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Memory Pool, Compton Hospice (detail)

She aims to "transport the viewer into a surreal, yet beautiful world that is enriched with colour and detail". But Rebecca Cresswell's art is not just about the act of putting brush to canvas.

Rebecca, 28, from Tettenhall in Wolverhampton, has been painting since she was six years old. She studied art at school, and has a degree in Illustration from the University of Wolverhampton. For part of the week she has a job as a learning assistant at the City of Wolverhampton College, but outside of the college she's a  professional artist.

After ten years of exhibiting and selling her paintings to high profile corporate clients, Rebecca found her niche when researching public art in 2006.

Rebecca's painting of West Park, W'ton

Rebecca: “I read a lot of articles looking at how therapeutic art can be used in clinical settings – evidence shows it’s good to have something nice to look at on the walls”.

Her research led to a commission for a painting to hang in a hospital maternity unit in Bromley, Kent. From that point, Rebecca has received a steady stream of commissions for artwork to hang in hospitals, hospices and other healthcare facilities.

As well as The Princess Royal University Hospital in Kent, her work hangs on the walls of St Mary's Hospital in London, Primrose Hospice in Bromsgrove, Compton Hospice in Wolverhampton, West Park Hospital in Wolverhampton and the New Health Centre, Birmingham. Each painting takes on average two months to complete - depending on size and complexity.

Art as therapy

But Rebecca's art is not just about the application of paint, her work often evolves from and revolves around the people who will live with her art - the patients, families, and healthcare facility's staff.

Memoryscape, at Compton Hospice (detail)

For example, the four large artworks installed at Compton Hospice are filled with ideas and suggestions from the patients and staff. Rebecca held five arts activity workshops to get them involved in the designs.

'Memory Pool' (shown above on this page) depicts their favourite and fondest recollections.

"If you look closely you can see a beautiful sunset over Jamaican landscape complete with Mango trees, and the enchanting coast of Wexford in Ireland. Can you spot the ‘forget me not' flowers and the ‘four leaf clovers' that are supposed to bring good luck? Also visible is the much loved seaside of Brighton and Hove, the Devon coastline, the dam at Lake Vyrnwy in Wales, the picturesque valleys and mountains of the Lake District in Cumbria which also includes a waterfall..." writes Rebecca on her website.

The benefits of getting the viewer involved with her art are huge, she says. She believes that the workshops are therapeutic, cathartic, and that the finished paintings give staff and long-term patients a sense of ownership of their surroundings.

She wants her art to "give people an escape, tranquility and peace - to make their environment a little bit more uplifting".

Butterfly Field, at Compton Hospice

Moving on

Although still working at the City of Wolverhampton College, if the commissions continue, Rebecca believes she could be in a position to become a full-time professional artist in six months. She has begun to collaborate with glass artist Sue Hope and is looking to move to a larger studio space within Wolverhampton.

Commissions in the pipeline include St Michaels Hospice in Hastings, Sussex and Birmingham Children’s Hospitals, and she is also hoping to work alongside Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.

"I like working with people, I always wanted to give something back - it's so rewarding" says Rebecca.

"I'm really excited about the future".

Text by Ciarán Ryan