News — dawn crothers blog
Elmers Big Belfast Trail 2022
This week I have been super busy finishing painting my enormous elephant sculpture at Elmer headquarters in Castle Court shopping centre in Belfast City. I was delighted to be chosen along with other artists to be part of this amazing project. On the 20th of June 2022 Belfast will be brought to life by a herd of unquely designed, amazingly creative, elephant sculptures.
My elephant sculpture will be instantly recognisable as its very much my style but must not give too much away we want the element of surprise. What I love about this project is how they incorporated the community, working with local artists, by business sponsoring, schools designing and producing their own mini elephants and the reason behind it all, to raise vital funds for Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.
This free, family friendly art trail will be on display for everyone throughout the summer. Then the herd will travel to Ballymena, Derry London Derry, Newry and Enniskillen before back to Belfast. All the details are available at www.elmerbelfast.com.
I will keep everyone in the loop as we might me putting together some art workshops at Elmer HQ. I am so looking forward to seeing all the school Elmer’s aswell. I have seen many local schools taking part, Standtown Primary School, Dundela Primary School and Inchmarlo Prep School. I am sure their might be more by now, if you know anymore please let me know. If any of my young artists are involved especially let me know!!
Chat soon
Dawn x🐘x
Birds of Paradise
Toucans are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often ‘c’ shaped beaks. The family includes five genera and over forty different species. I have painted a Toucan a few times now, it reminds me of the Irish stout beer advertisements when they say, “It’s a lovely day for a Guinness”. When painting the Toucan, I enjoyed using the palette knife to create a bold thick layer of paint around its dramatic beak.