Balesy’s latest artistic creations head to infinit-hay and beyond

Fleur’s newest work homes in on Toy Story theme, with a cast of characters on show

A Tayside farmer’s latest artistic fieldwork is set to take her already sky-high reputation to infinit-hay and beyond.

For the past five years Fleur Baxter has been bringing a smile to motorists passing one of her fields outside Dundee with a series of straw bale cartoon character creations.

Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, Pokemon and Pudsey have all taken up residence in the Monikie stubble.

And the artist now known as Balesy has turned her hand to a Toy Story endof-harvest project.

With Toy Story 4 riding high in the cinema charts, she has lined up Slinky, Woody, Bo Peep, Billy, Goat and Gruff, Buzz Lightyear, an Alien and new character Forky in one of her most ambitious ideas so far.

“This one took me ages to do, but I really hope people will enjoy it and even when I was working on it a lot of families stopped,” said Fleur. “I was thinking about what I was going to do this year.

“There is so much going on that I could have done something about politics.

“But what it’s really about is trying to just put a smile on people’s faces – so I decided to stick with Toy Story.”

Fleur’s landscape capers began in 2014 when she decided to transform some straw bales into Minions.

The sight of the brightly-coloured bespectacled characters took social media by storm.

Since then the B951 passing Monikie has been busier than usual with drivers stopping for selfies alongside the Baxter bales in the annual open-air art exhibition.

Fleur also brought festive cheer to the countryside with a Christmas display last year.

She previously raised cash for Macmillan Cancer Support through a fundraising page set up after her father was diagnosed with the disease.

Fleur’s fame has spread far and wide and she has even received a letter of thanks addressed simply to Balesy, Angus.

Her artistic talent is set to be enjoyed by an expected 8,000 visitors to the international sheep dog trials at Shandford, near Brechin, later this month.

“

What it’s really about is trying to just put a smile on people’s faces. FLEUR BAXTER

Pictures: Kris Miller. Hay bale artist Fleur Baxter’s latest creations to put a smile on the face of Angus motorists. Toy Story is the theme of this year’s artwork.

Fleur Baxter with her Toy Story hay bales bear Monikie.