Mural of Newport from Ridgeway

This mural was commissioned by Newport City Council in the Summer of 2008 for the Reception area at Newport's main cemetery - St Woolos Cemetery. The brief was to paint a mural that was related to Newport and the cemetery, and was also tranquil in mood.

The room has five or six walls, one window, one hatch, one open doorway and one door, and so the commission proved quite a challenge. I decided to take as my starting point the view from Ridgeway in Newport, about half a mile from the cemetery, and one of Newport's highest points.

I tried to depict a 360 degree view from Ridgeway, but had to modify the view quite a bit both to fit it onto the spaces available in the room and to increase the tranquil mood of the mural, but the view is still immediately recognisable to most Newportonians.

Cemetery staff and visitors suggested additions to the mural, hence the squirrels, dog and other things you will find in it.

St Woolos cemetery is the oldest municipal cemeteries in the UK, and has quite a few well-known people buried there. Its other claim to fame is that Joe Strummer, of The Clash, once worked there as a gravedigger.

The mural is around 32 feet in length and about 9 feet high, and took me a month to complete.

The Reception area is open to the public, so you can go along and see it during normal working hours (9.00-13.00 and 14.00 to 16.30 Monday to Thursday, and until 16.00 on Fridays).