He left Ipswich wearing nothing but a coat of bubble wrap but in less than a fortnight the EADT and Ipswich Star’s Major Tim Pig will return with his new livery.
Artist Jane Anderson took delivery of the pig last week and will transform the blank canvas into a pig-version of British astronaut Tim Peake.
Jane’s astronaut creation caught our eye when we are asked to select a pig from the 100 designs sent in to the Pigs Gone Wild team at St Elizabeth Hospice earlier this year.
Editor in Chief, Terry Hunt, said: “Tim Peake is a national hero in the finest British tradition of adventurers. He also has links with Suffolk, and he will be making big headlines in June when he returns to earth after his space marathon.
“So, for all those reasons, we think our very own Tim Pig will attract a huge amount of interest on the pig trail in Ipswich this summer.”
The pig was delivered to Jane by father and son duo Paul and Kieran Seymour, who are volunteer drivers for the hospice.
“He is in my lounge at the moment, it has just been renovated and it is a studio-cum-living space,” said Jane, who has previously worked on the Big Hoot owl project in her home town of Birmingham.
“The first stage will be to give him a base coat of white, as most of his uniform is white.
“Then I will start pencilling on the design and working on the detail.”
She will be using acrylic paint to bring her design to life.
“I have been working on the design over the past few days as the one I submitted on A4 wasn’t as detailed as I would like.
“When I start work, I will mainly work from photos of Tim Peake to make it as exact as possible. He will look just like Tim Peake but he will be a pig version.”
Pigs Gone Wild launches Monday, June 27.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here