A cosy, collaborative hand-painted mural, designed and painted with local illustrator Matt Joyce.

Matt and I were tasked with making a less frequented area of the art centre's café bar more inviting and cosy by way of a collaborative mural.

The 'cwtsh' area space was previously quite cold-feeling, and slightly separated off from the main area of the café. With the use of a joyful and soft colour palette, illustrated 'islands', and energetic playful shapes, we helped turn the space into one than is much more welcoming and visually interesting.

We worked collaboratively by coming up with concepts and initial sketches within the space, separately creating digital illustrated elements, and then sharing files back and forth and elaborating on each others' sketches and designs. If you look closely you can see our separate styles coming through on the characters designs.

Matt and I hand painted the mural over a two week period, with the help of very generous café staff and a huge amount of coffee. Visit Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff to see the mural in real life.