Underpass mural designed to 'inspire positivity'

Krishna Malla, who paints under the name Tech Moon, said he wanted the art to make people feel positive

An artist who painted a mural in a town's subway has said he wanted his art to create positivity for those who see it.

Krishna Malla, who paints under the name Tech Moon, was commissioned by Poole Business Improvement District (BID) to paint a mural on the walls of Poole subway.

His work depicted Dorset's iconic landmarks, symbols, wildlife and historical figures.

He said the artwork's "sole purpose" was to "just make people feel positive".

"It's not trying to sell you anything, it's not trying to be preachy, but just to instil a positive attitude and a positive feeling," he said.

Pirate Harry Payne is one person depicted in the mural

The mural, which he painted in April, included Old Harry Rocks, the flying boats that were based in Poole during WW2.

It also featured pirate Harry Payne, who attacked ships approaching the Poole coastline in the 14th and 15th Centuries.

Malla, who has previously painted a mural on a homeless shelter in Bournemouth and a public toilet block in Salisbury, said he found painting such large artworks "tricky" at times.

"There's quite a few different techniques to [paint such large pictures]," he said.

Malla said painting large artworks in public was sometimes challenging

He said he used a scribble grid to mark reference points on the blank wall - but that meant the wall looked scruffy to begin with, which sometimes caused problems.

"People often call the police at that stage," he said.

"They actually turned up in the first 15 minutes on this particular job, which is quite impressive."

Poole's flying boats also feature in the mural

Despite the challenges, Malla said he enjoyed how the work encouraged him to learn about the area in which he painted.

"Because every job is different you're researching lots of different things," he said.

"For the toilet block in Salisbury, we were looking into native species that we are going to benefit from this river work that they were doing.

"The Poole job, it was... revealing these hidden histories."

He said the story behind the artworks made people appreciate them more.

"When people of reflect and recognise what you're doing, I think that's when they enjoy the art work a bit more," he said.