“A lick of paint never hurt anyone” appears to be Megan Russell’s motto, but as evidenced by her impressive portfolio, the international street artist’s paintings go far beyond just a lick. Climbing an office building in Sheffield, England, is a 25-meter-tall mural depicting colorful birds, butterflies, and glimmering blue-green water — a piece so stunning it’s currently vying to be named “Best Mural of the World.”
The artwork, titled “Reverie,” was initially voted the Best of June 2024 in a contest by Street Art Cities, an online database celebrating urban art around the globe. That honor cemented its nomination in the annual competition alongside 50 other murals from Argentina, Morocco, France, Russia, and beyond. “It’s just been crazy. When June’s votes came in, it blew my mind,” Russell told the BBC.
Commissioned by the Sheffield city council for the Festival of the Outdoors, the nature-themed mural overlooks Pounds Park and was inspired by local wildlife. “I wanted to create a piece that would suit well with the length of that wall, because it’s such a tall, thin wall,” Russell explained on the podcast Woman’s Hour. “And one of my favorite animals are herons as well, so it was a perfect opportunity to be able to paint something that’s quite close to me in the center of Sheffield.”
The artist spent up to 12 hours a day painting for 10 days straight to complete the masterpiece — a process she referred to as “weirdly quite quick.” In fact, while one might assume that epic murals like this one are worked on over long periods of time, Russell said that it’s actually ideal to finish them quickly due to outdoor challenges like weather. In this case, she used a doodle grid to figure out where each element of the painting needed to go.
“Basically what you do is you put loads of scribbles on the wall and it looks like an absolute mess, and people freak out at the beginning,” Russell said, adding that the image is then overlaid on top of the grid so it eventually resembles a sort of “giant color by numbers.”
Russell told the BBC that working on “Reverie” was “the biggest highlight” of her career to date. “I had free reign to be as vibrant and bold as I wanted,” she shared. “It’s really refreshing when clients tell you that, it doesn’t happen often.”
And the mural now holds another meaningful component for Russell: While she received the nomination this January, her grandmother, Iris Reynolds, also died the same month. Russell’s pseudonym, “Peachzz,” and Instagram handle, @_peachzz_, originated from memories of Reynolds feeding her canned peaches and ice cream as a child — and in general, her grandmother served as an artistic inspiration.
“She was incredibly creative and always followed my work. She seemed really proud,” Russell told The Lagos Review.
That encouragement helped drive the artist to build what’s now a vast portfolio that includes works in Colombia and Mexico and partnerships with organizations like UPS, the British Council, and Somerset House. At the moment, Russell is working on the launch of a Sheffield street art festival she co-founded, the Lick of Paint Fest. If you’d like to vote for “Reverie,” head to the Street Art Cities website to cast your ballot by Jan. 31.
RELATED: With Eye-Popping Street Installations, French Artist JR Seeks to Unite People Across Divides
Share to:
