Seven Swans A Swimming

A Christmas project bringing seasonal, uplifting art to the windows of local shops and businesses in Lancaster city centre. December 2020.

About this project - A Christmas project bringing seasonal, uplifting art to the windows of local shops and businesses in Lancaster city centre. December 2020.

Artists were invited to create artwork around the themes in the song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. I requested Seven Swans a Swimming and was matched with local venue, The Royal - a beautiful old pub with large sash windows and shaped sandstone.

I composed a design to work across an entire window, made ‘to scale’ paper templates of the swans in my studio, and rehearsed drawing and paintbrush marks on my windows at home. This preparation meant I could be confident of my approach once I was on site and balancing on a stepladder in the freezing cold! I tested lots of different materials on my windows to see which paints would withstand Lancashire’s rain or a wintry frost. In the end I was really pleased with how this project turned out. It was a new way of working for me and I loved the process - from design through to making a public artwork in our city centre. I’d love to do more of this kind of work.