N ARTIST from Ebbw Vale has spent his time in lockdown creating an amazing piece of artwork dedicated to frontline NHS staff battling the coronavirus pandemic.

Nathan Wyburn, who is well-known around south Wales for his weird and wonderful creations, including Simon Cowell on toast and Michael McIntyre with marmite, revealed his latest piece on Sunday.

South Wales Argus:

The artwork shows an NHS worker with a protective face mask, and is made up of 200 NHS workers’ Facebook pictures.

Asked about what prompted him to design the work, Mr Wyburn explained: “Most of my friends work in the NHS and are on the front line of this pandemic every day – I’m always in awe.

"I’ve also always felt the need to portray things of the time, to visually make a memory to look back and remember events or moments.

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“I usually do light-hearted pieces, but I knew I had to do something to mark the Covid 19 era.”

Mr Wyburn has received a fantastic response on social media, and has been taken by surprise with the praise.

South Wales Argus:

Nathan Wyburn

“The messages and shares I’ve been having are overwhelming, but it really does go to show the amount of respect for our NHS heroes,” he said.

After asking for pictures of NHS staff, Mr Wyburn made the collage before digitally overlaying the images due to colour and tone, in order to create an image of the nurse wearing the protective mask.

The artwork took about four hours to complete, and Mr Wyburn now has plans to display it somewhere prominent to say “thank you”.

"I’m a proud patron for the Cardiff & Vale health charity and we are currently in talks with what we can do with it," he added.