Blood will Flow

I've been busy, but for some reason, motivating myself to post has been lacking, so this is just a sample catch up really.
I've finished painting a giant hare for a sculpture trail in Southend, a book bench for a trail in Kings Lynn, and I'm now in the middle of painting a giant rocket for Leicester. The hare and the bench both fitted in the house fine, but the rocket is 1m wide at both base and belly, and all our doors are 90cm max. So I'm set up in my brother in law's garage, which was kind of him!
Rocket progress pics
For scale, with me (I'm 5'1")



It's a urban wildlife theme - so there's a night and a day side, and there'll be various critters featured.

Early days yet though.

In between times I'm trying to draw stuff. Any old stuff really. Here's a doodle page, trying out Zig Writers - I love the fine liner ends of the double ended pens.

I've done a watercolour for Meanttobe, hopefully posting with my author next week, and also in the pipeline are two elephants which will be arriving once the rocket is finished. Fingers crossed I can get them both in the garage! They are much bigger than the Elmers - 3m long!

I've been semi-busy with Compass Rosie, in between semi-packing for Italy, watching Avengers: Endgame and doing fannish stuff for various challenges. The good news is, she's practically finished! Which is just as well as she's due to be collected on Thursday, by Nigel the Man With a Van.

So here she is - three sides of her at any rate, since I realised I forgot to take an up-to-date photo of the mermaid side with the moon and compass rose finished. I'll have to snap that side tomorrow.

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I was feeling a bit meh about it yesterday, and only did a little bit of painting, but today I forced myself to get in there and get on with it, and the net result is - I think it's very nearly done! Which is a good thing, because I had a call late last week to say one of my other designs has a sponsor, and so I have another car bonnet (I think he said a Mercedes) arriving sometime this week. Originally it was going to be a tight timetable for me, because the due date was 13th July, but now they both have to be painted and laquered before 27th which is much better.

So here's my latest timelapse, followed by a few still photos. I know you won't, but please don't share anywhere, as these are showing you the whole design, which isn't supposed to be revealed until August/September!
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Car bonnet number 1 - I'm not supposed to share too much of the design but I can show you lot more, so if you're interested, I'll keep posting as I go.

Painting in the sunshine with occasional interruptions from the elderly neighbours whose garage I'm using, and real live bees that very much like the flowering bush by the garage door!

So it begins!

Painted him lying down yesterday, then today with Paul's help and the promise of reasonable weather, we got him outside the garage and upright. Man, that was NOT easy to do. He's heavy and of course not exactly balanced... However we managed it without damaging him, though lying him down again we had to open Anne and David's back gate to accommodate his head and neck, something I hadn't considered when we got him out in the first place! LOL

Here are a few still photos and hopefully a timelapse gif (if LJ will let me load it today - yesterday it kept wiping the code).
OK LJ still won't load the gif so here's a link instead.
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Good news! Giraffic Park has a new home thanks to my lovely neighbours and their garage. It's still not tall enough to stand him up but I've got him on my homemade wheely trolly thing and so have been able to paint in relative comfort. It's cold and the wind swirls rubbish around but it's undercover and roomy!
Yesterday I did this much (after spending a good half hour or so trying to unwrap him without bashing his head on the floor!).

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My giraffe has arrived and is currently lying down in the newly covered alleyway between our house and next door. Sadly the new roof is about the same height as Giraffic Park himself, so he can't stand up under there as planned. Doh.
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