Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Fleur draws a smile with her latest bales
AN Angus farmer is drawing many a smile from passers-by thanks to her giant Winnie the Pooh straw bales.
Fleur Baxter, 49, created the spectacle in a field at East Skeichen Farm, where people travelling on the B9128 between Carnoustie and Forfar are able to catch a glimpse.
Fleur said: “I have done bale art for the last few years and last year I did Toy Story.
“But this year I wasn’t going to bother because of the general situation we are all in and I didn’t want people to think I was being flippant and disregarding the seriousness of this year.
“But then my daughter said ‘no, people need cheering up a little bit’.
“I thought about bringing back the emoji bales I made in 2018 and putting face masks on them but we have all had enough of that rammed down our throats and what I wanted to do was cheer people up.
“That’s when my daughter suggested doing Winnie the Pooh characters.”
Fleur created the art over the course of two afternoons and used 20 tins of paint to complete her creation.
Already she has had lots of positive feedback about her display.
She continued: “It’s lovely to have such good feedback, I am so glad I did it now.
“I drew it on paper first to make sure I got the pictures to scale, but I was worried because I couldn’t find any Tigger orange, I couldn’t find it anywhere.
“But I then managed to get the very last tin of orange paint from Allison and Stiven.
“It is cheery and a bit lighthearted and something a bit different for people to look at.
“People can come by and take a good look at them and take some photos.
“But they need to be very careful when touching them and wash their hands afterwards because I don’t want to be spreading coronavirus.”
Fleur has also opened up a JustGiving page for Scottish Mental Health if anyone wants to leave a donation after visiting her straw bales.
She is also planning to turn the bales around in November to create a Christmas display – but is keeping her design a secret until then.