MUM-of-two Nicki Bain spends her days with Spiderman and Scooby Doo, storks and seascapes – but they are all helping her to brush up on her great love.

MUM-of-two Nicki Bain spends her days with Spiderman and Scooby Doo, storks and seascapes - but they are all helping her to brush up on her great love.

For Mrs Bain is a muralist who likes nothing better than to transform a bedroom or lounge with a huge picture that will mean something special to the owners.

And today a new baby unit at a day nursery in Trimley St Mary is benefiting from her talents.

She said: "I just love painting and murals are something different because they can be big and colourful and such fun."

The one at the Tiddlywinks nursery in High Road is her first outdoor work.

"The owners of the nursery said they wanted it baby-orientated and for it to cheer up the area and left it completely to me to decide what to do," said Mrs Bain, 39, of Quilter Road, Felixstowe.

"It was a bit different working outside and I had to contend with a few spots of rain and it was a bit chilly, but it was lovely to do."

Staff at the nursery are thrilled with the huge stork delivering its precious parcel, the colourful pram and baby bricks, kite and huge blue sky, which took three days to paint.

Mrs Bain's other work has all been indoors - mostly for children's bedrooms and playrooms, including a life-size Harry Potter, Disney characters, Mosquito aeroplane, a seascape with lighthouse and rock pools, and ceiling covered in planets, rockets and stars.

She also painted a large wall in the music therapy room of the St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich.

Mrs Bain - who has children Claudia, seven, and Jordan, four, and is married to Steve, an insurance broker - studied at Ipswich Art School and the University of Central England in Birmingham.

She said: "When I left college I went to work as a jewellery technician and was able to use some of my arts studies. Then I moved back to Felixstowe and got myself a mortgage and sadly had to do other work that didn't involve the arts.

"It was a bit frustrating because I love painting and the creativity involved.

"After I painted a mural in my daughter's room, family and friends said it was really good and encouraged me to see if I could do others.

"It's lovely because I can fit in the work with my children's needs, and it means I get to paint, do research and use my imagination."

n Have you managed to turn your hobby into a job? Write to us at Your Letters, Evening Star, Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or email eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk

n.People interested in murals can contact Nicki Bain on 01394 278679.