Canterbury station underpass mural part 2
So I finished the Canterbury Station Underpass Mural on New Years Eve 2015 and am only just getting around to posting it! I’m elated with the result and the positive feedback from Canterbury locals and just anyone who’s made the trek to see it has been very encouraging – Thank you!
See this earlier post for most of the details on how the project came about etc. But here’s a brief description of the project and some specs: The surface area for this mural consists of a large abutment wall (approx. 20 meters long by 4 meters high) and three smaller pillar walls (approx. 4 meters wide each) underneath Canterbury train station. Due to various obstructions the walls were not ideal for a single standalone image, so I conceived of a sequence of panels that would sit in between the obstructions and form a short narrative.
The brief called for the work to appeal to children and suggested fantasy themes. With this in mind the final design I arrived on is a sequence of panels that make up the following short story: A young boy awaits a train at what could be the Canterbury train station platform, and is taken on a magical ride in a flying machine by a mischievous pixie. Along the way the locations and scenery depicted bear similarities to the local Canterbury area.
The bright colours, overall composition and sequencing of the panels can be enjoyed from a distance. But because the mural was 100% hand painted with artist’s quality acrylic exterior paint and brushes, a lot of texture and fine detail is also visible when you get up close to the work.
Juggling other commitments as well as some physical hindrances along the way (hand painting murals can be surprisingly physical!) meant that this project was a tough slog at times. So I’m really proud to not only have it completed, but to have it completed within 2015 and to have it completed to a standard that is really a better quality than what I had first envisioned.
I would like to thank Boroondara Council for giving me this opportunity in the first place, and thanks to the Canterbury Community Action Group for helping oversee the design and planning process. Also a big thank you to the local community for your words of encouragement and positive feedback – it was good to know my work was being appreciated.
My children were really the inspiration for this work. I love reading to them every night and it has reignited a passion for children’s stories. Seeing the reaction to the work’s progress from my own kids, from kids as they went past the wall or when I spoke about the project at my son’s Kinder was pure gold.
Saving the best for last, I’d like to give a massive thankyou to my longsuffering partner, (and it’s a cliché but true) without whom it really wouldn’t be possible for me to see through such projects. She’s a wrangler of children, an amazing runner of the house, a contributor to her community, sounding board and advisor to this insecure artist type, has a great sense of design, and is just generally an incredible human. Thanks babe, it’s your turn to shine very soon!
Mainly due to the success of this work, my 2016 is looking like it will be mainly consisting of mural projects, and I’m very much looking forward to sharing this work over the coming months. Stay tuned!
Click here for a short video featuring the whole mural
