Have you ever wondered who makes those amazing puppets for Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and the models for Chicken Run?

Take a walk up Chepstow high street and look in the window of Chepstow Creates and you will see one such (unassumingly famous) artist.

Graham Maiden has worked all over the world in studios from LA (Mars Attacks) to London (The Corpse Bride) and has now landed in Chepstow.

"It can be quite isolating working in animation. We congregate from all over the world in a small studio and once the work is done we disperse off to other jobs."

"I had friends living in Chepstow and I love that everyone is interested in each other and it's such a friendly community."

Graham is the artist in residence at Chepstow Creates and you can normally see him painting away in the window, utilising the excellent light. It is rare that you can watch an artist of this calibre at work.

"It's great to see someone doing painting in a shop. Every time you walk past there is something new and you can watch things develop," said a passer by.

Graham has predominantly been a model maker in the past, "I love creating things. Papier mache, bits of rubbish. I grew up in the heyday of Blue Peter making amazing things from egg boxes. I suppose I just took it a step further."

Now though, Graham, after years of modelmaking, is turning his hand back to painting.

"I went to art college and did a lot of drawing so I'm not new to it but I was so busy doing other things that I haven't been painting for years."

Graham is inspired by the earth, "My mum was a potato picker and I'm really into the myths and legends surrounding the land."

"I have been working on the Green Man imagery recently but the picture in the shop window at the moment was inspired by a dream about serenity."

Graham is inspired by medieval art, "I love that there were no rules. The colours and styles were mixed up. Sizes and perspective were abandoned. You could just do what you want."

Graham is taking comissions and has recently undertaken murals in Pie Corner and The Anchor in Tintern.

See Graham and his work in Chepstow Creates at the top of the high street.