Meet the professional Essex mural artist who started in the pandemic

Juliet Townsend, 46, is from Colne Engaine near Halstead, studied art at GCSE level and developed her artistic skills later in life.

During the pandemic, she started painting different murals on the village pub’s Five Bell’s window.

She said: “People walked past every Monday to see what I painted next.”

Juliet had three careers before she started mural painting.

She said: “The most formative was 10 years in a brand consultancy in London.

“That was really focused and means I mainly work with businesses as I understand what works with a business.

“It is less about what sells and more about what helps people to feel warm inside about the business.”

Professional – Juliet Townsend seen while painting the Southend City Jam mural this year (Image: Sean Buckley) Juliet decided to focus full-time on murals in 2021, saying though there are several other mural artists in Essex most of them have other employment.

Recent paid works include the mural for BBC’s Radio 2 in the Park in Chelmsford and the Visit Southend mural. She also worked on a summer display for Maldon Books as well as Colchester’s Owen Aves opticians Scrooge mural for Christmas last year.

When asked about her favourite, Juliet says it is “always the last thing I have done”.

Musical – The Southend City Jam mural (Image: Submitted) When asked if she has creative freedom, Juliet said sometimes she continues the discussion with business owners to find the best approach.

Other times she copies a specific design such as for Colchester’s Red Lion Books, which was to celebrate a book launch.

Juliet uses non-specialist paint and though she has taken some workshops, she has developed through “play and practice”.

She said: “It is a really accessible medium but what isn’t necessarily accessible is the patience and will to get really good at it, that’s the bit there’s no shortcut.

“If someone wanted to learn to how to do this, they would have do it on their own windows.”

Enjoyable – Juliet said she enjoyed working with Maldon Books (Image: Submitted) Commissioned – This window art on The Range in Chelmsford was commissioned by Chelmsford For You and Chelmsford City Council to welcome BBC2 In The Park to Chelmsford (Image: Submitted) Despite requests for homes, Juliet chooses to paint primarily for businesses as she wants to support them at a difficult time.

She said: “People get in touch with me for different reasons, not everybody necessarily considers what I do as marketing, not everybody is thinking about it like that.

“I am thinking about how best to market them as a window which is a free billboard”.

Juliet is also commissioned for charity work, with most recently the Chelmsford Ladies Circle offering a paid commission to paint a bereavement room in Broomfield Hospital.

As a former circle member, Juliet turned down the money but accepted the gig saying it was very important to paint the “room where very sad news is broken”.

The Christmas window season is also the busiest time of the year for Juliet, which for her starts in mid-October.

As part of this, Juliet is looking forward to spending five days painting a hotel in Stoke-by-Nayland by the Essex-Suffolk border.

She added: “I like to help businesses show their fun and quirky side and their humanity”.

To find out more visit https://www.juliettownsend.co.uk/.