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!