I Like Big Books and I Cannot Lie

All Booked Up

Eden Designs has been all booked up this week (excuse the pun!) painting more wonderful Wild in Art sculptures in the studio. This week it's been a Bookbench for a library commission.

I love the the Bookbench sculptures! They're such a lovely shape and there's something really magical about sitting in the pages of a giant book which really appeals to visitors (especially children!)

Anything which gets children excited about books is brilliant as far as I'm concerned, and I'm thrilled to be painting another one. This will be the 6th Bookbench I've painted for various projects around the country. In fact, the first sculpture I ever painted was a Bookbench back in 2016 for Birmingham's 'The Big Read' educational event where I worked with local school children on a design.

Sunny Studio

As with a lot of the sculptures I work on, this one was delivered to my home studio. I'm very lucky to have such a nice space to paint down at the bottom of the garden, altough I have been known to get a bit distracted in my vegetable patch when I should really be working.

It has been very lovely down there this week as the sun was shining and the birds singing.

Getting Messy

I would like to say that the inside is a lovely as the outside but I'm afraid that isn't always the case.

I have A LOT of paint and brushes!

Typically, I use a combination of household emulsions and acrylic paints for my sculptures, usually mixing the colours I need as I go along. I'm usually a very neat and tidy person but this "mess" is all part of my creative process!

Top Secret

As usual the finished sculpture is strictly under wraps until it goes on display and I'm not able to disclose when or where that will be yet.

The design is a digital one which I have been commissioned to translate into paint, which has proved quite tricky. It has involved lots of precise measuring, spirit levels, templates and maths to get all the proportions rignt but it's definitely been worth the effort. I'm thrilled with my progress so far and can't wait to reveal the final sculpture. Here are a few sneaky peaks...