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