Residents 'blown away' by new mural

The colourful mural was created in a week by artist Sophie Mess

A mural completed in only five days has "blown away" a community with its beautiful artwork.

Painted on the wall of Rivo Lounge in Chippenham town centre, it was produced by artist Sophie Mess and features a "medley of iris flowers". An egret bird emerges from the flower and the word "unity" is woven throughout it.

Local resident Colin was among those to express their appreciation for the artwork, adding: "[I'm] blown away. It is lovely, and it reflects the Avon and what we're about here. It makes a lot of difference. That's pure art."

Dennis, from Bristol, added he thought it was "great" and that the town had the potential to emulate his own city's mural successes.

Artist Sophie Mess said that despite pre-designing her artworks, they are still difficult to achieve

Ms Mess said that producing the mural had been a "labour of love", but that she was pleased with the response.

"I pre-design what I'm going to paint, and then I sketch up all the outlines onto the wall," she said.

"Then it's just a case of colouring it in with spray cans. It sounds pretty easy, it's definitely not."

She added: "So many people have stopped to have a chat and it's had a really positive impact."

Chris Lambert (middle) said that he hoped the mural would be the second of many

The artwork was supported by local charity Public Art Chippenham (PAC). Its leader Chris Lambert said that he hoped many more would follow.

"Seeing lots of creative projects similar in Swindon and Bristol and surrounding areas, we thought, why can't we do similar thing in Chippenham?" he added.

"There's plenty of wall space, plenty of need and want for it.

"So we got together and started raising funds to bring art like this into the town."

The iris follows a mural on the side of a fish and chip shop in the town.

"This is our second mural now, and hopefully there'll be many more," Mr Lambert said.