The news is in – the Jungle City auction at the National Museum of Scotland on Thursday evening raised £400,000 with Jack Vettriano’s Tiger selling for an amazing £60,000. There’s still time to bid for an animal in the online auction – but only just – one day to go.
I was lucky enough to visit the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens to see the animals all in one location and it was a lovely day. I went with Nicky who was a co-artist on Jeffrey (she was responsible for the Tiger bits while I did the flowers) and we had a good look around and visited Harvey Nichols, where you can buy the painted miniatures. Jeffrey is very proud to have attracted the sponsorship of The Sheraton Grand Hotel, Edinburgh.
The animals have now hit the streets of Edinburgh and you can download a map to show you where they all are. Jeffrey is number 39 and can be found in St Andrew Square. I’m looking forward to being in Edinburgh again to see all the different places they have found to locate the animals.
On the Jungle City website you now have access to much more information including artists profiles that show you what the artists look like (!!) along with photos of their animals and a little bit about what we all do and why we do it.
There is also a book of all the animals available from Elephant Family’s ebay shop and lots of other goodies that you can buy for friends and family with all the profits going to this great charity to help lots of endangered species around the world.
Anybody who wants to meet myself and the other artists will find us on ‘Meet the Artists’ day, Saturday 24th September, from 12.00 until 14.00. We’ll be standing next to our animals and looking forward to seeing you all. Until then here’s a few photos to keep you going…..
Jeffrey with co-artist Nicky Duncan
Fragile with Nicky in the Edinburgh sunshine
A news report from BBC Scotland of the Jungle City Launch showing some very British weather….or it could be a very tropical rainstorm!
See Jeffrey the Orchid Tiger in the background of the very first shot (on the right)
Image taken from BBC Scotland news report
And here’s a news report from The Edinburgh Reporter.
The animals are out in The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh. I shall be visiting them on 25th August and in the meantime I’ll post links to news cuttings and photos for those of you that can’t make it to Edinburgh.
Edinburgh spotlight have done a news story with photos
Here’s a very clever tiger from WWF created by Anna Masters
Other artists and their creations
Martin Aveling has done ‘Crocodile Rock’ a Crocodile
Caz Haigh has done ‘Hati’ an Orangutan
Rebecca Sutherland has done ‘Simian’ an Orangutan
Loz Atkinson has done a Hornbill
Gemma Cumming has done an Orangutan
Watch this space for more pictures….
We now have some confirmed dates for the launch of Jungle City, Edinburgh’s biggest outdoor art event. Tuesday August 16th all 130 animals will be unleashed on the Royal Botanic Gardens and they’ll stay there until Tuesday 6th September when they’ll hit the streets of the city.
There will be a day to meet the artists, currently Saturday 24th September (times to be confirmed) and then the online auction starts on 23rd September and runs until 2nd October. So if you fancy one of the animals to go in your hallway keep an eye on the online activity.
There will also be a grand auction at the National Museum of Scotland on 29th September where a selected few will be auctioned live.
The money raised will go to help secure the habitats of some of the worlds most endangered animals - elephants, tigers, orangutans, crocodiles and hornbills.
I will be looking forward to visiting Jeffrey on August 25th in the Royal Botanic Gardens and again on September 24th in the city. I’ll take lots of photos and post them for those of you who wont be able to make it but if you have the chance do go along and participate in this great event.
So Jeffrey left us on Thursday to head firstly to London and then on to Edinburgh. It was a sad day. The studio looks very grey without him and the weather is raining to suit the mood. But I will share some lovely pictures taken the day he left when we took him out into the garden to roam around! If you like the look of Jeffrey and think you have room for him in your garden then do follow his progress on the Jungle City website and participate in the auction that will be happening in September.
Jeffrey standing tall
Jeffrey shows off his Miltoniopsis orchids
Jeffrey turns tail in the Lavender
Jeffrey shows his Phalaenopsis side
Jeffrey in the rose bushes
Three views of Jeffrey's handsome face
Today has been spent with Tiger on the floor and a lot of concentration to get the slipper orchid working down the spine. I’m really pleased with it so I’ve taken a photo of the whole of the top view for you to see.
Paphiopedilum - Slipper Orchid
Tigers topside
Getting down to the detail now. Tiger is 98% covered and about 90% of the detail is done. Another couple of days and he will be complete. Tomorrow we take him down off the table so that we can do the top….how exciting.
Here are a couple of photos to show the two different sides and what a different feel they have….
The Miltonia side
The Phalaenopsis side
