Creative event producers Wild in Art are teaming up with Andersen Press to bring Elmer’s Big Art Parades to Britain’s towns and cities in 2019.

Specially commissioned artists have transformed the first six 1.1m tall blank sculptures, which will join hundreds more sculptures on parades in visually stunning trails of art in 2019, 30 years since Elmer was first brought to life in a book.

I was asked to paint four 'Elmer The Patchwork Elephant' sculptures, so now the world’s most colourful elephant has turned my workspace into the world's most colourful studio.

The four Elmer sculptures will be displayed in four different locations across Britain's towns and cities. First to launch is Elmer's Art Parade Suffolk in aid of St. Elizabeth's Hospice, with another three locations and charities soon to be announced. It has been an honour and a privilege to paint all four Elmer sculptures and I'm looking forward to visiting them in each of their four locations in 2019.

Realising Elmer's original 2D design onto a 3D sculpture was not without it's challenges. Paint plans, outlines and a few head scratches later Wild in Art and Andersen Press now have a definitive guide to applying Elmer's 2D squares patches onto a 3D canvas.

Written and illustrated by celebrated children’s author and artist David McKee, Elmer was published by Andersen Press in 1989 and the brightly coloured patchwork elephant now features in a number of original stories, activity books, toys and on clothing. Find out more about Elmer's Big Art Parades and take a look at some of my work in progress shots on the Elmer blog.

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