A Sutton Coldfield artist who quit his 9 to 5 role at B&Q has spoken of his shock at being flown out to work on the home of US pop superstar Jason Derulo. Daniel Russell-Ahern, pictured here with Mr Derulo, was contacted by the 'Ridin' solo' star to create a bespoke artwork for his basketball court. (Image: Peter Palfi)

'I quit my job at B&Q and now I'm flown out by celebrities to work on their homes'

Sutton Coldfield resident Daniel Russell-Ahern, 33, most recently flew out to California to work on a bespoke piece for pop superstar Jason Derulo

by · Birmingham Live

A Brummie artist who quit his 9 to 5 role at B&Q has spoken of his shock at being flown out to work on the home of US pop superstar Jason Derulo. Sutton Coldfield artist Daniel Russell-Ahern, 33, was contacted by the 'Ridin' solo' star, who lives in California, to create a bespoke artwork for his basketball court.

Fine Art student Daniel, who trades as' Mr Murals', left his job at B&Q three years ago to pursue his business of creating spray-paint murals and pieces full-time. He initially specialised in bedroom and hospital murals, including transforming an x-ray room at Birmingham Children's Hospital for free during the pandemic so sick children could see glow-in-the-dark hand-painted cartoons of Buzz Lightyear, Mickey and Minnie and Simba and Mufasa.

Daniel has since secured major brand deals alongside his normal work, which he shares to his near 300,000 TikTok followers, where his profile gets more than 4 million likes. A delighted Daniel told BirminghamLive: "Jason Derulo messaged me on Instagram. He said the work was incredible do you want to do something for me. I just thought it was a spam, this can't be real. It was literally 'hey, your work is incredible I would love you to do some stuff for me'.

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'I was working part-time at B&Q'

"After that it was just talking about when and what he had in mind. It was pretty special." Daniel officially launched Mr Murals six years ago but took the leap to run it full-time three years ago, which was a life-changing moment.

"Before that I was working part time at Erdington B&Q, I was working there on the weekends. I was [previously] full time at B&Q, I dropped my hours at B&Q to make something of the art work.

A Brummie artist who quit his 9 to 5 role at B&Q has spoken of his shock at being flown out to work on the home of US pop superstar Jason Derulo. Sutton Coldfield artist Daniel Russell-Ahern, 33, was contacted by the 'Ridin' solo' star, who lives in California, to create a bespoke artwork for his basketball court. (Image: Peter Palfi)

"I always loved art [but] I didn't know what I wanted to do with it. I spray painted as a kid from age 12 to 16 and then never again until I left university. I learnt how to airbrush for hospitals.

"There was never a point where I thought I could quit, I thought I just had to make that decision. I had no idea if it was going to be the right one. I still love doing bedrooms but there's a lot of businesses like Hyundai and Porsche really giving me so many opportunities."

Daniel soon gained momentum online after he started his TikTok account in 2023, which caught the attention of a number of A-listers. "It's a scary thing doing voice overs nobody wants to do it but the truth is that is how you let people in" explained Daniel. "People are more open to following you when they know you are a real person."

A Brummie artist who quit his 9 to 5 role at B&Q has spoken of his shock at being flown out to work on the home of US pop superstar Jason Derulo. Pictured: The completed court (Image: Peter Palfi)

'The heat was unbelievable'

Incredibly, he said the American singer-songwriter Jason Derulo was the first celebrity to offer him real payment, instead of 'exposure'. After meetings about what the star wanted, Mr Derulo flew Daniel and his family out to California, where Daniel spent 150 hours creating a mural of basketball stars on his custom-built basketball court.

"The heat was unbelievable they had a heat wave while I was there. Jason Derulo has a brand new basketball court it had this large wall he knew he wanted painted.

"He asked if I could create something with five of his favourite players. I painted Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Steph Curry. I rented an Airbnb within 15 minutes of his home, sometimes I would finish at 1:30am."

Jason Derulo regularly shares insights into his star-studded life to his his 35.9 million Instagram followers, including life with his son, also called Jason, as well as latest tour dates and charity work. So when Daniel posted about creating the basketball mural to his TikTok followers, thousands of comments flooded in praising his work.

'I can't find the words to describe your talent'

User 'Gazza' wrote: "The reason I love TikTok is because without it I wouldn't have witnessed this. Absolutely sensational, unbelievable, beyond words." Referencing the poignant feature in the portion showing the late Kobe Bryant, Stephanie Jaouen wrote: "The reflection of Gigi in Kobe’s eyes is simply perfection and so meaningful. I can’t find the right words to describe your talent !! Absolutely woah."

A Brummie artist who quit his 9 to 5 role at B&Q has spoken of his shock at being flown out to work on the home of US pop superstar Jason Derulo. Pictured: Daniel Russell-Ahern's bespoke artwork for Mr Derulo's basketball court. (Image: Peter Palfi)

User Spence added: "Wow! Getting some really big jobs. Fully deserved Dan." While he was out there, Dan even spent time with Jason Derulo's family: "He is just such a normal chilled out person so welcoming it was genuinely nice to be there!" Met Mr Derulo's family. He is a good basketballer."

At the moment, Daniel is taking stock of his ongoing jobs, which includes a Peaky Blinders mural in Digbeth. He reflected: "At the moment I am not taking on new projects unless they are huge. A few people mentioned projects in the USA. I love what I do and the support from everybody on social media and everyone backing me in all of that has just guided me to this."