Happy Year of the Water Rabbit!
This always happens when I make bread.
After meeting Hoover, the big male hippo at Whipsnade Zoo, personally last year, I decided I needed to branch out from drawing and painting hippos, and get on with making them in 3D, preferably with moving parts. The (very short) movie can be found on YouTube.
At last I’ve discovered the true purpose of Lego!
Tech note: I’m using a gazillion “dark bluish grey” bricks, and the Spots-not-on-top (SNOT! I kid you not) technique. The upper jaw is much too heavy to lift alone, so the lower jaw is weighted and acts as a counterbalance (they are operated via 2 meshed 16-tooth gears, one with a lift-arm for each jaw.) Even then, and geared down, the old 1980s Lego electric motor is having a difficult time. Note also the muck-spreader on the back!
It’s been really busy here, which is why I haven’t been posting much!
First there was the book (which you saw); and then Karen did her new show (and I made all the scenery); and now I’m doing Artweeks.
Artweeks is an Oxford/Oxfordshire festival, in which hundreds of artists open their studios to visitors for a few days.
If you’re in the area, do come and see the hippos!
My Artweeks gallery gives some idea of what I’m showing.
Here’s my first ever herd of gingerbread hippopotamuses.
(Apologies for the site being down for a few days with hardware trouble. It’s solved for the moment.)
A little doggerel for you.
Sometimes the things that arrive in the sketchbook are best not explained.
We’ve just been on holiday for a week in Northern Norway with some friends, well inside the arctic circle. We were lucky enough to see the Aurora on four nights. It really is very beautiful there. The dog sledging was horrifically expensive (actually, so was everything.)
Winter greetings to all my readers, and non-readers too. Wishing you all a happy and healthy year ahead!