A colourful 180 metre long mural brings joy to commuters

26 Aug 2020

When Xana got the call to create a 180 metre long mural in Queensland, her reaction was barely contained excitement, for who could ask for a bigger canvas to display your work?

Because of the mural’s large scale, she started by picking the colour palette. “I get inspired by colours and it makes more sense for me to start that first and slowly draw the design until it’s finished,” she says. “Once the design is finished, I go to my local Resene ColorShop to match the palette – which isn’t very hard because Resene offers such a variety that it’s easy to find an exact colour match. I think I have over 200 Resene testpots at home!”

Xana and her partner Sam created this colourful, nature-inspired abstract mural in Queensland. They’ve used 28 Resene colours including Resene Casablanca, Resene California, Resene Moroccan Spice, Resene Karry, Resene Escape, Resene Botticelli, Resene Celtic, Resene Half Buttermilk, Resene Bounty, Resene Wax Flower, Resene Kumutoto, Resene Manhattan, Resene Red Red Red, Resene Marzipan, Resene Guggenheim, Resene Wild West, Resene Big Bang, Resene Leather, Resene Thor, Resene Irish Coffee, Resene Gecko, Resene Quarter Karaka, Resene Big Stone, Resene Japonica, Resene Midnight Moss, Resene Aquamarine and Resene Karaka. 

A grand total of 28 Resene colours made it onto the mural for a gentle palette of saturated blues, yellows and corals and deep, dark browns and mossy greens.

Xana completed the design of the mural with her partner, Sam. “We have very specific styles, mine in much more natural and his is very colourful and abstract with lots of 3D shapes.” As soon as the brief came through, they agreed that a project like this would benefit from a design that merged their two styles together.

Xana and Sam spent 11 days painting the mural onto the 180-metre-long wall. They used an assortment of Resene paints including Resene Half Buttermilk, Resene Wax Flower, Resene Kumutoto, Resene Leather, Resene Wild West, Resene Marzipan, Resene Botticelli, Resene Escape, Resene Guggenheim and Resene Midnight Moss.

“I got incredibly excited and worked on half the design on the first day,” says Xana. “I showed it to Sam and the next day he filled in some patches that didn’t have anything yet, it just worked so perfectly.”

Once they had completed the design, the real challenge came to the fore; painting the design onto the 180-metre-long wall. It took them 11 days in total to clean, prep and paint the immense wall.

28 Resene colours were used to create this eye-catching mural, including Resene Casablanca, Resene Moroccan Spice, Resene Kumutoto, Resene Wild West, Resene Big Stone, Resene Botticelli, Resene Celtic, Resene Irish Coffee, Resene Wax Flower, Resene Bounty and Resene Half Buttermilk.

 “The best part was seeing both of our styles painted on the wall for the first time. I was always really excited about merging the abstract of Sam’s style and my natural style and it’s one of my favourite murals we’ve painted so far.”

 images Xana Denruyter

 See more of Xana’s work on her website.

Published: 26 Aug 2020