When Leigh Warman was growing up, his mother Betty always insisted on one thing. “She’d tell me to draw on the walls all the time. She’d say, paint something for me, cheer me up. I loved art, so I did, I painted everything I could think of, I let my imagination run wild,“ the 49-year-old from Bushey explains.

“Even as a teenager I’d paint on the walls. In fact, I remember my sister Vivienne going on holiday, and, as a joke, I thought I’d paint a Peter Pan mural all over her bedroom.

“The joke was on me in the end, she loved it so much, she kept it for about ten years.“ From those early beginnings, Leigh has turned what was once a hobby into a way of life.

After graduating from a photography and graphic art design course at art college, he headed over to America to train as an animator with Walt Disney, a decision which, he says, did not work out.

Persuaded by Vivienne on his return to turn his creative talents to painting murals on the wall of children’s hospital wards, Leigh has, to date, painted the corridors and treatment rooms of some 50 hospitals – all for free.

And whereas most artists would use canvases and oil or acrylic paint, Leigh’s art materials consist of matt emulsion and blank walls.

When I catch up with him, he’s applying the finishing touches to two new murals in the children’s A & E at Watford General Hospital.

There’s a shopping trolley full of paint in the room.

“I can’t describe the feeling it gives me painting the murals. When children go into hospital it must be daunting, it must be terrifying.

“I like to think that my wall paintings distract them from what’s going on.

“Blank walls are depressing, hospitals are depressing, but if I can try and make a bad situation better, then it’s all worthwhile.

“I’ve seen kids walk into a treatment room when I’ve finished painting and their eyes widen in wonder, they get so excited. It really is a great feeling knowing you may have gone some way to making someone feel better.“ Following his first commission, at Barnet General Hospital, Leigh was approached by staff from Watford General Hospital to paint the facility’s new special care baby unit.

His work so impressed the hospital authorities that he was presented to the Duchess of Gloucester when she came to perform the official opening.

Since then he’s returned to the facility a number of times, at first to transform the walls and ceiling of a 150ft corridor under the hospital, which young patients had to pass through on their way from the ward to the operating theatre, and again to decorate the entrance to the children’s A & E with a circus theme.

He’s also garnered something of a celebrity following – few artists could boast painting garden scenes in Lionel Blair’s kitchen, and Phil Collins agreed to stump up the cash to pay for Leigh to paint a stairwell at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Work on his latest artistic endeavours, the two children’s treatment rooms at the hospital – one themed on popular character Peppa Pig and everyone’s favourite dysfunctional family The Simpsons - commenced in March.

Today (Friday, July 19), Olympian Anthony Joshua will visit the ward in celebration of the completed works.

“The staff tell me what they think patients will like and I just paint it,“ explains Harlesden-born Leigh, dragging his brush against the wall.

“Cartoon figures and animals are always really popular, a few years ago it was Ninja Turtles this, Ninja Turtles that, now it’s Peppa Pig, Madagascar and The Simpsons. I didn’t even know who Peppa Pig was at first, but the kids go mad for her!

“It’s taken a lot longer to complete than I originally thought it would, I’ve been coming here at night, during the day, whenever it’s been quiet to be honest.

“I thought it was great to be asked to come back to Watford General, especially as it’s my local hospital, the work the staff does here is unbelievable, it’s a brilliant place.

“I do all the work for free as I’m supported by companies. This year Dulux has donated the paint and Watford Marks & Spencer has sponsored me.

“And I’ve no plans to stop painting, there’s a few more rooms I’m going to work on. If people want me to carry on decorating hospital walls I will. I’ll even do some for the adults if they want.

“Hospitals don’t need to be made even gloomier by magnolia paint. We can all do with a bit of brightness and a dash of colour in our lives.“

  • To find out more about Leigh or to sponsor his next hospital project visit: www.leigh-art.com