Squirl 'Growth' Original Available

Artist: Squirl
Title: Growth
Medium: Framed Acrylic, Aerosol and Oil Pastel on Wood
Size: 62 x 62 cm
Edition: UNIQUE
Price: £300

 

Squirl is the working alias of artist Greg Stobbs, a British illustrator, muralist and street artist based in Canterbury. Born into an illustration dynasty his parents are the celebrated children’s book illustrators Joanna and William Stobbs he grew up surrounded by pens, paper and the smell of gouache, an environment that taught him to treat every surface as a potential story.

Stobbs began his creative life scaling walls and painting under the name Squirl, a nod to his habit of darting around urban sites like the nimble creature itself. His street pieces combine bold, black aerosol outlines with flat, candy-coloured fills, often depicting wide-eyed characters, swirling typography and playful nods to skate culture. Working without stencils, he lets drips and overspray remain, believing these raw marks record the energy of the moment and the sound of the city.

Inside the studio he shifts focus to illustration, creating magical picture-book worlds that bridge fine art and narrative design. Using ink, watercolour and digital layering, he crafts spreads where towering trees wear sneakers and small children ride comets across starlit skies. Recent titles include Don’t Ask the Dragon (Canongate, 2022) and What the Crow Saw Below (Oxford University Press, 2024), both praised for their warm palette and lyrical sense of wonder.

Whether painting a cathedral cloister in York, a post-apocalyptic skate park in Sweden, or a humble book page, Stobbs approaches each surface with the same goal: spark curiosity, spread colour and remind viewers that stories can blossom anywhere imagination takes root.