Heavenly Jewel - out of the studio....

....varnished and mounted on his plinth in Leicester Square Gardens for the next two months! Part of the Elephant Parade 2010.

A post pachyderm glass of beer...

Time for a nice relaxing glass of beer after all that painting.

The glass shape is specifically meant for white beer which is a Bavarian speciality. While it may not contain the correct drink, the patterns on it and the matching beer mat are appropriate for the purpose in that all the motifs and colours are taken from the Bavarian coat of arms.

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!