A CELEBRATION of everyday beauty is the inspiration behind an art commission coming to Jaywick Sands.

Artists Sophie Mellor and Simon Poulter, who go by the name Close and Remote, will start the Days Like These project in September.

The duo were chosen after an open call for artists wishing to explore diversity through their work.

Close and Remote is the first place-based artist commission selected by the Essex Cultural Diversity Project.

Sophie, who sees Jaywick as a multi-faceted area surrounded by beautiful coastline, said: "A lot of the perception people get of Jaywick is through the internet.

"You Google Jaywick Sands and immediately Benefits by the Sea comes up and it's all quite negative.

"So one of the reasons of doing this virtual reality project is so we use something called A-frame, which is an open source software attachment for showing 360 work.

"Instead of having a separate app, you actually have it in your web browser so it will go into Google's search engine so the more people who look at this piece of work, the more positive images of Jaywick will go higher up the search engine so in a way it's to disrupt that digital negativity of Jaywick."

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An example of how watercolours can be manipulated to be 3D

Close and Remote will create a series of 360 degree watercolours of Jaywick Sands with residents, which will then be turned into a virtual reality watercolour tour of the area.

It will also incorporate a soundtrack, produced by residents using atmospheric sounds.

The paintings and the VR experience will form part of a final exhibition at Jaywick Martello Tower in February 2019.

And no fancy VR equipment is required to see it although a Google Cardboard headset can be used.

She said: "We work a lot with digital technology anyway so we were quite interested in what happens when you put a very traditional art medium like watercolours into virtual reality.

"It immediately engages your imagination because it's an odd thing to do with something that's so technical, as opposed to VR and coding where you can just change the coding on the computer.

"With watercolours if you make a mistake, you have to start all over again."

As well as changing the perception of Jaywick, the project will give people a space to engage with one another.

It will add more depth to Google Street View, showing outsiders parts of the town they had not seen.

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