Putting the North East in the picture
MEET Andy Morley – the man behind some of the most impressive murals in the North East.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the 54-year-old had been painting bedrooms and was concerned about how he would survive during the lockdown.
However his business Creative Ginger was asked to do NHS murals by people who wanted to show their appreciation.
Fast forward two years and Andy is now inundated with work from colleges, universities, bars, restaurants and shops.
The visual artist, from Denton Burn, Newcastle, said he has been able to take on an employee and generate work for other artists.
He said: “I’m snowed under! I have gone from being part-time to full-time and I’m in a position to give out work to other artists.
“Prior to lockdown, I was worried that we weren’t going to survive. I was in a panic, thinking we weren’t going to have much work.
“I did the NHS shutters and from their it just snowballed. A lot of work now comes in from commercial businesses, I have done lots of bars and restaurants.”
If you have come across a mural while out and about in the North East, it is likely that Andy would have painted it.
Within the last year, Creative Ginger has produced murals for Newcastle city centre venues such as Beach Box, Geisha, Filthys, Howlers and Bijoux.
Andy said that some of the jobs involve him creating selfie walls where customers can take their pictures, such as Barbie boxes. He said: “One thing which is very popular at the moment are Instagrammable murals. We have done five down at Beach Box.
“One of them is a massive shark. When you stand in the cage it looks like the shark is coming for you.”
Andy said he has also created murals for companies such as Collingwood Seafood in North Shields, Fenham Fish Bar in Fenham and Porkys at Bebside.
He is currently working on two murals for Kirkley Hall Campus in Northumberland and has previously created ones for the University of Sunderland and Newcastle College.
He also paints murals in people’s homes and gardens, creating a number of popular designs for children’s bedrooms.
When asked which mural has been his favourite, he said: “The best one is always the last one!
“The one at Collingwood Sea Foods on the North Shields fish quay involved painting dolphins, a whale and a turtle.
“I was pleased with that one, it took me less than three days to complete.
“The most unusual one I have painted is a skull in someone’s kitchen. It was an optical illusion and looked 3D. We have done a lot of flowers for beer gardens and we get a lot of people asking for beach scenes to be painted.
“A lot of people bought hot tubs in the lockdown and put beach scenes behind their jacuzzies. I did some great projects during the lockdown.”
Andy said he originally set up Creative Ginger in 2010 and carried out workshops for schools and colleges. He later focused on producing artwork for bedrooms.
“Two years on, he can’t quite believe how successful his business has become.
He said: “It’s certainly very popular now.
“At one point I was doing two to three murals in a month and now I’m doing up to five in one week. It seems to be growing and growing.
“Art was one of the only things I was good at while at school. I enjoy creating big pieces of work.
“It’s nice to be able to do something I really enjoy doing.”