From Global Fame to Weston Wallz: Dale Grimshaw is drawn to paint
17th July 2025
The perfectionist behind the works of art
Dale Grimshaw is one of Europe’s top street artists - a perfectionist whose powerful, murals have earned him international acclaim. His studio work has been bought by celebrities and collectors, but right now, he’s nervous - nervous about painting a wall in Weston-super-Mare.
Grimshaw is one of the headline names at this year’s Weston Wallz Street Art Festival, where he’ll transform a wall at Otium, on Carlton Street, into something unforgettable. But for all his global experience, the pressure never really fades.
Pressure in a spray can
“When I get off the train, I go straight to the wall,” he says. “I take a photo of it and that’s when the stress ramps up. I think of what could go wrong. The weather, the texture of the wall. I think, ‘I don’t have to go through with this. I could escape and go back home on the train.”
Despite his reputation - and the breathtaking murals he’s painted across Europe and beyond - the stress always kicks in. “The longer the wall stays empty, the higher the stress,” he says. “I only relax when things start to take shape.”
But he never backs out. Because for Dale Grimshaw, art isn’t just work - it’s survival. It’s his passion and it’s his buzz.
Art has been my best friend
“Art has been my best friend. It’s my safety blanket,” he says. “I’m happiest working alone in my studio, but murals are different - they’re big, and they’re so public.”
His murals — often fierce, striking portraits of Indigenous people from Papua New Guinea or West Papua - are known for blending photorealism with tribal patterns, bold colours, and political themes. They stop you in your tracks. They demand attention. They are, unmistakably, Grimshaw.
Painting a mural is like hosting a dinner party
He likens the act of creating street art – out in a public space – to cooking for a dinner party. A dish made at home for your partner or family is relaxed, joyful. But a dinner party? That’s pressure – until everyone’s sitting down and raving about the food.
To stay calm, Dale plans everything. His Weston design has already been finessed over long hours in Photoshop. He’ll arrive with printed reference sheets in waterproof sleeves, back-ups on his phone, and detailed wall measurements.
“I’d love to be more spontaneous,” he says, “but it’s too stressful. I control what I can. The more I know in advance, the more chill I can be when I get there.”
From the bus to Berlin and beyond
He started tagging aged ten, nicking marker pens from Woolworths and scrawling across bus shelters and walls around Accrington and Blackburn where he grew up. “I wanted to be famous,” he says. “I wanted people to know I existed.”
Born with three thumbs, his primary school and teenage years were full of contradictions. He was expelled from school, spent some time in a care home – but spent hours engrossed in the local library studying art books to the amusement of the librarians. The paradox continued. While he was daubing bus shelters around town, he also painted beautiful pictures for his gran.
“I got into glue sniffing quite badly,” he says, candidly.
Art was the lifeline that pulled him back from the edge.
“It saved me. If I was angry or upset, I’d draw. Creativity was my escape. My happy place. I owe it everything. Art has always been my escape. My coping mechanism.”
Drawn to perfection
Today, even with murals towering over streets around the world, he still puts huge pressure on himself.
“Every wall has to be the best I’ve ever done. There’s always that little voice - what if people think this one’s rubbish?” But once the paint flows, so does the magic.
He rarely has a say on which wall he will be painting. And that brings challenges and stresses. Some walls paint easier than others, some have a texture that makes it much harder and more time consuming delivering the added pressure of having to complete it on time. And then there’s the weather. Wet days are not a street artist’s friend. He said: “ I start to catastrophise what could go wrong,” such is the perfectionist in him.
Getting his eye in
“I start by rolling the wall to block it in, then I’ll get the face put in – particularly the eyes as they will anchor the rest of the face and so on. I’ll do the detail work with a spray can and the other more energetic elements with a brush. When the wall’s going well, you feel alive. It’s like performing live, like being a musician or sportsperson. You get that rush, that bit of adoration. And that’s a buzz.”
A big mural can take him five to seven days to complete. The days can be long, sometimes nine to 11 hours long. “It can be quite physically demanding but at the same time you feel the most alive.”
We don’t want to spoil the surprise, or give too much away, but Dale’s Weston mural is going to be ‘very green – a nod to nature capturing the beauty and importance of going back to the land.’
This summer, Weston Wallz festival-goers in Weston-super-Mare can witness that magic for themselves - watching Dale and other world-class artists bring beauty, creativity, and power to buildings right here by the sea.
As for that ten-year-old Lancashire tagger who just wanted to be seen - he’s more than fulfilled the brief.
Weston Wallz
Weston Wallz 2025 takes place from July 19 to July 27 and brings together top street artists who will be painting the town red - and several other colours - bringing buildings to life with magnificent murals. The festival also includes workshops, a Spray Jam in the town centre's Italian Gardens where, over one weekend, giant canvasses will be brought to life. Click here to find the map of all the new Weston street art that will be created in 2025 and also the exisiting murals from previous Weston Walz festivals.
