Cactusaurus - Meet The Artist

Cactusaurus - Meet the Artist

Who is behind our amazing dinosaur?

As you know, we have taken part in the amazing GoGoDiscover fundraising sculpture trail this year, which is delivered by East Anglian charity Break in partnership with Wild in Art. We have absolutely loved this experience and our beautiful Cactusaurus would not be possible without the very talented artist, Laura Hawkins. Let us tell you a little bit more about the inspiration behind the design, and bringing the vision to life. Break is QD's chosen charity this year, and so we have loved being able to support them. Make sure to get hold of a map and take part, as the trail is ending on the 10th of September 2022.

Laura Hawkins is one of the youngest artists to take part in GoGo Discover.

Laura graduated in graphic design from Norwich University of the Arts in 2020. She saw details of Break’s call for artists for the GoGo Discover 2022 trail in the Eastern Daily Press and on the Break website. Laura volunteered as a Trail Ranger for the 2021 T.rex trail, as well as volunteering on the Hares trail in 2018. “After following the Break trails for several years, it’s really surreal to now be painting one of the sculptures myself. This is the largest painting I have ever done - it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m so excited to be one of the trail artists but it’s also a little bit nerve-wracking to be in such great company with so many talented artists. I love being able to see my design on the streets alongside the other T.rex sculptures.” - Laura Hawkins.

Cactusaurus was inspired by Laura’s love of cacti.

Her extensive (and still growing!) collection of cacti currently fills two windowsills at home. She first painted the initial T.rex design in watercolour and then made a bolder version in marker pen to show further how the finished sculpture will look. The sculpture is painted in acrylic, which gives the leafy design more texture, and then varnished to make it weatherproof.

Laura usually paints people and uses mixed media. It took her several weeks to transfer the design onto the T.rex sculpture, first starting in pencil and then painting on the cacti, followed by the background, the black outline and all the detail. Transferring the design from paper onto the sculpture was a challenge, as well as having to draw and paint on awkward areas of the T.rex such as around his curling tail and the underside of his stomach.

Choosing the design.

Laura’s design was one of 200 offered to sponsors of the GoGo Discover trail for them to choose their favourite to appear on their sculpture. Cactusaurus was QD’s first choice, chosen for its bright, bold colours (including the QD red!) and plant designs which were a good fit for the company that owns the Cherry Lane Garden Centre group. Laura has drawn on inspiration from all aspects of nature for her design, including making the toenails look like leaves. She has also paid a lot of attention to the eye, creating several ideas before settling on one chosen design to bring Cactusaurus to life.

“Break is a brilliant local charity and I am pleased to be working on such a fun project. The trail is a great way to get children interested in art and to raise awareness of such a worthy cause. The support from the other artists while I have been working on Cactusaurus has been brilliant. This project will be great for my portfolio too.” - Laura Hawkins. We are so proud of the finished design, thank you for all your hard work, Laura! See Laura's inspiring portfolio here. Find out more about Go Go Discover 2022 here.

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