AN artist whose style was inspired by the coronavirus pandemic has completed a mural at Henley town hall.
Bee Skelton, from Bourne End, was commissioned by the town council to create a piece featuring the town’s landmarks in her signature “topsy-turvy” style.
A photograph of the painting was printed on wallpaper which was pasted on the wall of the information centre.
Mrs Skelton said: “I’m pleased with how it turned out. I got the measurements right and fulfilled the brief. It was exactly what the council was after.”
She studied fine art in Cyprus, where she lived for several years, and the Open College of the Arts. She has exhibited her work in countries around the world.
It was the community spirit seen during the pandemic that influenced her current style.
Mrs Skelton said: “I have always made art in one way, shape or form but not always in this style. It evolved over time but was pretty much going in this direction around the time when covid started.
“Like everybody else, I feel we all became aware of how nice a simple life could be, although the circumstances were anything but. The effect it had on my art brought it down to a community level. One of the first paintings I did was of various places in Marlow Bottom which were integral to getting us through what we were going through — the two churches, the One Stop shop and the brewery.
“Of course, geographically it didn’t work, so I had to bend reality to make the picture say what I wanted it to say in this colourful, topsy-turvy way that I have.
“That particular painting I auctioned for charity but it struck a chord and I went from there.”
Mrs Skelton was commissioned by people to paint their houses, gardens and families.
She said: “I would listen to people’s stories and in order to tell the story, I had to bend things to make the story fit, so this style became more pronounced.”
Daisy Smith, the town council’s communications manager, commissioned the town hall mural.
Mrs Skelton said: “She gave me a brief that included lots of Henley assets that needed to be featured. I walked along the river and around a number of places in town that she wanted featured and took photos and made sketches.
“I went back to the studio and then worked out, like a jigsaw, how the painting was going to fit together and make sense pictorially.
“Of course, I wanted the river in there — you cannot have Henley without the river — and the Angel on the Bridge pub.
“The actual mural is a very high quality photograph of the painting, which is much smaller. The style of painting I do is complicated and detailed so this would take far too long to do in situ.”
The image was printed by Fearn Brothers in Bracknell.
Ms Skelton said: “It’s extremely nice that so many people will see it because normally with commissions they go to one family’s house and are seen by a relatively small circle. My work in exhibitions is seen by more but it’s not the same as this.”
