PROJECT: GROMIT UNLEASHED: THE GRAND ADVENTURE

CLIENT: THE GRAND APPEAL

Gromit Unleashed: The Grand Adventure follows the success and popularity of the previous Gromit Unleashed and Shaun in the City arts trails, which have raised millions of pounds since 2013 for The Grand Appeal, the Bristol Children's Hospital Charity.

With an ‘Around the World’ theme, this mini trail will feature 14 sculptures ( 7 new ones along with some returning favourites from the previous trails)…Wallace, Gromit, Feathers McGraw and Shaun the Sheep can be found globe-trotting from Russia to Australasia and the ‘Wild Wild West’.

This special edition trail is located around The Mall at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and will run from 24th October to 3rd January, 2021, with various COVID-related safety measures in place, and I believe there will be an online tour for those unable to visit. See here for more details about the trail.

Throughout the pandemic, The Grand Appeal have continued to provide important services to support staff, families, and patients who need help, perhaps more than ever. It is hoped that donations and money raised from this trail will help the charity continue to provide their amazing support for hospital staff, families and sick children across the South West.

OBJECTIVE

The design themes for this trail were all set by The Grand Appeal. I was supplied with 2 basic designs and asked to put my spin on them - 2 designs to be painted, one on a Gromit sculpture, and the second a Shaun the Sheep. The supplied designs showed general, approved concepts, each of which I developed to become designs I felt would work in the style I tend to paint - quite a graphic approach with clean lines.

The first design is inspired by the classic Russian doll souvenir and the second sees Shaun decked out in Bavarian style Lederhosen!

Here are some photos to document my process of painting the Russian Doll inspired Gromit, named ‘Valentina’. Click on the first image, to step through the individual images…

Pictured below is the floral design I drew up on my iPad, to feature on Gromit’s back. In approaching the painting of this, I first put down a white base coat - this served to mark out the position of the design and to knock back the background red so that the other colours would stand out better. I then worked simultaneously on the main floral sections around the scuplture - on his front, back and both ears - doing one colour at a time until the designs were complete - a bit like painting by numbers!

And the process of painting Shaun in Lederhosen… (He didn’t start out as a completely blank sculpture, which explains why he’s not completely white once he’d had a coat of primer in the first picture!). Again, click on the first image to open up a lightbox , then you can step through the individual images to see my process… He’s called ‘Yodeleyheehoo’!!

If you’re in Bristol and fancy visiting the trail, you can find more details here

Valentina should be located outside one of the front entrances to The Mall, although is temporarily taking shelter in the Gromit Unleashed shop, due to the current adverse weather conditions!

Yodeleyheehoo can be found inside John Lewis, on the lower floor homeware section, amidst an alpine scene!

I don’t have a location shot of Valentina yet, but here are some early publicity shots:

RELATED PROJECTS

I’ve worked on quite a few similar painting projects over the years, if you’re interested to see more…

Previous painted sculpture projects for Gromit Unleashed, Shaun in The City, Olympics 2012 & Bristol Zoo's Wow!Gorillas

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