A graffiti artist has created a huge mural overlooking Aberdeen Beach, featuring a bright blue mermaid and fearsome kraken.
Chris Webster, better known as his artistic alter-ego Reckless, sprayed the colourful creation beneath the promenade over the course of three days.
Setting his spray can aside for a moment as it neared completion, he told me that the design was based on “old fishermen’s tales”.
And the artist also wanted to pay homage to “Aberdeen Beach over the years” with the mural.
He explained: “We have the wind turbines, the oil rigs all the way to the fishing boats and the lighthouse.
“To reflect what it’s like today, we will have a shout-out to the Surf School, and the Beach Ballroom features.”
Watch as Reckless paints the mermaid on the Aberdeen Beach graffiti mural:
Charity helped with graffiti mural at Aberdeen Beach
Reckless has undertaken the scheme in the open space between the two toilet blocks with the Aberdeen Foyer charity.
Youngsters prepared a “blank canvas” for him by daubing the walls white before he started work.
It has been capped off with a poem from Doric scribe Jo Gilbert, sprayed over a section of black paint.
The poem invites visitors to “bide a filey” at the seaside “nae metter the wither”.
Finished! Props tae @recklessgraffiti for his incredible artwirk an spray paintin (freehand btw) ma poem 😎😁 cheers tae Nicky Donelan fae @aberdeenfoyer an @AberdeenCC for organisin 😎 it looks ACE min 😁 pic.twitter.com/Opps6TO34d
— 🖋Jo Gilbert 📙 (@mucklewriting) August 20, 2022
The artwork has already been attracting admirers, with Reckless joking that he could have finished it much earlier had he not stopped to chat with so many intrigued passersby.
But the 29-year-old dad-of-two is grateful for the “beautiful couple of days” he has had to complete the project.
After finishing the project on Saturday morning, Reckless darted off to appointments in Dundee and at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Will you be visiting Aberdeen Beach to glimpse the artwork? Let us know in our comments section
Last summer, Aberdeen Foyer gave a Victorian shelter nearby a Pride-themed makeover.
And you can read about another of Reckless’s projects here:
Watch timelapse of amazing Charlie House mural being painted at Bon Accord Centre
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