A talented artist is adding a splash of colour to a mental health ward and the streets of Blackburn this week.
Rachel Jackson is a mural artist dedicated to supporting mental health charities through creativity and community work.
The 37-year-old paints local shop windows with murals or portraits to “brighten up the streets” in the hope it will make people’s days.
On Thursday, September 7, the mental health ward at Pendleview, Royal Blackburn Hospital, will be transformed into a more colourful and cheerful space for the patients thanks to Rachel.
Sharing how excited she is to be decorating the mental health ward, Rachel said: “I just love the idea of people just getting a bit of happiness out of my artwork.
"I do have some mental health issues myself so it’s a way of looking after myself.
“Doing art is the only thing that calms my brain down and I can give back to the community by doing murals, so I love it.”
Local businesses and organisations pay for Rachel’s materials and in return receive a unique, vivid artwork designed for their shop window.
Rachel doesn’t charge charities for her work as she is passionate about supporting causes that motivate her creativity, like mental health organisations.
She said: “I prefer working on bigger canvases because I enjoy a challenge for myself, so I’ve just progressed to doing murals.
“It keeps my days interesting, and I’ve met so many nice people doing volunteering and charity work, so I just decided to do free windows for charities because why not. And it’s nice to walk down the street and see something uplifting.”
The Manchester-based artist, originally from Blackpool, has been doing art for around five years but started doing murals in public last Christmas.
Since then, various mental health charities have got in touch with Rachel to collaborate on community projects.
She added: “I’m going to carry on doing the mural work, but I’ve also got plans to work in school with kids and more mental health charities so I’m just going to see where this takes me.”
Rachel will be brightening the streets of Blackburn for a week so if you want the window of your business decorating then you can contact Rachel on Facebook or rach_jackson@hotmail.com.
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