The theft of donated artwork that had adorned three of Hamilton’s green spaces has left creator Elizabeth Mulderig nonplussed — but determined to replace the missing works.

“We put these there for children — talk about the Grinch who stole Christmas,” said Ms Mulderig of the pieces, which use art from her colourful children’s book series Tiny the Treefrog.

In 2011, weatherproof replicas of 22 illustrates pages went up around the city, intended as a reading trail for young children to follow Tiny’s adventures around town.

The author admitted it hadn’t crossed her mind to bolt the displays to the ground.

“I suppose we should have thought of it,” Ms Mulderig told The Royal Gazette. “We thought they were pretty much vandal-proof, because you can wipe anything off them. But they’re not theft-proof.”

Two pieces from Queen Elizabeth II Park went missing two weeks ago, followed by a separate artwork that until just a few days ago had stood in Victoria Park,

“We did this as a community endeavour, to help promote reading and exercise — just something fun for families and children,” she said.

“It got such a positive response from people. To have three of them taken like this is very discouraging.”

The pieces were originally sponsored by Masterworks, along with the Corporation of Hamilton and the Ministry of Education.

The series proved popular with teachers, who took students through the two parks and the City Hall grounds where the artworks tell a story — in large print for children. The pictures also showed off some of the Island’s attractions to tourists.

Ms Mulderig said the two pieces stolen from Queen Elizabeth II Park were replicas of the first two pages from ‘Tiny Tours Bermuda’ — while the third, lifted from Victoria Park, showed the tree frog character at Gibbs Hill Lighthouse.

“I have gotten comment after comment from tourists about them. Even though they’re adults, they love that they’re finding out about things that are actually there.”

Now promoting her latest book — ‘Tiny’s Night Before Christmas’ — Ms Mulderig has nonetheless set about replacing the stolen pieces.

“We’ll put in new ones,” she said. “We don’t feel like going back to our sponsors for it. We’ll figure out a way to bolt them in place. It’s just the fact that we have to go that far that’s discouraging.”

She added: “I don’t know if it’s the same person wallpapering their room with them, or different people. We can only surmise that the same thing happened in another park.”

The replacement pictures, created by Bermuda Blueprinting, should be ready to go into the ground next week and before Christmas.

The artist said she was contemplating weighing the artworks in place with cement, while husband Hubert Watlington was devising a way of bolting them into the ground.

“We’re sure hoping that these measures will work. I guess we’ll find out after they go in,” she said.