Louise, together with Bolton artist Andy Smith, has just completed an amazing animal and landscape mural in Birmingham that is helping to heal an area where a young boy died in the most tragic of circumstances.

Leo Ross was just twelve years old when he was attacked while walking home from school, and the commission was to give the dark passageway under a bridge a bright new ambience.

“We were commissioned to paint murals that made the area uplifting as opposed to scary and downtrodden” explains Louise “All the animals we’ve done can be seen in the local area and parklands. I also went into the school to meet some of the GCSE pupils and some of the young boys who were friends with Leo, and they were more than happy to change the whole feel of the area and make it more inspiring.”

The final murals, which cover both sides of the passage, were ‘opened’ by Al Carns, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, who promised that lighting would be installed too, to further enhance the scene.

“Staff and pupils alike are delighted with the new mural by Louise Garman and Andy Smith which has transformed the walls of a railway bridge from hideous graffiti to a sparkling vision of woodland and a stream” says Beryl Henley, fundraiser and project manager for the commission “Local animals gambol in the new scenery, populated by deer, rabbits and even the turtle from the nearby lake. This has changed the route to Christ Church School from intimidating to delightful. Residents of streets close by the bridge are thrilled with the positive changes to their neighbourhood.”

This is the fourth commission Louise and Andy have completed in Birmingham, having brightened other walls and telecom boxes in the area with local wildlife and landscape scenes.