From Paper to Pitch: Turning Children’s Artwork into Giant Grass Art for the Tour of Britain
When Stage 2 of the Tour of Britain comes rolling through Lincolnshire, the world’s best professional cyclists aren’t the only ones taking centre stage. Up in the air, TV helicopters capture the county’s rolling green landscape—and this year, those aerial cameras got a view of local school kids’ imaginations brought to life on a massive scale.
As part of the race celebrations, local councils launched a competition across Boston and Skegness schools to design cycling-themed artwork. The brief? Show what makes Lincolnshire special. The prize? Having those drawings selected, scaled up to giant size and painted directly onto grass for millions of viewers to see on live national television. We created the 2 pieces of land art in Skegness and Boston and the winners even brought their friends to help do the finishing touches to the grass paintings. Winning entries included school children’s takes on iconic local symbols—from Lincolnshire’s historic windmills and countryside churches, to bikes rolling through the Wolds, and patriotic Union Jack banners.We use non-toxic, water-based turf paint applied with sprayers and completely safe for the grass, soil, and local wildlife. The drawings took 3 people 2 days to create and each drawing was around 36 metres. It was great being able to recreate something from a child’s imagination. On day 2 of each drawing the children and their friends came to add the finishing touches to the artworks. They were full of enthusiasm and couldn’t wait to get stuck in! I think getting to then see their drawings from the drone all made the day even better. These drawings were a challenge as we were working between the weather windows, but our experienced team took it all in their stride. We loved the vibrancy of the colours used in these images and how striking they looked against the landscape.Spreading the Canvas Across the CountyThe grass paintings popped up across key viewing spots along the route:LocationArtwork ThemeMain Road, BostonSchoolgirl’s drawing of bikes riding past a windmill and churchOld Barn Retreat, AlfordUnion Flag bicycle art highlighting the Lincolnshire Wolds There’s something magical about seeing a child’s sketch transformed into an aerial landmark. As the peloton sprinted past at over 40 km/h, the helicopter cameras zoomed out, giving the young artists of Lincolnshire the ultimate showcase on the global stage.
A huge high-five to all the school pupils who submitted their designs and made their towns look incredible!
