John Bray,BBC News, Royal Leamington Spa
A beautiful mural, dubbed ‘The Lady of Shrubland Street’, has shone a light on the developing street art scene in a Warwickshire town.
The artwork in Royal Leamington Spa has won huge social media acclaim, including more than 9,000 likes on the BBC Midlands Instagram account.
“I think it’s stunning,” says artist Tim Robottom, from Brink Contemporary Arts.
“But the one thing it makes me think is ‘my next piece has got to be even better.'”
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Mr Robottom, whose street art name is Lord Numb, created the art nouveau image opposite Shrubland Street Community Primary School with fellow artist MIG 29.
And the pair’s work features in a series of more than 20 pieces in the Royal Leamington Spa street arts trail, which can be followed with a downloadable map.
“I just started down on the canal predominently,” said Mr Robottom.
“And then gradually, as people have seen more and more of it, it’s become more popular.”
Mr Robottom founded Brink Contemporay Arts in 2010, with the first events taking place at Kenilworth Castle then the town centre.
And he says it’s “passion for art” that drives him to deliver more pieces of work.
“Art and music are really the only things that I’ve been good at,” he said.
Between April and October, art events take place under the umbrella of Leamington Mural Festival.
“A lot of the festivals across the country and around the world focus on one weekend or a week or maybe two weeks,” Mr Robottom added.
“At the moment I don’t have the manpower to do that, but maybe at some point in the future we may be able to do something where we have street food, a stage, DJs, breakdancing, children’s workshops and big murals going up around the town.”
The artist believes Leamington Spa has embraced the street art “to a certain degree, yes”.
“It’s getting easier, certainly in terms of people coming to me offering a wall,” he said.
“But the funding still isn’t forthcoming and some financial support would be much appreciated.”
Longer term, Mr Robottom hopes to expand his work beyond Leamington Spa and also open a street art shop.
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