When I, my partner and her son moved into our large Georgian flat in Southsea, we loved the impressive façade and how close it was to the seafront. When the front of the block was repainted soon after, it made us fall in love with it all the more. But it was let down by the unloved back yard – and lockdown was the perfect time to transform it.
We scraped back the flakey paint and sealed with PVA, re-pointed the brickwork and then primed it ready to receive the mural. (We have a whole page on the mural creation process if you’d like more detail). Residents from other flats noticed and joined in – maintaining appropriate distance – and before long our unexciting yard was reborn with scenes of the South Downs stretching down to the coast.
I spoke about our lockdown adventures on BBC Radio Solent, and there is a companion news story which includes a recording of my appearance.
