Spray paint knight appears on wall near Caerphilly Castle

The painting, created as part of the Valleys Street Art Project, has been completed by local artist Paul Shepherd on the wall above Quality Carpets.

Valleys Street Art Project, set up by Matt Dey in April this year, is designed to help artists in the area express themselves while bringing some beauty and colour to the town.

Artist Paul Shepherd (left) and Valleys Street Art founder Matt Dey (right) (Image: Matt Dey)

Mr Dey founded the project after noticing there were a lot of empty walls and decided he wanted to do something about it.

“I was sat having chips with my son one day, when we saw this old, tarnished wall, and I thought it would be nice to have something entertaining put on it,” he explained. “Now this project gives this town an opportunity typically limited to cities, to turn tired walls into a thing of beauty."

In order to find suitable walls to work on, the team obtain permits for ‘legal walls’ where homeowners can give their permission for artwork to be painted, although they don’t get a say in the art that is produced.

Some of the walls the project has painted since it began in April (Image: Matt Dey)

Once they are given permission, they then have to cover the costs of the materials. In order to fund this, Mr Dey set up a GoFundMe, which raised £600 after generating significant public interest, and combined with generous donations from companies, covered the costs.

Mr Dey was keen to clarify that the money raised has now been spent on projects, and that they rely on the generosity of the public to raise that money for each project. 

He said: “We are so grateful to the people of Caerphilly for donating, as we know this stuff isn’t cheap. We work with artists who get paid on commission, and they don’t get any money from this as it’s a non-profit project, so for these guys to give up their time and skills like this is just amazing.”

Local artist Paul Shepherd has been involved with the project since its inception, and immediately laid claim to working on this particular wall.

He said: “When this wall became available, I jumped at it as it's in my hometown and a very busy spot.

“I have been looking for a wall to paint this type of fantasy knight in battle for some time and where better than right by the castle! It took me two days to complete.

“It's always a fantastic feeling being able to see the street art you create on a daily basis.”

Paul in action creating the mural (Image: Matt Dey)Mr Dey believes that this painting has “put us on the map” and enabled them to reach a whole new level of audience and design.

The reaction of the public has been overwhelmingly positive, with the walls acting as a “special inspiration” to other budding local artists.

“The whole project has been so rewarding for everyone involved,” said Mr Dey. “This is such a massive opportunity for the community to do something unique. We are already eyeing up a number of walls that have artistic potential.”