An artist says he is delighted about being able to give back to the Warwick community after painting a mural for his local sports club PHC.

Trovaughn Smith, 29, who was born and raised on Stadium Lane at the back of PHC field, says he could not say no when asked to paint a giant mural on the walls of the grounds, set to reopen on September 27.

He told The Royal Gazette: “I was asked by the PHC president Johnny Ball to do the mural.

“Because my friend Mikey O’Brian has been a big PHC fan all his life, he asked Johnny if I could put something nice on the wall since they painted it all white. He thought that it would be something nice to look at every day.

“I had kind of a rough time growing up. I was just trying to get to the money all of the time, been to jail, been there and done all that type of stuff. That experience helped me change my lifestyle and showed me that I needed to slow down and that I was moving too fast. The art helped me to change who I once was, helped to keep me occupied.

“It’s in me, so I had to have somebody to help me bring it out of me and that was Mikey.”

Mr Smith said that PHC has helped him to change his lifestyle and that this is his way of giving back.

The start of the mural is painted in the club colours of black and white. It was all done freehand with a spray gun that he would normally use to spray cars.

“You just put the paint in the gun and I used regular black exterior paint. I’m going to paint the whole wall, I’m just waiting on the president to tell me what else he wants to put on it.

He said that he has been drawing since the age of five and now has a career in spraying cars, boats and bikes, while also making kites and airbrushed T-shirts.

“I’d like to see the Warwick community be a better environment, which is why I decided to do it,” he said. “Only God knows what will come from this, whether it be more jobs or commissions. I just live.

“I figure that the inside of the wall would be done as well because we might as well do it full fledge. All we need now is a club on the field.

“It’s a big canvas, I need to fill all of the spots. It’ll look nice in the end.”

Mr Ball said: “This project has been a year in the making and is being used to beautify the area.

“We wanted to get local artists involved but Trovaughn stepped up to the plate and it worked perfectly being that he is from Warwick.

“I think it’s a sense of pride that we needed as an element to the area — it looks much better so we’re happy. It’s a stepping stone for more things to come. Trovaughn is a very talented artist and this is really positive for the area.”

Mr Ball said that the club has many ideas of what they want to do with the grounds and that the public should look out for additional developments. Their objective is to get the whole Warwick community involved in the project, including the schools in the area.