Fibonacci and the Flat Earth Mural

In January I had my Grandson, Mateo, all to myself for a week. We went on a road trip down the North Island from Auckland to Wellington visiting friends and family on the way.
On the first stage of this journey he and I made an addition to the mural gallery in Waihi; a flat earth mural under the Fibonacci sequence mural. Mateo's first go at large scale reproduction of one of his and his Father's designs. It's not too bad, we could probably do better and I look forward to the time when we will :)

The Mural Gallery Artists At Work

Photo by Chelsea Haines from Atlanta, Georgia who was staying at Art School Waihi for a week and came to see myself, Bronagh and Chiara working on the Mural Gallery.

The Mural Gallery

On a long black wall in an alleyway running between shops on the main street in Waihi the second mural has been completed. The goal is to cover the whole wall in a montage of different murals.

Nelon Mural Tutorial

'Temptation' by Nikki Romney and friends

I was invited to Nelson to teach some artists all the little tricks and tips of  large scale exterior painting.  

Nikki Romney, above left, a brilliant portrait artist who works in oils was the instigator of this project and with many emails back and forth she found some funding for me for the travel expenses and a wall and worked up a design.

We screened her unfinished (!) design up with my overhead projector early Friday morning and Nikki had her first taste of working in acrylic. 

We were joined on Saturday by Betty Salter, an animal portrait artist mainly who can paint anything.

On the Sunday we were joined by five other artists and that was stressful but fun.

Karin Fruehauf, above right, was one of those five and she came back Monday too which was my last day on the job having allowed 4 days to impart my knowledge and experience and get it up and running and the final design worked out and with my three new artist mates onto it and confident.

Great to be working with other artists.

Auckland Forest Mural

 This 22 metre forest mural was designed on 18 large panels screwed to a fence. Working on site at the mercy of the weather in Winter was getting tedious so 15 panels came home to the nice warm studio

 At home in the Waihi studio is a warm fire and good lighting and music and who cares about the weather.
The mural panels are screwed to the wall two or three at a time and finished off. They were all under coated on site at Sue's place in Mount Roskill and will all go back there in a week or so when they are finished.

1925 Grocery Mural, Waihi, New Zealand

This mural I have been working on sporadically for a year. It is almost finished and is the most ambitious painting I have yet done. Old people love it as all the products in the store are from 1925 or earlier although I used a little artistic licence in that some products are from a little later. It contains references to World  War One, the British Empire, the 1919 flu epidemic, the great age of Radio and products readily available over the counter include gelignite, ammunition, strychnine and whale oil. Politically Correct? No. God save the King....

Whirinaki Forest Mural, Omaha Beach

The Mural Artist Mural

At last, a new mural. Been ages since I painted a mural. A self portrait?
Could be, Would be, Should be like that -
'Cause Horton was faithful, he sat and he sat -
I love kid's art and kid's literature...

Horse Mural begins

I have been commissioned to paint a mural for an animal farm, what one might call a petting zoo.
This is being done in between work on building Art School Waihi and is an opportunity for Girl Friday, my invaluable art school manager, to get first hand experience in mural painting.

The Plunket Mural, Warkworth, New Zealand

Department of Conservation Mural, Corporate Office Art

Restaurant Mural: Cibo, Parnell, Auckland

Floor Paintings