A KINVER holistic therapist has paid tribute following the death of an internationally acclaimed street artist who painted her eye-catching practice frontage.

Artist Simon Hush painted the much-talked about front of High Street-based AuraVeda earlier this year, but owner Suzanne Taylor said she was shocked to discover the young artist had since passed away.

She said: “He was a brilliant artist and a lovely person. It is such a sad loss.

“Simon has signed the artwork at our practice, so I hope it serves as an ongoing tribute in his memory.”

Growing up in Letchworth, Simon, who latterly lived in Cambridge, leaves behind a wife and three children.

He started work with the Digital Graffiti Crew, and was eventually invited to join international company The Fruits of Doom based in Germany where his work was written into books, magazines and used on TV.

Just a week before he completed the work on AuraVeda he was commissioned to work in Canary Wharf.

Suzanne said: “When I contacted him to ask him to do some work for us, I never knew how big a name he was.

“It was a brilliant design he was able to come up with after I told him the kind of things we do here.

“It has really brightened up Kinver and I have had so many people come into the shop and said they wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for Simon’s art.

“One person came in and said they used to work in the building, but they love how really different it is now.”

The artwork has caused controversy in the town centre, with Kinver Online stating that it raised some eyebrows with the parish council, the planning officer and some residents who feel it “looks out of place and not in keeping with a conservation area”.

The website held a vote on whether the bold new frontage brings a “sense of light and joy” to the village, or whether it should be reverted back to a plain wall “in keeping with how holistic healing shops used to look way back in the 16th century”. Opinions in the poll have been split.

Suzanne added: “99 per cent of people who have spoken to me about it have loved it.

“There are always going to be people who don’t like change and don’t want to move with the times, but the majority of those I’ve spoken to love it.”