Breast Cancer Survivors
Annie Newman, mural artist to the stars
Mural artist Annie Newman has a free spirit but you know
she’s got a feisty side because she’s a warrior who has won the battle against
the big C.
“I discovered I had breast cancer in my early 40s which spread
to my ovaries,” says Newman, 45. “As a woman, it affects how you think and
makes you feel hopeless.”
She speaks in a soft and modulated tone, with an accent that
wavers between British and Malaysian, the result of living in the former and
born and raised in the latter. Today she’s completely cured and counts
meditation and long walks with her beloved dog as her post-cancer recovery.
“You have to have a little bit of luck in life,” muses Newman.
“I had a call one day out of the blue and a lady on the phone said her daughter
wanted to have a mural done in her home.
“I asked the lovely lady on the phone for her daughter’s name
and she said Victoria Beckham. I laughed and thought it was a friend playing a
trick on me and nearly put the phone down!”
Luckily, Newman didn’t hang up because it was a genuine call.
She ended up decorating Brooklyn and Romeo’s bedrooms in the Beckhams’ palatial
mansion in Buckinghamshire as well as their home in France.
Apart from the Beckhams, Newman has had other high-profile and
celebrity clients; among them, she worked on the Jimmy Choo Couture boutique in
London.
Newman was born in Miri, Sarawak and left for Britain at the age
of 11 to study in a convent in Devon. She later studied law but never opened
another law book after graduation. That’s because she dived into mural art after
a short stint as personal assistant to a Middle Eastern princess who was
décor-challenged.
“She had trouble matching the blinds in her house to the wall
paper and I volunteered to help out,” explains Newman. She traced some magnolia
blossom motifs onto the blinds and painted them with fabric paint and voilà!
On what inspires her as an artist, Newman answers: “I think your
soul has to resonate with your client’s soul. Everyone has a different concept
of art – some artists are quite dark but I like light and happiness.”
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