Lions and tigers..

Today most of the teachers at the school were on strike, but the mural artist was hard at work.

I filled in a few more of the silhouettes, painting the lion, the lioness and the tiger. I have to admit that I'm extremely proud of the tiger! I was a bit nervous before I started, as I wasn't sure I could do it justice - but as it turned out, I'm really happy with the result.

Rain, return of the elephant...and a visitor

Tuesday was a wash-out. With the prospect of torrential rain I couldn't do any painting as, well, you know what happened last week.

Wednesday was a perfect painting day, sunny with a fresh breeze. And no rain.

I made good progress today, painting the background for the elephant, leopard and tiger. Just some finishing details to be added. And appropriately enough, as I was painting the big cats, a local moggy came to watch. He/she is sitting on top of the post in the top right of the photo below.

The disappearing elephant

Monday 27 June 2011 - the hottest day of the year so far.

And so while all sensible people were indoors in the shade, there I was outside, painting a mural in 40 degrees. Phew.

Progress was slow today, hampered not only by the searing heat, but also by the fact that I decided the position of the elephant wasn't quite right, and so had to spend time painting more background green colour over the white area I'd previously left. This happens sometimes - things can look fine on a small-scale paper sketch, but when translated to a large wall you occasionally need to shift parts around to make the design work.

In the afternoon I added more background detail to the wall on the right hand side (which was thankfully in the shade by this time), painting the branch with the leopard on, and one of the four palm tree trunks. Yes I know it looks like a white cat at the moment, but trust me - it will be a leopard. And no, it's not a snow leopard, clever clogs...

Made in Dagenham

I've been commissioned by Grafton Junior School in Dagenham, Essex, to paint a mural on their playground walls. 

I'm painting a jungle theme, and all of the 420 children at the school will be involved in helping me to paint the palm trees in my design. Which could be lots of fun or complete chaos. Or possibly both?

This is my concept design for the mural.

 
The wall area I'm painting on is huge - 22m long x 2.3m high - so it'll be quite a challenge! Though the biggest challenge for me so far has been the weather. Of course being outdoors means that I'm at the mercy of the elements, and so far in the first week I've been rained off twice and got sunburnt.

Here's what happened when it started to rain after I'd painted..

And this is how the wall looks after the end of the first few days.

I'll be posting regular updates and photos here, so keep checking back in to see how the mural progresses. And how burned I get during the heatwave predicted next week...