Art in Bloom

Just a little video of Pretty Polly for your amusement

Pretty Polly is Egg 43 and is now happily floating in St James’s Park just about as close to Buckingham Palace as it’s possible to get.

Pretty Polly's nearest neighbour

It’s a great location and thanks are in order for Dillon from the Big Egg Hunt Team who came up with the idea. The map for egg zone 5 is available to download as are all the other maps. Twitter and Facebook are buzzing with people passing on information and photos and generally having a fun time. So if you want to be involved there are just over 30 more days to get out there. If you don’t have time to visit all the eggs all over London then wait until Easter Weekend when they will all be gathered together and displayed in one place.

The online auction has begun and all eggs have a starting bid of £300. Pretty Polly is just waiting for your bid. Don’t forget this is all in aid of two great charities – Elephant Family and Action for Children. One of the eggs – interestingly entitled ‘egg’ by Marc Quinn is currently at the hefty price of £9000 but the others are still very much affordable.

Just to finish up today here are couple of beautiful pictures taken by Steve Newton who has taken the time to get around all of the eggs although he is looking to redo the ones that have been sadly been damaged. If you want to see more of his eggy photos then you can find Steve on flickr

Evensong - 43 Pretty Polly by Steve Newton

Float Away - 43 Pretty Polly by Steve Newton

The finished egg. I’m just giving it three coats of varnish and then I shall be dropping it in to the Elephant family offices tomorrow. But until then here’s a picture so that you can see how big it really is and check out this video for a little animation of the whole thing.

Karen and the finished egg

Little did I know when I did the design for this egg back in October just how difficult it is to create the idea of water. I really wanted the tulips to sit in a glass vase with water in it that would show how Parrot tulips droop and fall over the edge. I honestly wish I’d had a different idea because I’ve tried to paint this vase three completely different ways. Finally, I’m happy that you get a sense of water without it being more dominant than the top half (which was one of the problems).

So here are the images showing the water.

The egg from below

The vase and flowers

It’s been a very productive day today – the leaves now have a lot more depth. Well that’s it for 2011 more in 2012!

Happy New Year to you all.

Flowers and foliage

Foliage gains depth

I can’t think of a better way of avoiding the excesses of Christmas than by closing myself off in the studio and painting. So a big thank you to The Big Egg Hunt for providing me with an excuse!

I’ve just completed the second coat on the flowers which is where they get a bit more form and definition. They are coming along nicely so here’s some images for you to enjoy whilst I crack on with the final coat on the foliage.

Open and flamboyant

Upturned and glorious

I just thought I’d manage a little update before Christmas. There’s still more to do between feasting and the deadline is looming but its looking very colourful.

Each flower will need at least three coats – the first coat gives me a rough idea of the shading and covers the white. The second coat allows me to add more detail and get some lovely strokes in there. The final coat will allow me to add detail…a small brush required! I’ll probably go around and then touch up the final bits before I varnish it.

So enjoy the images and then get down to enjoying the festive season – Merry Christmas.

The top flower gets it's second coat

Detail of the paint strokes

We’re on to painting now with, as always. the leaves going in first. Nice long strokes for tulip leaves with twists and turns as the light hits them. There will be a few bent and twisty ones going in to add variety. It’s quite a distance to cover from top to bottom and I’m not even going right to the top!

I’m using mainly Liquitex paints this time as they have a really nice coverage. Because my preferred medium is oil paint it’s always a challenge doing these events because not only is it a different surface – fibreglass – but it’s also a different paint – acrylic. However that just makes it more interesting.

I am using all the same green colours as I’ve used previously and they’re giving me a beautiful emerald feel. So it’s looking really rich. I think I’ll take a break from leaves now and add a few flowers…..

Painting the foliage