay! for better painting space.

[amberdreams]

That's so awesome, thank you! I hope everyone will find it as uplifting - we all need something to give us a little boost right now.

[mekare]

I LOVE both of them! The colours and designs are amazing!

[amberdreams]

Thank you! Hopefully they will be a big hit on the trail!

[mekare]

I‘m sure they will be!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I think that you do these is amazing!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Whenever I think about what I'm doing, I find it rather surprising too! 😂

[harrigan.livejournal.com]

That's powerful stuff! Hats off to you!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thankee! 💕

[ellerkay.livejournal.com]

These are stunning! What amazing colors. :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's been fun using so much vivid colour!

[kalliel]

The rich colors of both of these are so gorgeous--and I love the story behind the paint origins. What a perfect usage of it here--as though it were waiting for exactly this project. And how cool about the Makerspace!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I was determined to incorporated that paint into at least one design but wasn't sure a sponsor would run with it, so it's awesome someone has!

[meus_venator]

How COW, that's a whole passel of Pacaderms, no wonder you needed more space!!!! Looks great!
I want a ladder and a little seat to take one for a spin : )

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Some artists add bits to their sculptures, I wonder if anyone's going to build a howdah!