When the great Billy Smarts circus finally came off the road, the elephants in this picture were all that remained of the original herd of thirteen. Ten were sold to Ringlings in America. But Billy and Ingrid toured with the animals illustrated all over Europe in top class large circuses, including the major shows of Portugal, France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

In 1989 the medium sized Gandey’s Circus back in the Uk purchased a new big-top, booked more international acts and headed the most ambitious programme they had ever staged by bringing back this elephant act to top the bill. It certainly put Gandey’s at the top of the league, making them Britains flagship circus.

To strident rock music this face paced act with Billy in his hallmark Elvis suit, the act consistently won the circus friends association best animal act award consistently whilst they spent three years on this show. This painting illustrates the act on Gandeys with the bandstand behind them, in 1989.

The most important thing was texturing the skin of the elephants. The chain headgear was a few subtle tiny circles of black and white, capturing the highlights and making the chains pop on those magnificent heads. The costume details were done with an equally tiny brush and many brushstrokes ,particularly in the drop diamantes in Ingrids leotard and Billys  suit.

The muted colours of the elephants skin was achieved with black and white mixed to a mid grey, then a glaze of raw and burnt umber mixed with ochre and washed over the animals, once the darker shadows on the lags had been added, and the shadows cast by the jawlines and trunk creases.

The whole process from start to finish took 60 hours of work, not including research of the actual costumes, and the design of Gandey`s artists entrance in the background. Lastly, getting a good likeness of the performers ,their hairstyles and stances during this pyramid pose before I was happy to sign another historical circus painting that was done to completion.