Also, I’ve been an artist member of dot-art Liverpool for several years, exhibiting my cosmic and landscape paintings, teaching school workshops, and teaching art courses that I’ve written myself on subjects I love: painting trees, abstract art, Chinese brush painting, quote illustration… Dot-art also sends out member opportunities for public artworks and residencies.

The Flower Streets murals is once such opportunity. Since the streets are all named after flowers, this is the visual theme. Since I am so easily inspired by nature, and have experience in painting flowers, trees etc, I wrote a proposal in June 2022 with sketches for the walls and ideas for community workshops. On the 5th October 2022, I found out that Liverpool City Council wanted to move ahead for me to create murals on all 9 walls, and that funding had been secured.

What exactly is the project?

The Council want to improve the environment for the local people and help them care more about their neighbourhood by beautifying these walls. Each wall is the gable end of an end of terrace house in the Kirkdale area of Liverpool. The walls are between 6.5 and 7.5 metres wide, some with archways that are 6 metres tall.

In my visual plans, I’ve put them in two groups, which are: Group 1: Huge flowers with idea of a stained glass window arch For 1 Snowdrop, 2 Pansy, 4 Daisy, 6 Woodbine and 8 Harebell, there will be painted a huge flower (or small group of the same flower) in the pointed archway that can be seen from a distance (from the main road and from above), as well as other features.

As you can see, some don’t have an archway - these will be garden/landscape scenes with the idea of an archway leading the eye in. I’ve named them Group 2: Landscape/Garden For 3 Pansy, 5 Daisy, 7 Woodbine and 9 Harebell there will be more of a landscape/secret garden appearance incorporating their flowers as well as animals, birds, insects, leaves and other natural forms.

There is a community centre nearby, where there will be consultation sessions and workshops (spoken word/poetry and art) with the local people and children from local schools, which will feed into the creation and make it more personal to the neighbourhood. This will take place in January and February 2023.

Flowers as symbols and metaphors

You’re probably aware that red roses are the symbol of romance, but did you know that pansies are the symbol of remembrance and friendship? This is because the name “pansy” originates in the French pensée, which means “thought”; it was so named because the flower resembles a human face, and in mid-to-late summer it nods forward as if deep in thought. Ophelia refers to them: “There’s pansies, that’s for thoughts”, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet (Act IV, Scene V). Here’s my initial sketch for 2 Pansy Street.