Tim Carroll's Mural at Regent Circus

 A new mural has been created by artist, Tim Carroll on three adjoining  3metre by 2metre panels, making a 9metre by 2metre art work. I have followed the progress of the mural from its inception, and thought I'd share some photos ahead of the official opening on Friday 29th of April at 6.30pm in front of the mural when we will have a toast, followed by refreshments in the Beehive top bar.

The mural was commissioned by inSwindon BID, created to provide additional services or improvements to a local area, encourage commercial growth, represent and respond to the interests and needs of businesses, and develop projects for the good of the area and community. The introduction was made by Sally Taylor of Artsite who has done a great job of linking artists within Swindon to projects like this one.

Before starting on the boards, Tim made 3 drawings of what he intended to paint, then transferred the drawings onto 3 canvasses measuring 300cm x 200cm and painted the scenes he intended to depict. Views of the Wiltshire Downs had been suggested as a subject for the mural, however Tim is more interested in figurative paintings, and thought he would like to base the panels on the Harold Dearden paintings, Salubritas et Industria. These two paintings of the Swindon motto hung in the council chamber of the Civic Offices for many years, were later reputedly found rolled up in a skip, and then donated to Swindon Museum and Art Gallery. 

There are more photos of the mural in progress on the Born Again Swindonian blog, thank you Angela Atkinson for the blog on Tim Carroll and more about Swindon murals.

On the 25th of March, Tim was ready to begin the mural, and started by covering the ground in sheeting and painting the panels red:

It's a bit of a change from working privately in a studio, and there was a large area to cover with paint

and a temptation to begin the figurative work from the outset!

the next stage was to draw onto the red background:

The left hand panel above and all three panels below, with the right hand side to complete

Then the colouring in began

and the colours really stood out

Tim then began to work on particular scenes within the painting

the weather was often very cold, the sun never reaches that part of Regent Circus, so it was a challenge to keep warm

Someone else took this photo, maybe Graham Carter? I love it!

And here's the finished mural which because of its dimensions is hard to see in the photograph

Thank you to the Swindon Advertiser for recent photos of the mural, there was a lovely one on 14 April when a reader had sent in a photo, and another one on 26 April. 

Hope to see you at the opening!