Rogerstone artist Shaun Ray in Nevill Hall Hospital exhibit

Shaun Ray specialises in "musicpainting", interpreting music on canvas in his striking compositions.

The Rogerstone-born artist has spent years working with dementia patients in musicpainting workshops at community hospitals around South East Wales.

For his latest project, his own work will be displayed at Nevill Hall Hospital, in Abergavenny, and focuses on the wellbeing of the artist and the audience.

Mr Ray said he hopes his large, abstract creations will "invite the viewer to engage with vibrant, bold expressions of shape, colour and pattern which evoke rhythm, sound and emotions and enable the perception of ‘hearing the colour’ and ‘seeing the music’ as the forms sing from the canvas".

One of Shaun Ray's abstract musicpainting compositions. (Image: Shaun Ray)

"The purpose is to entertain, improve the mood and lift the spirits of the service users and the health professionals challenged with providing care," he added.

"I think of them as songs, put together in an album," he said of his latest work. "They're big, bold, and in your face. The sort of artwork to put a smile on your face."

Mr Ray continues to live and work in Gwent, and said he "cares deeply that Aneurin Bevan hospitals are the best that they can be".

Artwork from one of Shaun Ray's musicpainting classes. (Image: Shaun Ray)

He plans to offer a permanent collection of his work to the health board's new chief executive "so that appropriate spaces within hospitals can be transformed to improve the sense of wellbeing for all".

"I want my work to challenge people, for better or worse [so that patients] aren't thinking about their appointments, the are distracted," he added.

The exhibition will be hosted at Nevill Hall's main outpatients department and has been organised by Gwent Arts in health (Garth). It runs from November 3 until January 2023.