Blood will Flow

I just got back from being inducted as a volunteer Pig Trail Blazer (basically standing around town pointing people in the direction of the next pig), and I found out my Swinions pig is going to be slap bang in the middle of the town centre, on the Cornhill!!!! MY PIG! OMG! He'll be up on his pedestal in the one place in town where EVERYone goes, so everyone will be able to see all my wobbly lines and where I forgot to give one of them a snout. And my name will be on the plinth. I'm simultaneously freaking out and doing happy dances.

I can't believe it!

The project manager told us that there were 235 designs entered, from all around the country, and those were whittled down to 80, then the final 39 that eventually got commissioned. Apparently they had to drive blank pigs all over the place so the artists (most of whom are professional artists) could paint them - one of the artists was in Liverpool and I think he said another was in Scotland! At least I saved them petrol costs, LOL!

But still. The Cornhill!!
Just to give you and idea, here's the Cornhill on a non market day. That French-looking building in the centre is the Town Hall.

Crikey, I never expected piggy painting to be so painful LOL! My legs ache and my back hurts and I'm knackered...and I've only got one more day to try and finish him off. Not sure I'll be done in time... It's looking pretty scrappy but the wee swinions are all outlined and I've got Paul lined up for tomorrow to help me lie him down so I can paint his underside. I'd thought I'd be able to shift him myself as the advice I'd had from a bloke who'd painted one or two of these critters before was to start on the underneath, but piggy is heavier than I'd anticipated.

Anyhow, here's a few progress shots.
Ghostly swinions appear...
( Swinions under the cut! )

So ages ago I entered that competition to paint a giant pig and yesterday I got a call to say they had a sponsor for my Swinions design! So yay! The only drawback? It has to be painted by 30th May, and I'm now away from tomorrow until 27th so I'll have a massive three days to get it done when I get back from Italy. Just as well it wasn't a complicated design and there are only a few colours involved! LOL!
This is the one


I'm all packed for A16, bag full of god knows what, decisions semi-firm about what to do for photo ops, a list as long as my arm of extras I have to try and get for friends who won't arrive until late on Friday and the knowledge that there will be something I've forgotten. But soon I'll be hanging out with so many flisties its utterly awesome. Can't wait!