In the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns, opportunities to return to work sites were cherished, especially when they came with intriguing invitations. On July 15th, 2021, I received an interesting proposal from the fabulous Georgie Muirhead of Georgie M Designs:
“How do you fancy doing a mural on a brick wall for me?”
Without hesitation, I accepted.
The venue was The Albion Pub on London Road, in Sheffield, my home city. Owned by the microbrewery Stancill, the pub was undergoing renovations to extend its outdoor space, as many venues were at the time. Georgie was transforming the old car park and tasked me with creating a design for the 6 metre wall to celebrate Stancill’s story and it’s Sheffield heritage.
Collaborating with Georgie, we met at her shop in Retford to discuss colours. We happily chose the brightest hues from the Valspar colour fan, so that appropriate masonry paints could be mixed.
With the design finalized, the next challenge would be its application to the wall. I opted for making full sized stencils, I could stick the design on the wall itself. This would ensure the correct spacing and composition in situ.
Projecting the Stancill logo to create a huge stencil.
Penny helping as I measure and draw the buildings.
Using marker pens to outline the design, it was then a case the of filling areas with colour. I added colour where I felt was appropriate, I had to trust the process.
There is a constant evaluation of designs, especially when arriving on site each day. I realised that the colours didn’t pop as much as I’d liked. Time to add black, to increase the contrast. This also created an opportunity to add building silhouettes, creating more depth to the mural.
Designs evolve, and sometimes there are additions. The pizza area needed a little something. Consequently, we have another Stancill logo, emphasising their brand identity. A different substrate, but masonry paints are versatile. I loved using with the Valspar paint, it was fluid with excellent coverage.
The mural at the Albion was kept as a surprise for the Brewery owners, each day we covered it with tarpauling. I couldn’t share the whole design on social media, but thought the odd close up of the mural would be fine. However, The Albion is very close to Brammall Lane, Sheffield United football ground and frequented by United supporters on match night. So when I posted blue stripes this caused consternation. It hadn’t occurred to me that the owners would see my post.
I’m always nervous on reveal days, especially as the clients had no idea what to expect. However, the whole scheme was brought together beautifully by Georgie M Designs so I needn’t have worried.
The experience of bringing Stancill’s story and Sheffield’s heritage to life in The Albion Pub’s outdoor space, has been awesome. A big thank you to Georgie for her faith in me, and for supplying photographs of the final project.
The was a great write up in the Sheffield Star. My mum would have been proud, having been a copy checker for the Telegraph and Star many years ago.
