Chesterfield artist who drew on her bedroom walls as a child paints stunning Sheffield mural

Elle Koziupa has painted around 200 murals in the last two years, with her most recent now up for a limited time on London Road, in Sheffield.

The 20-year-old, in her third year as an apprentice artist, said despite doing many works this one ticks off a lot of ‘firsts’.

Elle said: “I feel amazing. It is a massive wall, all designed by myself. It is the first time I have painted that wall, and my first one in Sheffield.

“Normally I paint on tiny canvases, but this one, it is big. It is something I am really proud of. It is silly, but I used to paint on my walls as a kid, which my mum would go mad at.

“I would always draw little people behind the door, where she couldn’t see!”

Elle, who is from Chesterfield and went to Brookfield Community School, based the temporary, spray-painted portrait of Joan of Arc on her sister.

She said: “I really enjoyed the research into the Renaissance era, the composition, and how she is just lit by candlelight. I had the freedom to decide how to do it. This portrait is of my sister, because I wanted it to be personal.

“I always used to paint for my mum when I was little, so it feels like giving back.”

Incredibly, the mural took just five days – one day over its scheduled four, due to torrential rain during which Elle got stuck up a crane for two hours.

“It was horrible! I thought I had a waterproof jacket but it turned out it was only water resistant. I’m not scared of heights, luckily,” she said.

Elle is an apprentice artist at Global Street Art, which is an advertising company that reinvests profits from hand-painted adverts into community art initiatives like this one.

She said: “It’s my first time doing an artwork for Global Street Art. It is such a supportive group of people.

“I feel I can kind of relate to her story a bit. The mural industry is a very male-dominated scene, and in her story, she led a very male-dominated area as well. But I am still going to be me, and be the best I can.

“Sometimes I would doubt myself, but I have got such a good support system there, I never feel like that anymore.”

So far, and even before finishing the project on Friday, Elle has had nothing but positive feedback.

She said: “When I was working, people were walking on the street and shouting ‘that’s amazing’ out of their cars. It makes you want to keep going. It is a temporary installation – if you want to see it I would say pop down as soon as you can. It could be two weeks, it could be six months.”

The artwork, which can be see on the side of the building at 66 London Road, in Sheffield, will only be there for a limited time.