I was asked by the
@colonyofartists to create a mural in the playground of my boys school 🌈✨
I’d never done a mural before but loved the idea of being able to bring some fun, colour and life to the school playground (the wall I’d be painting was pretty dark & boring). I also knew I wanted to make something engaging and meaningful for the children 🤔🤷♂️
In the midst of scribbling down ideas, both my boys came home from school talking about “well-being words” they’d been learning about in their assembly that day:- Ready; Respectful; Responsible; Healthy; Safe; Included; Achieving; and Nurtured. These are words the school use on an ongoing basis. I thought it was a great idea to have them in the childrens thinking 🧠💭
The well-being words and mural seemed to go hand in hand, so after mocking up a version on screen and running it past the headteacher, I prepped the wall, gridded it out, chalked it up and painted - bit by bit as its approx 3m high x 15m wide 😬🥵🤯
I’m usually sat at a computer to draw so working outside is something I really enjoyed (which is good as it took me ages to get it all done 🙃😅)
Its been lovely hearing the children (and parents) reading the words out as they’ve been walking past, picking out favourite painted faces from the wall & generally taking an interest in what I was doing. Hopefully it’ll be a good reminder to everyone of the well-being words!
I also thought it was pretty apt I got the mural finished the same day as “A Better Day” written by
@dralexgeorge published - its a positive mental health handbook for children aged 10 years and over, which I illustrated. The book is designed to help children deal with everything from peer pressure, online behaviour, exam stress, anxiety and more. Another example of how thinking about well-being & self-care can have such a positive impact on our lives & the lives of those around us ✨🙌
As I know from experience words can have such a impact, especially on children. Hopefully this big, bright, colourful reminder will help with positive thoughts✨
#mural #wellbeing #positivity #school #schoolmural #illustration #edinburgh #lettering #art #reels #mentalhealth
