Local colour

From BlackWhite magazine - issue 10, local colour

A look at four artists using Resene paints in urban spaces to revitalise their communities.

Over the course of seven days during the school holidays, families were invited to help bring her mural to life as an oversized paint-by-numbers. Throughout the week, groups of up to 10 kids worked together to apply a range of seven Resene paint colours, Resene Flashback, Resene French Pass, Resene Amulet, Resene Wet N Wild, Resene Dairy Cream, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Goblin and Resene Turbo, which were selected to match Craigieburn Central’s branding colours.

“The expansive range of Resene paint colours allowed me to ensure I could find the perfect colours to accurately match with the branding of Craigieburn Central,” Angharad says. “The pinks, oranges and creams lighten up the entrance and add a sense of vibrancy and warmth to the design while the contrasting greens and blues provide depth and lush greenery in the image. Pops of yellow add highlights throughout the design alongside small touches of Resene White. And the outline in Resene Black helps make the design pop and ensure it’s highly visible to traffic driving past or pedestrians viewing from a distance.”

By the mural’s completion, almost 700 children had participated in the collaboration – increasing their interaction and connection with the shopping centre and building a sense of community.

Lisa-Marie, who works under the name Lisa Dot Design, originally created the design digitally. After it received a lot of online attention on her Instagram feed, she decided it would be the perfect piece to replicate for the street art festival. “The artwork is a reminder that no matter who you are or your walk of life, you are exactly what this world needs. In this vast universe, make no mistake: you’re here for a reason. As much as this is an accessible artwork intended for everyone, it’s especially meant to be an uplifting message of hope for our younger generation and those questioning their purpose. There are plenty of nearby schools and plenty of students walk past it, so I know this message is doing its job in the right place,” she says.

In works that are intended to inspire personal reflection, Lisa-Marie says she is often drawn to using bright or pastel colours. “I find using bright colours helps to draw the viewer in and send a message that it is a safe space for deep thought, especially when creating pieces that feature poignant messaging. It’s almost like the colours are taking the edge off.”

Despite suffering from acrophobia, Lisa-Marie obtained her Working At Height Certificate and hired a scissor lift. But given the positioning of the footpath at the end of the cul-de-sac and that the street was so steep, she ultimately completed the painting work on scaffolding instead. “It’s not something I’d be eager to do again anytime soon, but this project really did get me to confront my fear of working at heights – and now I know I can accomplish hard things and produce some beautiful, meaningful work at the same time,” she says.

“The principal, Phil Muir, had seen my previous work and so he approached me to create what is now my second mural,” says Romina. “The brief was to breathe new life in the space while visually channelling the school’s core values, so I developed an illustration that showcases the interconnectedness of the native flora, fauna and animals of the area. A central focus for the design was to showcase the idea that all of nature is connected. Species rely on one another to thrive and the birds, plants, bush and waterways that are an integral part of the school’s surroundings are acknowledged. Each form nods to the plumage of the tūī and the bold beauty of the fern and kauri. By weaving these elements into the work, I hoped to invite viewers to appreciate the unique biodiversity of the area.”

In an era where urbanisation often disconnects individuals from nature, Romina’s mural also aims to bridge this gap between the angular architectural elements of the building with the organic shapes found in the natural world.

“Another core attribute of the mural’s design is a respect for the Māori roots and cultural diversity that enrich Northcote so I looked for ways to weave in subtle Māori iconography through the mural to acknowledge the diverse identities of the school’s students,” Romina explains.

Romina selected twelve playful yet coordinated colours for her design, Resene Blue Bark, Resene Navigate, Resene Wishlist, Resene Tranquil, Resene Half Opal, Resene Seagull, Resene Spitfire, Resene Merlot, Resene Sunglo, Resene Cosmos, Resene Cashmere and Resene White. She used the cooler tones for the background to contrast with the warmer colours she chose for the foreground forms. “I adopted this approach to help create depth and volume, generate layers and enhance perspective,” Romina says.

Rather than work directly on the weatherboard cladding, Romina chose to line the wall surface with treated plywood so that she had a smooth base to work on and primed it with two coats of Resene Quick Dry waterborne primer undercoat. She then used Eco Choice approved Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen for her colour coats before clear coating the mural in Resene Uracryl GraffitiShield to protect it from vandalism. “I always use Resene products because they are the best in terms of the way the paint behaves upon application and the quality of the finish,” she says.

“The creation of this work was a fantastic opportunity for me,” Romina adds. “It was an honour and privilege to be entrusted to create this statement piece. I only hope the school community enjoys the mural as much as I enjoyed the experience of creating it.”

Originally from Belgium, the owner of Du Pain & Du Pain Bakery has a passion for bande dessinée (Francophone comic books), which was an ideal starting point to inspire Luca’s design given that the bakery has a French theme. “We first came up with the idea of a cartoonish scenario featuring the Hamilton River with the Eiffel Tower beyond and added several other elements from French and Belgian culture, such as the big yellow truck which is a typical ‘fries’ food truck from Belgium,” Luca explains.

“Initially, I had in mind that the owner would be driving a car alongside the river, but since he is a passionate cyclist, we put him on a bicycle instead. That made us both think about the Tour de France, and then we added Michelangelo’s David on the left as part of the group of spectators – which is a nod to my Italian heritage. It’s full of other random elements that were intended as ‘easter eggs’ so that kids could have fun discovering them – like the UFO flying above the Eiffel Tower, the cat above the bathroom door staring down at the mouse below, and one of the cyclists is a snail (which was the owner’s wife’s idea, and she just thought it was funny),” he adds.

With so many whimsical details to capture, the mural took Luca 10 days to complete and it has been very well received. “The idea was to create scenery that would create the illusion of openness, and I think we nailed it,” Luca says. “Customers were very excited to see the mural coming to life. I think it is eye-pleasing for both kids and adults, and being in a newly developed, family-friendly area of Frankton, it really seems to work.”

Products mentioned in this article...

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