My lions are touring before the exhibiton

All the lions are finished ... wow what a sense of acomplishment. Even better I found out that all my lions are going out travelling before the exhibition, Britannia is in Southampton for a business event, Gemdeco is in the BIC tonight for Bouremouth Pride Awards ceremony, and next week Born to be Free 'Freedom Flighter' is going to the London Savoy Hotel for a special Birthday for Virginia McKenna, Ambassador for the Born Free charity... Feeling really pleased about all of this :-)

Hazel's Lionistic and Illustrative Art

I have been delighted to have the opportunity to paint my lions in Lighthouse over the last month. They are pretty much all finished and can be seen in the Pride in Bournemouth exhibition throughout the summer starting from 25th June.
Once the final few coats of varnish have been put onto my lovely lions, I will be back in Lighthouse, illustrating performances and continuing my R&D at lighthouse in preparation for my forthcoming art work. I look forward to developing my illustrative work and am delighted to have had the opportunity to be commissioned three lions as as you can see they communicate themes and styles of interest from my own art practice.
Throughout the process of painting live in Lighthouse foyer, I had a portfolio of my illustrations so far from my work at Lighthouse. Thank you for all the positive feedback I have had from people interacting with me and my art. I look forward to exhibiting the originals later on during my residency at Lighthouse.
Below are three pictures of my finished lions.
Best wishes
Hazel

Lioning for the Looming Lion Deadline!

Hello Bloggers!

Well it’s all getting rather exciting… The deadine is looming and I am frantically Lioning! Gemdeco has now been varnished and my third lion, Freedom Flighter for Land Rover UK, is really coming on well. After many many hours of work and after finally tracking down the right pantone coloured paint for the mane, I’m getting there.

This Freedom Flighter design incorporates the text ‘Born to be Free’ traversing from the base of the mane, across the butterfly design over the body and over to the back thigh of the left hand side of the lion. The concept stems from freedom, being free to fly and express yourself as well as being free in your life as all living being should be. It links closely with the Born Free Foundation, sponsors of Pride in Bournemouth, as well as aligning well with the concepts of the sponsor.

Below are the latest pictures, images of the finished Gemdeco and some pictures of the work in progress for Freedom Flighter.

Happy viewing

Hazel

Gemdeco Lion finished for Pride in Bournemouth

Well this week so far has been filled with lioning! Last Thursday I was commmissioned a third lion for Pride in Bournemouth for Landrover UK, based on a prise winning design I created in January of this year. I have had to take this lion, Freedom Flighter, to my home to complete due to the immenant deadline and the launch of the Pride in Bournemouth Exhibition, so unfortunately this one will only be able to be viewed in it’s finished state in the final exhibition.

I finished Gemdeco today, and am really delighted with the result as aswell as meeting the speck for the Cumberland Hotel Bournemouth, this design really ties in well with my current research and development work I have been doing at Lightouse with my illustrative work. The lines and the the flow of the design are really up my street with the art deco influence. I have really enjoyed working on this design. I have been working all the hours I can on Gemdeco, Tuesday night I was in Lighthouse until 10.30pm putting in the final touches … all in the name of art!

More pictures to come of the finished design … also don’t forget to get a map of the Pride in Bournemouth Exhibition and see my three lions. Britannia will be situated in the lower gardens in Bournemouth, Gemdeco will be in the Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth overooking the sea, and Freedom Flighter will be in Christchuch.

See you soon for the next installment of art in Lighthouse …

Best wishes

Hazel

Painting Lions at Lighthouse

In April I was commissioned a lion for Pride in Bournemouth, an exhibition of artist decorated lion sculptures that will form part of a huge art event at the end of June this year in Bournemouth to raise money for Julia’s House and Born Free charities..

My design Britannia was selected for Leatherbarrows, travel and removals company. I began working on the lion in the ‘Den’ in Bournemouth but at the beginning of May Britannia travelled to Lighthouse for me to finish work on him in my own little den in Lighthouse foyer.

The theme is travel, and the main inspiration for the design is a flowing connection between Britain lots of different countries, mainly Europe, USA, Canada and South Africa. The mane sees the union Jack flowing down the body and blending into the different colour flags and shapes of the various countries. All of the flags and shapes are interconnected creating an abstracted design. My signature style comes through in the striking lion design with my use of lines and merging forms.

Over the past two weeks I have been painting my way through the design in public view, enjoying the interaction of many interested onlookers coming to chat to me about my work. Last week I finished Britannia, complete with three coats of shiny varnish. Now finished ready for the exhibition Britannia has left Lighthouse, but was replaced on Tuesday by another blank white lion as I had the great news last week that I also won the commission for a new lion Gemdeco for the Cumberland Hotel in Bournemouth.

I started work on the new lion, Gemdeco, design today and will be updating my progress here on the lighthouse blog, so keep visiting the website and blog for more information and pictures of my exciting new design. You can also drop in to Lighthouse to see the work in progress over the next two weeks. I aim to have completed Gemdeco by the end of the first week of June, so pop along and have a look.

Posted by Hazel Evans, Visual Artist in Residence at Lighthouse.

The Bookshelf - Live Art Event and Documentation

News and documentation from The Bookshelf Exhibition, as part of Poole Literary Festival 2010.... click here