Safe to say it's been a weird year. Completely full with ups and downs, so sometimes it can be tricky to find a silver lining. A lot of my projects have been put on hold, and that's okay, they can wait.
It means that I have a lot of art in the works, and I am so looking forward to sharing it all with you. In the meantime, one of the projects I am excited about is this year's Eye art trail.
Many of you have probably heard of the Sheep Art trail which was held in Eye last year. I was lucky to be one of the artists taking part, and I worked with the Central England Co-op to create Bumble. If you fancy, you can read about her here. There was another big trail planned for this year which could obviously not go ahead as planned, however, I'm pleased to say that a mini-trail is now out in the town of Eye, Suffolk!
If you don't know what I'm talking about... have you heard of the GoGoHares in Norwich? Or perhaps Bee in the City in Manchester? They are trails of sculptures, decorated by artists and dotted around a place for the public to follow and interact with. Once the trail is over, the pieces are auctioned off to raise money for charity.
The Trail of Hope will feature six sculptures - three tortoises and three hares - and a bunch of pocket-sized pieces too. Each will represent one element of Hope which has shined this year.
I was given the challenge of creating 'Sportoise'. My theme was sport, specifically the workouts led by Joe Wick which went viral, and the massive rise in interest in home workouts.
Much like last year, I went through a long process of creating a design. With such a broad theme, there was so many different angles I could have gone with. I really enjoyed coming up with an idea, developing it, and then developing it some more... I had enough ideas for a small army of tortoises!
I finally decided on this design, a combination of realistic elements with a surreal twist. I kept the colours bright and bold, and I'm pretty pleased with how she turned out. Dotted throughout the design are little 'Easter eggs' nodding to Joe's workouts, specifically his P.E with Joe series.
The trail will run until September, when they will then be auctioned off to raise money for The Blossom Charity. If you happen to be in the area, you can pick up a map from one of the local shops and explore the trail - there are some really fab designs to go see.
I loved creating this piece, and would love to hear what you all think of her and the rest of the trail!
KTx