The Bengatta Mural Stephen and Lisa McDougal, the owners of Bengatta Nature Retreat, commissioned me to design and paint a 9x3 meter mural in 'Starkers', the resort's bar and bistro. The brief was to depict a scene using visual elements from Bengatta - the pool, the valley and surrounding country-side, the friendly family naturist atmosphere... and Starkers, Bengatta's white cockatoo mascot! The mural design was projected onto the wall and the outlines pencilled in. Large single colour areas - the sky, grass and trees - were painted in first followed by the many other bright colours and skin tones. The black outline was added last, bringing the whole mural to life! A coat of matt varnish was applied to help protect against spills and bumps and fingers. Media interest Local Wangaratta newspaper - 'The Chronicle' - sent out a photographer and a reporter to cover the story. A lead-in pic made page 1, with a full write-up on page 16. The story positively reported on the mural, naturism and the resort. I also had two live radio interviews - with 3AW in Melbourne and 2CC in Canberra - and a pre-recorded interview with the Canberra ABC. Finished product The mural took 12 days to complete - from January 6 to 18, 2003. For about half that time I had the much valued assistance of my friend Kate who had come along to Bengatta for the first week. The locals and guests at Bengatta had a great time with the whole creative event and enthusiastically offered their guesses as to who the figures in the mural most looked like. Everyone loved it and Stephen and Lisa are very happy with their new mural!

[previous Misc][next Misc]

Loxie & Zoot is hosted on Keenspace, a free webhosting and site automation service for webcomics.