Heavenly Jewel - Finale

The final stages to completion!

Heavenly Jewel - the other side continued

Once agian, the slow build up of layers before the fun of the details.

Heavenly Jewel - starting the other side

As I was designing I realised that there was no reason for both sides to be exactly the same. On the contrary it would be more interesting for the viewer - as they moved around the sculpture - to see the colours and patterns change. Hence on this side the elephant is now turquoise and the blanket on his back is dark blue.

Heavenly Jewel - half way through

Having completed all the basic ground work I can now put in all the details - flowers, jewels and the flying figure of the apsara. So that's one side over....

Heavenly Jewel - continued

The labourious job of building up the layers of paint to the right intensity continues. It's only in the final shots that you can see that I've finally reached the fun part of putting in the decorative details!

Heavenly Jewel - Early days

This is my design for Elephant Parade London 2010 - an event that will see 250 decorated, fibre glass elephants spread out over the capital to raise awarness of the plight of the Asian elephant. After two months out under the London sun they will be auctioned off to raise funds for elephant conservation in India.

More details can be found at www.elephantfamily.org - the charity that is organising this event and www.elephantparadelondon.org - about the event itself.

In these next few posts I want to show how my design developed from the blank statue through to the finished artwork. I started off by painting the outlines of the major details and then filling the shapes in bit by bit. Due to the nature of the surface and the acrylic paints it took several layers to build the correct intensity of colour.

The concept is based on the role of the elephant in Hindu mythology. In one form it is the mount of Indra, king of the gods, who rides on his back across the Heavens. This is represented by the clouds floating around the whole sculpture. The flying figures on the side are apsaras - celestial dancers who I have used to personify the elephant's graceful movements.

Lady Jane - Part Three

The tragic denoument of the song.

The fish, Lady Jane is caught by a fisherman who presents her to the Emperor. However, despite being struck by her beauty, the Emperor has her cooked and eats her up!

Lady Jane - Part Two

In order to find her lover, Lady Jane cuts off her feet, dives into the watery depths and in the process is transformed into a beautiful fish.

Another illustration for the song "Lady Jane" by Mika.

Lady Jane - Part One

Based on the song "Lady Jane" by Mika, from his "Songs of Sorrow".

This scene describes the plight of the melancholy Lady Jane who can walk on water. Unfortunately, her lover fails in his attempt to follow her and sinks into the dark depths......

I delibrately used bright colours to give a fairy tale quality to the image and to act as a contrast to the dark plot of the song/story.

A taste of things to come.....

I found these rather cute papier-mache elephants in an art shop and thought they would be fun to decorate. Elephants seem to have become a major theme in my recent work as you will see over the coming months!

Temperance

The second in my series of Tarot cards is Temperance. In my research I've come across various interpretations of the cards and as it's hard to accomodate all their subtleties I have just gone with the basic meaning. Anyway, it's the image that I am more interested in!

Usually represented by a woman pouring water from one cup to another - Temperance symbolizes moderation and the blending of opposites. I have represented this by the goddess Ganga with her pots of sacred water, at the moment she descends from the skies and unites Heaven and Earth.