Cows About Cambridge


Despite the big reveal being delayed I am dedicating this week’s blog to the Cows About Cambridge trail. Within it I’ll also get to reveal my final design (oooh!) .

The Trail

This is the 5th and 6th sculpture I have done for my fourth Wild in Art trail. For this trail I have painting a full sized cow sculpture and a mini moo too. As with the other trails the cows will be auctioned off to raise money for charity. In this case the charity Break.

The Design

With each new sculpture I do I learn a little more too. From the best types of paint and how to varnish right down to the joy of bringing your own tea bags and slippers to the painting space. Soon I will do a blog piece specifically on my painting tips, but that will be another day!

My design is called ‘Around the City’ and is the first sculpture I designed and submitted following my first experience having actually painted one. It meant I went for bolder, bigger shapes, fewer more consistent colours and after the struggle on my ‘Our Island’ Gorilla, no yellow!

The design focuses on a map of the city surrounded by a cow filled green belt. The map is filled with famous landmarks from the city such as the Bridge of Sighs and Botanical Gardens. However, it also features homes of the residents of the city. Through this the design accentuates that a city is the sum of the people within in it. Their homes are therefore elevated to the status of ‘landmarks’ in this way. The theme of ‘community’ is prevalent in many of my Wild in Art designs.

I also painted a mini moo based on the winning design submitted by service users of Mind in collaboration with Thames Link.

The Sponsor

Excitingly because of my sponsor I have known for a while where my cow sculpture is being based. Thames Link are the headline sponsor of the Cows About Cambridge trail and picked my design along with one by artist Emily Kaye. They even got exclusive pick of the bunch before the Sculpture Selection event even happened. Being a rail company and having Cambridge Train station feature so prominently on my designs we were a match made in heaven. It also meant that this would be where my sculpture would be placed for the duration of the trail. ‘Around the City’ will welcome visitors to the city in the station.

I will keep an eye on social media to see where the rest of the herd ends up, but remember to tag me in your pictures if you get them!

Blue Monday 2020 was a really great day I had as an artist

I am going to share with you guys a day I had recently as an artist that was a really great day. There are lots of stressful days as an artist, lots of days where it feels like you are getting nowhere or having got enough done. Being an artist is HARD. So I am sharing an account of a really good day I had, because they aren’t all that easy to find sometimes.

Monday January 20th 2020

Allegedly the saddest day of the year (I don’t know who decides and I hope its not a legal requirement!). Blue Monday. For me though, it was great!

Cows About Cambridge

I started the day by hugging my pooch, kissing my fella goodbye and hopping on a train to Cambridge. With a suitcase full of paints and a flask full of tea kindly made for me by my other half as I set off. It was my third trip to Cambridge since November, where I had painted a large Cow sculpture for the 2020 Cows About Cambridge trail. This time I was returning to work on a mini moo sculpture in partnership with my large sculpture sponsored Thames link and the charity Mind. Thames link had launched a competition for a service user from Mind to design a cow which I would realise and would form part of the mini moo family on the trail.

I even found time on the train to work on a design submission for an upcoming Wild in Art trail, so fingers crossed for that one!

Good News from Far Away

It’s always a win when you get an etsy sale, so that was the first good news of the day, along with sales reports from my stockists. I was delighted to find in my inbox a message from the fabulous Elizabeth of The Fox Fairy store in Affecks Palace asking if I’d like to join their stocked artists. A while ago I had mentioned this to Elizabeth and teenage Sian would be elated to have her work sold in her number one too cool for school shopping location. I accepted at once to move in in Feb.

While checking my social media I found that I had had a smal flurry of new followers and that my new stockist October 31st had posted about me joining the store, which I was really excited about too! I even saw that an artist I followed was talking about arranging artist meet ups in my town. I have wanted to do this for ages without any real plan of how to go about it, and I hadn’t even realised that this wonderful artist was from my town! Immediately I announced my excitement and intention to get involved however I can.

In the Grafton Centre

Back in the real world I got cracking on my mini moo and got to meet the lovely Annie from Wild in Art. It was great to meet her finally and she had lots of helpful advice and offered so much support for me on my Wild in Art journey, thanks Annie!

Painting the sculpture was a new experience for me to translate someone else design onto a sculpture. It was an experience practice a different way of working. I usually work much more intuitively and make lots of decisions throughout the process. This took a much more planned and strategic approach to translate someone else vision onto the canvas (or cow!). 

While the primer layer dried I headed for a mooch around some local charity shops in the hunt for books, and scored an amazing full set of Rocky Horror figures for the princely some of £4! (This figures would then proceed to go viral believe it or not!)

At the end of the day

After a long and tiring but productive day of painting I crawled into my comfy B&B bed with some KFC and Magic Mike on the telly. What made this day perfect wasn’t living a life of luxury with all of these opportunities throwing themselves at my feet, but a delightful day where the hard work I had put in and seeds I had sown were paying off. It’s the best kind of day any artists can hope for if you ask me! Mostly it reminds me that the hard work pays off, not everything is a rejection and all you need to do is just keep swimming.

Highlights of 2019: The Record Breaking Go Wild Gorillas Auction

 

Plus my Wild In Art adventures.

How could this not be a highlight? To be commissioned to create two out if 40 sculptures that raised over a million quid? The highest Wild in Art raise ever! Featuring artists including Stuart Semple and DC’s Kenneth Rockafort, and cheerleader by Henry Cavill himself. It was the top rockstar moment of my career so far.

I even went as far as to say that I’ve peaked! As both a fundraiser and an artist. Even before the spectacular auction, the project was a highlight throughout. It marked my first visit to the island. With a distinctive continental flavour it was like a mini holiday with my art. I met some brilliant artists along the way too. My sculptures both got beautiful seaside locations, including just opposed the aging hire, I had stayed in tinlaint, beneath the castle. It meant that picturing the statue in place, despite being unable to visit, was much easier.

The Auction 

The night of the auction blew my mind, Our Island raised £27,000 at auction. Jersey Big raised £25,000. It was incredible, and all the sculptures went for one phenomenal amounts.Of course I have my tongue in my cheek when I talk about having peaked, but it feels like a tough act to follow. I felt like a proper artist though! My career is still new, and I have been drawing in the closet my whole life. These moments in the real world, where my work is being elevated so much, are still huge ‘pinch myself’ moments.

Other Wild In Art Adventures

These two sculptures joined my Wallabies Gone Wild Wallaby and my Great North Elmer as my Wild in Art 2019 contributions. Plus my Cows About Cambridge sculpture debuts in March 2020. My charity sculpture raise for the year is nearly at an incredible £60,000. A huge highlight for me indeed! 

This piece is part of a three part blog series on my highlights from 2019.  

Cows About Cambridge Announcement

I am excited to be announcing that I am an artist for cows about Cambridge! 

Another one?

YES! This will be my fifth sculpture for wild in art this year across 4 U.K. cities. That’s not counting the cheeky little York ghost hunt ghost Nellie. The trail won’t be live until 2020 though so there’s a little bit of time to wait for my sculpture to hit the streets.

Even More excitingly I am partnered with the projects headline sponsor Govia Thames link. It means that I already know where my sculpture will be based. Tying in with the theme of the design, it will be based in the train station. A building that will feature in the cow itself. 

I love the idea of my cow welcoming people into the city! A mini map to be their first friendly intro to the city. The design features lots of local land marks, painted fun, bold and bright. It also features Gomes, escalated to the status of landmarks. This is to give a shout out to the local folk who make the city what it is.

Working with the headline sponsor means I’ll expect to be more involved in the trail that’s perhaps some of the others. I’m excited to see how it goes though.

How about the design?

Find my Instagram profile to see how I get on, and get a first peek at the sculpture. With such a great success of auctions of my other sculptures as of late, it will be amazing to break the £60,000 raised for charity mark with my sculptures. 

Plus, stay turned for another Charity sculpture announcement…