Shops get mural makeover for Newcastle vs Man Utd Carabao Cup final

Illustrator and mural artist, Stacey Hogarth, 28, from Horden, began painting alongside her mentor and popular mural artist Andy Morley, owner of Creative Ginger, after leaving college.

The 28-year-old, who studied at the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool, has been adorning shops, homes, and pubs with murals in anticipation of Newcastle United's upcoming cup final tie with Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on Sunday (February 26) with Mr Morley since the beginning of February.

Various shopfronts have had their windows decorated with murals depicting the club's mascot, Monty Magpie, along with rallying chants sung by supporters at games.

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Stacey Hogarth (Image: Andy Morley/Creative Ginger)

Speaking on the work, her efforts to become a professional artist, and what's it been like for her, she said: "It's amazing, I went through life constantly drawing, I've always drawn.

"I've known how hard it was to get into a career of art, even our lecturers in college told us nine-out-of-ten of you won't continue with art and the class must have had less than 30 people in [it].

"It was a bit of a shock when [they] said that. It just feels so good to do what you love for a living.

"There's been quite a lot of houses wanting the murals, for bedrooms and front windows, we try to fit in as many as we can, there's [also] a lot of commercial businesses which want them as well.

"I've done a few bars, I drive through North Shields now and I say 'Oh, I've done that window, I've done that window,' it's great."

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The Three Stories in Peterlee (Image: Stacey Hogarth)

So far, the duo have painted murals on businesses such as The Three Stories in Peterlee, The Ballarat in North Shields, a florist in Newcastle, and even put one up for Wilkinsons.

Ms Hogarth said, as an artist, she is always "self-critical" but the "really nice" reception from residents has left her more confident.

She said she has even received some positive feedback from Sunderland supporters regarding her work, despite the long-standing rivalry between the two clubs.

Adding to this, she said she was aware she might be the subject of online 'trolling' considering the rivalry, and said there were a couple of "unsavoury comments" but she laughed them off.

She said most of their recent business has come from painting windows for the final, with Monty Magpie being by far the most requested.

Speaking on her working relationship with Mr Morley, she said she started working with him approximately one-and-a-half years ago.

She said: "I never thought this is what I would be doing, I've always done digital art on my iPad, it was a big jump going from digital art to spray painting and drawing on windows.

She said working with Mr Morley had been great, and she had been buoyed by the feedback he had given her.

She joked she has drawn the mascot so many times she could probably do it with her eyes closed.

She said she runs her own business, WuffStuff Illustration, but said she most often works with Creative Ginger.

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"My dad's a Sunderland supporter, so you can imagine his face when I said oh I am going around painting Newcastle murals," Ms Hogarth added.

"My boyfriend supports Newcastle as well, so he already said where did I go wrong."

Here are some of the pictures of murals the two have painted in the North East:

The Tipsy Cow in Newcastle (Image: Stacey Hogarth)

Mural of Monty Magpie (Image: Stacey Hogarth)