From BlackWhite magazine - issue 08, local colour
A look at four artists using paint in shared urban spaces to revitalise their communities.
Melinda Butt
Northcote, Auckland
Instantly recognisable, artist Melinda Butt’s crisp shapes and bold Resene colour palette influenced by pop art and Art Deco forms are frequent features of her murals, which appear in unexpected places throughout Auckland, Whangarei, Hamilton, Taupō and rural Northland. Her work often brings life to humble structures like roadside toilets, storage sheds and utility boxes, so she’s no stranger to enhancing overlooked places with her unique flavour of joy and beauty. One of her most recent projects has completely transformed an average carpark into something remarkable.
Painted in a newly-completed Kāinga Ora apartment development located in Northcote, Auckland, the design captures the organisation’s ethos of creating wellbeing through places and communities. “Knowing it was going to be located in a carpark, I wanted to create something joyful while also complementing the architecture,” says Melinda. “This design is about the intersection of nature and architecture, through flowing landscape forms with geometric, hard-edged shapes.”
Melinda employed a different sort of colour scheme for the project that’s less vivid than hues she’s normally drawn to, but it allowed her to discover new Resene favourites to add to her arsenal. “I went with a blue backdrop in Resene Seagull to promote a sense of calm and cool. The off-white is Resene Pearl Lusta, which is a new colour for me. I really love this tone; it plays with light and shade really well. The dark green and orange pop nicely against this overall colour palette.”
The paint colours used for carparks are often uniform and utilitarian in nature, but Melinda’s artwork turns this idea on its head. “It’s always meaningful to be able to create a mural and beautify an environment that is made of concrete. Carpark areas are mostly overlooked when it comes to usability and how people experience the space, which is a shame as these zones are used every day. It’s often a space we start and finish our day – so I think it’s important to inject an element of colour and life into the area.”
Melanie Caple
Windsor Place Car Park, Windsor, Victoria
This carpark-adjacent substation was given an electrifying uplift thanks to a new mural created during the Melbourne's Urban Canvas Mural Festival. Titled Night Owl – Electric Noir, the design is painted in Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen tinted to Resene Bullitt, Resene Black, Resene Scrumptious, Resene Your Pink, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Colour Me Pink, Resene Sandwisp, Resene Gold metallic, Resene Kudos, Resene Dawn Chorus, Resene Caffeine and Resene White. Mural by Melanie Caple. Painting assistance by Rick Rutjens. Image by Ben Moynihan.
Since Melbourne’s Urban Canvas Mural Festival began, the Victoria State Government and six local councils – Bayside, Kingston, Port Phillip, Glen Eira, Stonnington and Boroondara – have been providing funding to steadily transform overlooked walls into public works of art. Inspired by the active substation she was painting on, festival veteran Melanie Caple created a charged design of a native sooty owl with neon-tinged freesias set among a moody colour palette.
“The darkened back streets of any suburb can be intimidating,” explains Melanie. “While Windsor Place Car Park behind Chapel Street is busy from the early morning until the last daily commuters head home, I wanted this mural to be a beacon in the night.”
Melanie’s mural wraps around the faceted façade of the building, which she says was her first time creating a design with three vantage points. She used Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen tinted to Resene Bullitt, Resene Black, Resene Scrumptious, Resene Your Pink, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Colour Me Pink, Resene Sandwisp, Resene Gold metallic, Resene Kudos, Resene Dawn Chorus, Resene Caffeine and Resene White to bring her design to life.
“I wanted the mural to appear nestled within its surroundings while also feeling opulent and electric. I needed the colours to really hum against one another. Resene Kudos against Resene Bullitt and Resene Scrumptious pops, and the metallic gold details in Resene Gold really elevate the elements. Fading Resene Bullitt down into Resene Black really grounded the mural, and I loved how the dark colours made the exposed concrete and rusted metal stand out. I didn’t want those historical elements to be completely lost.”
“Resene Lumbersider was the hero of this wall,” Melanie adds. “Being able to use this durable waterborne product is so important and it will ensure that the colours stay vibrant for years to come.”
This carpark-adjacent substation was given an electrifying uplift thanks to a new mural created during the Melbourne’s Urban Canvas Mural Festival. Titled Night Owl – Electric Noir, the design is painted in Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen tinted to Resene Bullitt, Resene Black, Resene Scrumptious, Resene Your Pink, Resene Glamour Puss, Resene Colour Me Pink, Resene Sandwisp, Resene Gold metallic, Resene Kudos, Resene Dawn Chorus, Resene Caffeine and Resene White. Mural by Melanie Caple. Painting assistance by Rick Rutjens. Image by Ben Moynihan.
Taylrjay
Ormerod Street, Naracoorte, South Australia
As part of the Naracoorte Town Centre Rejuvenation Plan, Naracoorte Lucindale Council engaged artist Taylor Summers – who paints under the name TaylrJay – to create this colourful mural for the side of the Naracoorte Sound Shell with the aim of increasing interaction with local street art on social media. Her design captures the Naracoorte Lucindale Council residents’ close relationship with the land and celebrates the rich, diverse agriculture, local native plants and the environmental beauty throughout the area. The ‘ping’ of the design’s vibrant Resene colours is perfect for photography and encouraging engagement while reflecting a playful dynamic and inspiring excitement. In particular, the bright pink sheep has become a distinctive landmark in Naracoorte and is a quirky and endearing character that locals have come to love.
“The Resene colour range is so diverse and vibrant and they are so easy for me to apply and blend while painting,” says Taylor. “I always use Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen for brush painted murals due to the wide range of colours and the longevity of the paint. The Sound Shell is consistently exposed to direct sunlight and rainfall, so Resene products were the perfect medium for this mural for durability through harsh conditions. Resene Uracryl GraffitiShield was selected as a protective topcoat that became barely detectible once it was applied over the painted mural.”
Off The Wall Murals
Blake Street Carpark, Rangiora, Canterbury
Artist Mel Eaton says she and her assistants at Off The Wall Murals and collaborators at NEST Arts Collective took a ‘go big or go home’ approach with this monumental mural project at the Blake Street Carpark in Rangiora. Spanning more than 150m2, the labour of love titled In Our Hands came to fruition thanks to support from a Waimakariri Creative Communities Grant after Mel was selected as a winner in the Keep New Zealand Beautiful Resene Nature Mural Competition.
“There were a lot of hiccups as we navigated the carpark, scaffolding equipment, temperamental weather and a shifting timeline,” says Mel. “But positive comments and support from people passing by encouraged us and it has been so rewarding to hear from people who love the burst of colour in the community.”
Mel and her team have since taken colour to an array of overlooked walls across North Canterbury, but she says this project will always be a highlight because it drew so much of the community together and created a landmark for the town. “We believe murals, public artworks, visual messages and colour add so much to the texture and personality of a place. We really hope to bring more beautiful murals to our local spaces.”
Off The Wall Murals works exclusively in Eco- Choice approved Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen to create their public art. “We love the entire Resene colour range but it’s also the formula itself that makes mural work so much more flexible and reliable, no matter the weather,” says Mel.
When painting a mural, be sure to clean your surface first then prime/seal it with Resene Quick Dry (for most timber/ plywood surfaces) or Resene Sureseal (for old/weathered concrete).
If your surface is already painted with acrylic paint that’s in good condition, a good wash with Resene Paint Prep and Housewash may be all you need before painting directly over the existing paint. However, if there is a significant colour change, apply Resene Quick Dry primer first.
For your coloured topcoats/ design, use Resene Lumbersider Low Sheen and Resene testpots.
In hot weather, add Resene Hot Weather Additive to the paint to slow down the drying, allowing more time to create the artwork and, if desired, to blend adjacent colours.
To protect your mural from graffiti, overcoat your finished design in Resene Uracryl GraffitiShield. For protection against fading, use Resene Clearcoat UVS.
› See more mural and street artworks on the BlackWhite website.
Products mentioned in this article...
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