Manchester Day Parade - June 2013

Here are my giant shadow puppet animals for the day parade!

I made them on behalf of the RSPCA Manchester and Salford branch. I designed the puppets with the crowds in mind, as they needed to be visible for the people at the back. There was no budget so once again I had to use my initiative and make the puppets as cheaply as possible! I spent months collecting suitable fabrics from the charity shops to create these patchwork animals. The shape was cut out of correx which was kindly donated from 'Walk the Plank' and I then attached the fabric onto this using carpet adhesive. I had very little time to make them, and with lots of hard work I got them finished on time. I was very pleased with the result, as was the Manager of the branch!

I chose to make the animals patchwork as they would be bright, colourful and fun, but also it tied into the idea of the RSPCA taking in animals and patching them up. I also jointed the animal puppets in the middle, so that they could 'walk' and the volunteers holding the puppets had great fun dancing along with them in the parade! They got a great response from the crowd, and it was an extremely enjoyable day. As you can see from the last photo, we weren't the only ones enjoying the puppets!

Vintage Garden Party

This is the 'Vintage Tea Party' event that I designed. I was able to collect items from charity shops to set dress the stage, and I spent a long time collecting 'rag' fabrics to make the bunting out of. The budget was extremely tight so I had to be inventive when finding materials! I spent months collecting all the bits and bobs, as well as pretty teapots,cups and saucers to give the event the right vintage feel.

I wanted an interactive element to the event so I made some simple photo props and created a photo area where people could dress up and have fun, which was a success as you can see!

Threshold

This is the book cover I illustrated for a writer friend of mine called Dave Hartley, who writes excellent short stories. I took inspiration from a story entitled 'Lips' that forms part of this collection.

Dave also created this video of the story using my illustration, it's rather good and very creepy, give it a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdOFSDDrJO0&feature=youtu.be

Here is the link if you are interested in buying a copy -
http://gumbopress.co.uk/threshold.html

Christmas windows - Knowsley Safari Park

Mural for 'Wild at Art Centre'- Knowsley Safari Park

This is the large mural I painted for Liverpool's Knowsley Safari Park's 'Wild at Art' centre, which is a children's art room. The space is huge, and is home to this rather lovely life-sized rhino. The mural is a backdrop for the rhino so that people can have their photo's taken next to it.
The scene is an African savannah, with Mount Kilimanjaro as the backdrop. I researched the different kinds of savannah found around the mountain, and also the wildlife and other animals that would be found living in the savannah with the rhino. I wanted it to be an accurate depiction of the rhino's natural habitat, as the Safari Park is also an educational experience.
The mural measures around 2 metres tall by 8 metres wide. It was painted onto hardboard with acrylic paints, then finished with a matt varnish.

This is an ongoing project and I will be adding more to it, the drawing above is my design for the children's puppet theatre. I will be completing the project over 2013.

Halloween Lantern Parade

The event itself was an epic and fantastical experience, unlike anything I had taken part in before. The scale of the parade was something I wasn't expecting, and the huge finale on the stage was a feast for the senses. The music and the artwork along with the giant puppets made it an unforgettable finale to the whole parade.
Being a part of it taught me a lot about the amount of time and effort planning and staging such a large event takes. It was a real learning curve, and also extremely enjoyable!