Budding artists are being urged to think big when a special two-day still life workshop for all ages is held at Shrewsbury’s busy Pride Hill Shopping Centre during half-term.

Giant rolls of paper and lots of pots of paint will be waiting for everyone on Wednesday and Thursday, February 19 and 20, from 11am to 4pm, at the workshops on the lower level of the centre.

The man in charge will be local artist Chris Wright who said: “I’m going to try and do something really big here and encourage everyone to draw and paint some big subjects.

“I will have plenty of things here in the room they can use as subjects and it should be a lot of fun and there’s going to be a Spring theme with flowers and sunshine, just the thing for people to look forward to.

“We want it to be something people can do as a family and it’s often the children who take the lead, showing their parents what to do and encouraging them, and that’s what we want to see.

“Afterwards we hope to put the work on show in the shopping centre which will be nice and then the artists can take their work home afterwards.”

Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “The shopping centres are very much part of the community here in Shrewsbury and we like to play our part by providing activities and events, particularly during school half term.

“Chris is a very talented artist and I’m sure he can coax some interesting and colourful works of art out of our shoppers.”

Chris, 37, from Newport, in Shropshire, studied art at Telford College and then took a BA degree in Sculpture at Newcastle University and worked there before returning to Shropshire.

He used to run the Shomi Gallery in the town but gave it up recently to spend more time with his young family – he and his wife, Sarah, have two young daughters – but still gives art classes as well as working in a hotel.