WETA BUG REPORTS: 21 June 07 I had the privilege of attending last night's exhibition opening of The Lonely Dog series, and it was a blast!

The art series is a story created by well known Queenstown artist, Ivan Clarke, revolving around an elusive and talented musician, The Lonely Dog. Last night was the official Auckland opening - and gals gotta do what a gals gotta do, to get the scoop, right? So, yesterday I hopped on a plane and headed north for the grand opening.

'The Sunshine Boys'; one pieces we created at Weta for the project.

Here at Weta Workshop, we teamed up with Ivan to create the bronze sculptures for the exhibition, based on his sketches. These are limited edition works of art that have been reproduced in bronze and hand finished.

This little guy, ,Rolph Flannegan', was one of many pieces we created for the series.

Richard Taylor was there to celebrate the event and make a toast to all the creative and supportive people involved in the project. He joined the crew in awe as we saw the wonderful work the Workshop crew had created, come to life in a gallery setting. Ivan thanked every body for their support and enthusiasm in what started off as a small series of paintings.

Above: Ivan Clarke addressing the crowd.

It was simply awesome to see the work we'd done on this project come to life. As I entered, I saw the life size Bronze we had created on a (literal) pedestal on my right, all lit up (pictured below) looking very daunting, indeed!

A special highlight was when a mystery speaker took to the podium, proclaiming to be a character from the series - 'Sir Pepperford Trousers' - who made a toast to the wonderful event and made a few quick snaps about his fellow feline rivals in jest!

I caught up with Ivan the next day after the party, to find out more of The Lonely Dog series and how he felt the party went, which I'll tell you all about in more detail, soon. Heck, I might even post the video of 'Sir Pepperford Trousers' it was so entertaining!

Baron of Beaconsfield sculpture, immortalised in Bronze.

But in the mean time, check out the Weta Gallery for people pix and to check out some of the fantastic artwork.

Read more about our work on the series here.