I have gone mural mad lately! It’s been so much fun. I started off doing one in New Zealand for my Dad which was amazing because I got to combine a family holiday with some fun party times in his house and since then I’ve done 5 massive walls at One40 William in the city and I’m about to start another two there next week!

Fern Goddess in New Zealand

So, because I’ve been painting like a maniac I haven’t had much time to update my website or anything so I’ve FINALLY edited all the mural photos. Sorry that some are a bit blurry. My camera’s not great …nor my photography skills.

The mural I did for my Dad was New Zealand themed and because he lives in a beautiful place in the hills of Whanganui, the window opposite the mural has a beautiful view of my Dad’s garden and rolling green hills behind it so I really wanted to reflect the natural aspects of New Zealand and give it a really calming feel as it’s in a living room. I ended up painting a lady who I’ve been calling “Fern Goddess” She has her eyes closed to give a calm, non-confrontational feel and she has native New Zealand ferns for hair and native New Zealand birds and butterflies living in among the ferns. She has a bit of a mother nature feel about her. I was really happy with how she turned out, especially being my first full mural and most importantly, my Dad says he loves sitting in that room now because he finds it very calming.

Mandalas & Zentangles at one40william

The second lot of murals that I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to do were 3 walls on the ground floor at One40 William. I was given a lot of freedom to do whatever I liked but was told to try to represent the restaurants and businesses in the complex and to brighten up the corridors and make them a bit more fun. My final idea for the walls was sort of a combination of mandalas and zentangles, using four pastel but still bright vibrant colours. Then to incorporate the businesses I put their logos in circles in black and white so that none of their logo colours would clash and they all became a part of the pattern.

The last lot of walls I did were two 12 metre long walls in the basement corridors of One40, where all the staff are constantly busy running around. I was given a brief to design some character to represent the people who work there and the hustle and bustle that’s always happening in those corridors. At first, I started drawing cartoon people but before I knew it they had turned into weird, furry monster/alien things so I went with it and luckily everyone else seemed to fall in love with them! In fact, everyone loved them so much that they asked me back to create some more! I started off with a few ideas for characters but as I got to know everyone working there they started inspiring me to create monsters based on certain individuals who work there and people started claiming monsters for themselves, saying “I’m this monster because I love riding bikes” or “I’m that monster because it seems cheeky, like me”. It was so much fun! Everyone down there was so welcoming and made me feel so comfortable, even with the freezing cold weather. It was also really satisfying to see a noticeable difference in everyone’s moods once there was a bit of colour and fun in their environment.

Monsters at one40william

Here are some of the photos. Click here to see more photos in the online gallery

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