GoGo Dragons: Kieron Williamson unveils Norfolk dragon trail sculpture

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-29583459

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A 12-year-old artist, nicknamed Mini-Monet, is to unveil a sculpture of a dragon he has painted for a children's charity art trail.

Kieron Williamson, from Norfolk, who has so far earned about £2m, painted the 5ft-tall (1.5m) statue for the GoGo Dragons event in Norwich.

It is set to be unveiled ahead of the trail which will be open from June until September.

Kieron said it had been "challenging" painting on a statue instead of canvas.

Local children's charity Break asked the child prodigy to customise one of its 84 blank dragons for its second public art trail.

Inspiration for the landscape artist's design came from the Norfolk folk tale of the Ludham dragon.

"The scenes on the dragon are of Ludham and...of the Broads as they are my favourite places to paint," said Kieron.

"The dragon links into the Broads because of the Ludham dragon story."

He said the project had been "absolutely brilliant," but said he painted over his first two designs.

"It's quite hard because it's never-ending and all the different lumps and bumps made it quite hard to plan it out."

His mother Michelle said the family were initially wary when they saw the sculpture's size.

"We were excited but we didn't have any idea of the scale of the beast though, so when we first caught sight of the dragon it was a bit of a surprise," she said.

"With the dragon theme being so popular for young children, he's really been able to get his teeth into it and enjoy it."

Break fundraising manager Michael Rooney said the charity had been "eagerly awaiting" the finished result and felt people would be "amazed" by the work.

The Ludham dragon will be auctioned once the trail ends on 5 September.