Mural painter hopes to inspire young artists

Shawn Sharpe, also known by his street tag Reasm, has spent the last couple of years bringing colour to the street

A mural artist from Preston is hoping to inspire young people to get more creative by making spray paint art more accessible.

Shawn Sharpe, also known by his street tag Reasm, has spent the last couple of years bringing colour to the street, often referencing his home city by including the lamb that features on its coat of arms.

These included The Mother artwork on the side of Grade II-listed Hogarth's gin bar on Church Street, and Pauline in the Yellow Dress on Edward Street, inspired by a portrait in the Harris Museum.

The artist was now teaching workshops to pass on his skills to schoolchildren at a studio in Preston.

The Mother mural represents "someone to watch over our city and her lambs" which incorporates elements of Preston's crest

As graffiti remained illegal in most situations and there were no "legal walls" in Preston, so Mr Sharpe has set up a unit at Artch Studios, off Marsh Lane, where he has started to teach children as young as eight.

"They've been going really good," he said. "We do some canvas work inside and we learn about the letter structures and then we go outside and teach them how to do lines, circles, fills on a practice wall."

"It's not as straightforward as it seems, it's immensely intricate and depends on where your finger is on the spray nozzle", he said.

"It can take years to find the right pressure on the cap," the artist added.

'Celebrating Preston'

"It's between your brain and your muscle power. You can teach it, but only you know when you've got that can in your hand, if you're going do a good line or not."

He said there were already "a few kids that you can just see naturally do have that eye for art in general".

"Maybe in 10 years these kids that I'm teaching will be showing me," he said.

Mr Sharpe said his next big mural started in a couple of weeks but "but straight after that Preston City Council have commissioned me so we're going do some a big big mural in the city centre again.

"I can't tell you where it is at the moment but it'll be good," he said.

"We're going to be celebrating Preston again, but more specifically the area and the people around that area."