Little wooden chaps!

A couple of months ago I received an email from Cat Powel, who is the Art Felt manager for the Sheffield Children's hospital. She needed volunteers to help paint some little wooden figures that they use in the speech & hearing department. They were in need of a little bit of love after many years of use. I applied for a little gang of them to be sent out to me, and they arrived looking a little bit like this.

The one at the front with the red hat on is the bus driver. The figures are used during hearing tests. When the child can hear a tone, they place a figurine into a vehicle. I was asked to repaint the figures to reflect the diversity of the hospital visitors, but I had creative licence to do what I liked design wise... 

I wanted to keep some characters as people (as they are extremely well loved around Sheffield), but I also wanted to put my own twist on them, which meant animals!

These are the finished figures. 

I was really pleased with how they turned out, and hope they get many more years of love in the future. I'm now awaiting my next batch of items to be delivered for painting (vehicles this time I think). 

If you would like to get involved in the project, please contact Cat who I'm sure would love to hear from you! http://www.tchc.org.uk/artfelt-contact-us