Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 11

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 11

Today the final items were painted on to the zebra, named Rio by the sponsors 'Casa Brazil', a Brazilian restaurant in the city . One of these was the logo which fitted in well as it has a 'flame' look, and suited its placement in to the Olympic torch flames very well. The final stage of its preparation for display on the 'Zany Zebra trail', in which it will be seen on the streets of Southampton during the Summer, is a coat of varnish.

The completed Zany Zebra named 'Rio'

rear view of Brazilian Zany Zebra

Side view of Rio Zany Zebra

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 10

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 10

After more than a working week away, I continued work on my Zebra, now named Rio, for the Zany Zebras campaign as run by Marwell Zoo, Hampshire. This project will see up to 47 painted sculptures of Zebras on the streets of Southampton during the summer of 2016. The Brazilian themed artwork now shows details placed on top of the initial green and yellow base colours (stripes). I will not be doing any more masking now. From here on it is all painted with quite a fine brush but still using emulsion paint.

 

Front of the Brazilian 'Rio' Zebra under WIP.

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 09

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 09

Brazilian Zebra with all the body covered in paint

Today was spent filling the white areas with yellow, up to three coats and then repairing the damage caused by the masking tape on the green sections. Fortunately the repairs do not take too long and can't really be seen. The aim is to get the large areas of blue, green and yellow done so that they look tidy and have dense colour. It was good to see the whole 'Zany Zebra' now covered with paint. The next stage after this is to apply some detail in the form of pattern, squiggles and the Olympic torch for example. I did some detail on the rear end and leg to get a feel of how it is going to be practical to do. The details turned out quite well and were done freehand. As the details are quite organic they did not have to be 'mechanically perfect' which would have been difficult. A cheap 1/2 inch sable hair brush was used and I found it worked well by loading it with paint and having the confidence to work quickly. Being slow would have made the end result more shaky than it is!

Some painted detail to leg

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 08

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 08

This entry shows the Brazilian Zebra a few days on from the previous post. All of the blue and green base sections have been painted, using 3 layers of emulsion paint. The yellow areas are still mostly bear white though some progress has been made. The yellow areas near to the feet have a number of coats applied. The stars that had been masked off and covered in blue paint have now had the masking removed to reveal white stars. 
Some work was needed, as with all the masking, to repair damage to the paint when removing the masking tape, but there appears no way around that and it still gives a better finish. The areas have to be masked off a few times on either side of the edge, depending on what part is to be painted so there is a lot of work involved in masking but the painting is quite quick to compensate.
As can be seen there are a few stars on the muzzle and 'spirals have been painted in to the ear area and some eyelashes put around the eyes.

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 07

Marwell Zoo Zany Zebra campaign 2016 Brazilian Zebra update 07

From the beginning of April I started work on my second Zebra painted sculpture. The campaign is run by Marwell Zoo and will see up to 47 of these Zebras on the streets of Southampton forming a street trail for the summer season. This 'Brazilian' Zebra of my design is sponsored by 'Casa Brazil' and as can be seen on the photographs some of the base layers of colours have been applied. The areas have masking tape around then to help keep the edges sharp and easy to paint, as these areas, using household emulsion paint, often need to be painted up to 3 times to get a solid colour on the white base of the Zebra. The back, large blue area also has a number of stars that will need to remain white so these have been masked off to keep them white while applying the blue paint with a large brush.