THE painting of an outdoor mural which has been coming to life along the wall of FoodWorks supermarket in Urunga in recent months is now nearing completion.

Artists David Bromley and David Southgate are at work making the most of the sunny days after rain played havoc with their painting plans.

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“The wall on the side of the FoodWorks supermarket, facing the primary school in Urunga, is not an easy site on which to do a mural,” David Bromley told News Of The Area.

Nevertheless the painting pair decided to look upon it in a different light and work around the obstacles in witty ways.

“The wall has fixtures including air conditioners and existing windows, it accommodates numerous wheelie bins and is a busy delivery bay for the supermarket, all of which conflicted with any ideas of painting vistas or making the wall one large canvas for a picture to exist upon,” he said.

Instead, the wall has become a different version of itself, now looking like a dilapidated Edwardian structure, with cracked render, basement windows giving the illusion of another level to the building, and vegetation beginning to take a hold on the crumbling exterior.

Using the trompe l’oeil technique has allowed the two Davids to use their artistic skills to create this illusion and to add life to a neglected part of Urunga’s street scape.

David Southgate told NOTA that, as the industrial wheelie bins couldn’t be moved, “We decided to paint an ibis strategically placed to look as though it is on a bin quite at home as a ‘Bin Chicken’ with other creatures living on and amongst the vegetation growing on the wall.

“Our intention is to catch the viewers’ attention with subtle, life-like effects and subjects that become apparent the more you look.

“Hopefully it brings a smile to the viewer,” he said.

The FoodWorks mural work has been gradual due to bad weather and other commitments, but completion is in sight.

A display of six framed works depicting stylish posters of a bygone era, celebrating Urunga and its beautiful surroundings will appear in their weather-proof frames on the wall.

“Three of the posters are completed, the latest is an aerial view of Urunga and the estuary with a beautiful old Bi-wing, passenger plane showing off a fictitious Urunga Airlines logo.”

During a recent spate of rain, grounded from their exterior work, the two Davids decided to paint a cameo version of the wall with some of the features and characters that are in the mural painting and enter it in the Coffs Coast Art Prize 2022.

So as to not complicate the entry with two names, the Davids entered the painting under the name of David Georges, which had a ring of validity about it as both Davids have the second name of George.

The painting is a piece that shows the skills of the artists in depicting the textures and colours of old stone work and a broken window with a life-like ibis, a king parrot and a carpet python making the place their home, just as they are seen on the mural in Urunga.

This glimpse into the extraordinary detail of one of Urunga’s murals, along with many other beautiful works of art can be seen at the art hub upstairs in Coffs Central until 27 August.

By Andrea FERRARI