Life in a day: Wolverhampton's sights and landmarks mapped out in art

The Paint the Day event involved artists of all ages and abilities who were tasked with capturing the unique ambiance of Whitmore Reans over the course of one day.

The vast majority of the artists were born and bred in and around Whitmore Reans, and each of them picked a particular feature of the area and brought it to life on canvas.

Artists registered at the Newhampton Arts Centre before spending the day working on their pieces. The following day all of the work was hung for sale at a public exhibition at the centre in Dunkley Street.

Centre manager Christine McGowan said the idea had stemmed from London's Pintar Rapido outdoor painting festival.

"This type of event is common in Spanish villages, where people go out onto the street to paint during the summer," she said.

"It was brought over to England with Pintar Rapido ('painting quickly' in Spanish), and first took place in Kensington and Chelsea, which is the wealthiest part of the country.

"We thought it could translate to Whitmore Reans. There's certainly an interesting contrast between the two areas."

Christine said that interest in the project was slow initially, but a rush of applications in the week before the event saw 52 artists take part.

"We were a little bit concerned at first, then it just seemed to snowball," she added.

"This is all about raising the profile of artists working in the area, plus we want to encourage more people to get involved in the arts. Art can be so inclusive. Anyone can pick up a brush or a pencil and get involved. A lot of the time people don't see it that way.

"That is an attitude we want to change."

Sarah Collings was among the artists who took part in the event. The 23-year-old, who lives in Allen Road, stationed herself in the beer garden of her local pub The Newhampton Inn and created a classic summer scene.

"I loved the idea of painting somewhere local to me and The Newhampton was ideal," said Sarah, who admits the event marked the first time she's picked up a paint brush since her school days.

"It is a landmark that people associate with the area, a meeting point. It was a nice atmosphere to paint in, with plenty of punters coming over to see what I was doing during the day."

Sarah, who works for Birmingham-based charity The Challenge, added an extra local ingredient to her work by incorporating cuttings from Saturday's Express & Star."

"Like the pub, the Star is a symbol of the city," she added. "It's very much a Wolverhampton painting."

Lorna Greygoose spent the day moving between sites around her home in Drummond Street to capture a collage of various neighbourhood scenes.

"I thought it would be a nice idea to try and create a snapshot of the area," said the 32-year-old, who paints as a hobby.

"It was a really unusual experience painting in public. People were coming up to me and asking what I was doing.

"There was a lot of interest from people in the community, from young kids to old ladies. It's definitely something I'd like to do again."

Marcia Melbourne, aged 46, picked up her watercolours to depict the mosque on Newhampton Road West. "It's a new building that really imposes itself on the landscape," said Marcia, who grew up in the area.

"I have wanted to get back into art for a while and this competition seemed like a good way to ease my way back in. There are a lot of good elements of Whitmore Reans and the Newhampton Arts Centre has helped to show them in a positive light."

Other entries included local graffiti artist Mike Powis, who worked local landmarks including the West Park conservatory into his No Ball Games piece.

Maria Billington, who runs the area's Gatis Gardeners project, produced a watercolour of the Aldersley canal bridge No. 64.

There were also depictions of the West Park boating lake and the entrance gates of Dunstall Park racecourse. Mike Massingham won the first prize of £300 for his painting entitled Multi.

His expansive work featured a landscape scene of Whitmore Reans emphasising the area's multi-cultural heritage.

The project was funded by Creative Black Country (CBC), a new organisation that was set up to target low engagement in the arts across Wolverhampton, Sandwell and Walsall.

It has been set up with a three-fold aim of widening involvement in the arts, providing funding for community projects and bringing world class art works to the region.

Liam Smyth, creative producer at CBC, said that it was time for people in the Black Country to allow their artistic abily to come to the fore.

"Art is under appreciated and underplayed here," he said. "It shouldn't be that way. There are plenty of talented people involved in the arts, we want to bring them out into the open and support their work.

"Paint the Day is a fantastic way of doing just that. We've had so many different people involved, from professionals to those who just fancied having a go.

"It shows that if you give people the right platform they can produce some really excellent work."

Proceeds from the sale of the paintings will be split between the artists and Newhampton Arts Centre, which is battling to stay afloat after its funding was cut by Wolverhampton council.