Bhudda's Eyes

   
The person who commissioned this mural had an extremely aggressive and argumentative business style and paid me only a little over half of the cost. Still I was happy with a job well done, the cool photo above that my friend Eric took of me at completion of the work and the freedom to get on with my life. 
     Shop keepers and Artists are not a good mix

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

Billboard Sculpture Installation

This was carved from one big block of polystyrene and was fixed to a billboard in central Auckland for a year. It was an advertisement for a new middle of the road radio station- more excitement in the middle of the road was the wording...
I was back at Hungry Creek Art school for a short time of study and Andrew Ventor, the Director of the school, had a son who owned some billboards in the city and had a client who wanted this on a billboard. Andrew and I went 50 50 on the job, he had the contract and setup money and the business acumen and I had the talent.
We figured out how to do it, how to frame and fix it and where to get the materials we needed and posed  Andrew's son and girlfriend in a photographer's studio that had a chaise longue and I took a ladder and a camera along and the couple embraced while I took a dozen or so photos of them from every possible angle.
Then began a frantic week of sculpting to a deadline while the Andrew made the mounting and fixing bits and pieces. It was a lot of fun and good money for an art student as I then was..

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.

Moth Sculpture

I made this sign at Art School and donated it to the school and no-one seemed to care or take interest so I took it down, took it home and put it on my new house.
It's there still, on the Moth house in Sandspit and the upstairs where my studio was is now a Yoga studio run by the new owners of the house who made it a condition of sale of the house that the Moth remain there.
Nice to have ones work appreciated...

Music Shop Mural

The Plunket Mural, Warkworth, New Zealand

Wilson Cement Works Mural

Wilson Cement works present day

Wilson Cement Works, Warkworth 1920. A photo taken from the riverbank opposite

Mural on a ceiling

Truck Mural

Waihi Murals

Warkworth Mural: Loren and Jenny

Snells Beach Mural, Renata's feathered friend

Tazman helps me colour in Renata's patch work jersey while her sister paints a giant butterfly

This mural was for Bruce, the chemist, who owns the building and Bronte and Tazman helped me out in the final stages by supplying genuine hand painted original children's art.

Bronte and Tazman's folks own the dairy on the other side of the wall so I got to know them and asked for their help, which they were pleased to give. Some other children's art I borrowed and carefully reproduced where it was too high for Bronte and Tazman to work safely

Cafe Mural, Ponsonby, Auckland

Mahurangi College Mural

Tile Mural: Thermae Christina 117AD