No living without Ewe in Belfast

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Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Word reaches The Moodie Blog that a prolific ‘sheep’ artist has been commissioned to paint quirky artwork at George Best Belfast City Airport in Northern Ireland.

Ann Gadd (below right), apparently South Africa’s best-selling and most popular female artist, arrived in Belfast this week to produce a series of paintings to add to her ‘Ewe’ collection.

Ruth Morgan, Communications Executive at Belfast City Airport (above left) said: “Ann’s contemporary work hangs in galleries all over the world and having her here in the airport is fantastic. Her ‘Ewe’ collection is funny, funky, unique and certainly attracted a lot of attention from passengers in the terminal.”

Passengers were not only treated to seeing Ms Gadd at work but could also commission personalised art for collection from contemporary living store, Equinox, where she is temporary ‘Artist in Residence’.

Now as regular readers will know, I hail from New Zealand, a nation of 4.4 million people and some 30 million sheep – and we take our sheep very seriously indeed.

Statistics New Zealand, a government-run website that documents all information deemed critical to the economy (from tourism arrivals to demographic and business indicators) even dedicates a whole section to the issue, concluding (with what I think is a discernible note of disappointment): “We had an estimated 31.1 million sheep at 30 June 2011. This means that the sheep-to-person ratio has fallen to a third of its level 25 years ago. It now stands at a little over seven sheep per person.”

Seven? What a deterioration since the halcyon days of the early 80s. Statistics New Zealand notes: “New Zealand sheep numbers peaked in 1982, with a total of 70.3 million sheep. In the same year, 3.18 million people lived in New Zealand. This works out to 22 sheep per person.”

But I digress… back to Ms Wadd’s paintings. If the good citizens of Belfast were wowed by them, just think of the near hysteria that might break out in Auckland, Christchurch, Woolington, sorry Wellington… or Cardiff. And what about BAA?

I suggest you check out her website (http://www.anngadd.co.za/). She’s multi-talented, even writing books on the subject, including ‘Lamb for Ewe’ and the magnificently titled ‘Wine A Bit And Ewe Will Feel Better’, which combines – I kid you not – wine drinking and sheep in a single collection of the author’s paintings.

Other titles are ‘The New Ewe’ (recipes and quirky sheep paintings for those who love lamb) and ‘The Business Sheep’, a business book focused on corporate integrity. I promise you I am serious…

If you don’t believe me, here’s a preview of the contents: “The allegory centers around three sheep. Whilst the rest of the flock discusses the latest results on the stock market, Daa, Baa and Aahaa [Alan Partridge would love this –Ed] decide to look for greener pastures. Designed to be read in an hour, the story is interspersed with lessons we can apply in our lives, features a Q & A section, simple goal-setting, together with inspiring examples of people who have applied the principles outlined in the book.”

To salute George Best Belfast City Airport’s initiative and to honour the work of Ann Gadd, The Moodie Blog is offering three free copies of ‘Wine A Bit And Ewe Will Feel Better’.  Send an e-mail to Martin@TheMoodieReport.com, headed ‘Only Ewe competition’ by 1 December and we’ll draw three winners out of a hat.

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