It was a real honour to be asked to kick off the Cows About Cambridge sculpture trail by painting one of the first two designs, from my original concepts and a pleasure meeting their enthusiastic team at the launch last back in March 2019.
Wild in Art have curated these amazing public art trails in cities across Europe, and eventually Cambridge after a brief postponement for the events of 2020, when 50 life-sized sculptures which came to graze in summer 2021.
'May-Belle' (a bovine pun on 'May Ball' - a ball at the end of the academic year that takes place at any of the colleges of the University of Cambridge.) could be spotted on the corner of Christ's Pieces, towards the Grafton Centre in Cambridge City Centre. Roll back to the 6th March and, after deliberately giving only half an explanation to per-suede Quentin Peacock of QXDesign to borrow some floor space, a 2.4 metre long fibreglass cow had arrived at his studio in South Cambridgeshire, to take residency for the next 10 days!
After a week of 13 hour working days, a borrowed projector (essential), three tins of ‘Feature Wall’ emulsion paint (you’d be mad to pick these colours!) and half a pint of anti-graffiti varnish, May-Belle was complete!
Below are some hurried working photos of what was a challenging process, with some off the hoof learning... Thankfully it all came together quickly thanks to the encouragement from friends and family over a busy week.
You can find out more about the trail which is now live in Cambridge at the Cows About Cambridge website - and follow their hashtag on instagram for the latest photos from the trail. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the art trail!      
