Apart from making monsters, I am often asked for help with arty projects such as our annual Harvest Festival and in this case, a Book Fair at our local school - where I was a teacher many years ago. I would be helping a dear friend of mine and this was her first big display.
The entrance is to the right of the two mats and the glass doors were blanked off with newspaper so that the full effect would only be seen at the time of first opening.
I had made a rough plan of the whole thing based on a numbers of layers, from the grass at the bottom back to the fence then the plants and finally the background.
This is the not so appealing back of the display and like a theatre flat, the reverse is rarely as good as the front, but it does show some strong timber uprights that the school groundsman managed to find.
These supported the tall flats which were wilting due to the humidity and threatening to derail the whole garden. We may have wanted the tall sunflowers to lean over the children but not the sky and clouds as well!
Thank you Steve.
This shot shows the layered effect I was looking for. I had made many glued blocks of cardboard and we stuck them behind anything to make them stand out in relief. The shadow formed behind the piece gives it a certain false 3D character which adds to the overall effect of a busy, interesting garden.
I don't know how many smiley faced flowers of various sizes we made but there were a goodly number and everything had to be cut out from heavy box cardboard. Lots of sore fingers but it was worth it. Maybe not next year perhaps?
Here are a few of the little creatures that I painted for the display, each one cut from thick display cardboard. They were the last things to be added and were there to fill up the spaces and make things look busy and cute.
Here is the proud lady herself and the whole library decked out for the show - it was a great success and the school has requested that it remain in place for the 100th anniversary celebrations later in the year.
Of course you can't have a book fair without a visit from a Bookworm and this one is cleverly edible!
Chomp, chomp!
