Head Gardener at St George's Hospital earns spot on iconic Tooting artwork

St George's Head Gardener, John Greco, has been given his own spot on a popular Tooting artwork by London artist Ben Poultney.

Ben – also known as Draw my Town – is an illustrator and cartoonist who creates illustrations of UK towns and places.

After seeing the fantastic work that John and the gardening team have been doing at St George's, Ben decided he deserved a place in his Tooting illustration.

"I drew my Tooting artwork over a year ago, and my digital artwork is always changing and being updated so I thought it was time for a few new additions," said Ben.

"I have really enjoyed seeing photos of the gardens on John's and St George's social media pages.

"John and his team do such valuable work that it was obvious for me who was going to be next."

John said: "I was completely taken aback when Ben got in touch! It's such a fantastic thing to be a part of, and something I will have forever to remember my time and work at St George's."

Ben added: "Of course the doctors, nurses and all other healthcare workers are the real superheroes, but I'm an artist, so for me it's the beauty of the natural world that resonates with me more than anything else.

"And people like John create slightly more beauty in the world than there was before, and for that he deserves his own spot. The net amount of colour and nature has increased by him doing his job, so again – it gets my applause.

"Everyone in the artwork is a real local resident, or based on someone I've seen around Tooting – even the cats are real pets. On my website my customers can choose to have themselves or a loved one drawn in, so they send me their photos and I do the rest!

"For February I'm offering free personalisation on all my prints. Simply choose one of my artworks and I'll draw a person of your choice for free.

"Additionally I've turned my entire archive of artwork into black and white colouring-in prints for people to print and colour in at home during lockdown – including my Tooting design.

"Simply head to my website and download as many copies as you like for free."

To see more of Ben's prints or to download your own to colour in, visit Ben's website.

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