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Full speed ahead for mural artist Zoe-Beth Brake

18 Feb 2021


Zoe-Beth Brake loves the challenge of mural designs.

Whakatane artist Zoe-Beth Brake is always up for a challenge. Whether it’s in her former career teaching art to children with autism when she was living in the United States or pursuing her dream of working as a fulltime artist.

“I am a person that loves a challenge in life and establishing myself as an artist is going to be a massive challenge as it isn't guaranteed work – it ebbs and flows, you get denied, you get accepted. It is really amazing to take on a request and make it come to life for people. The joy art can bring to people's lives is priceless,” says Zoe-Beth.


Zoe-Beth’s mural design inspires its owner to ‘get out on the highway’. The mural is painted in Resene White, Resene Black, Resene Turbo, Resene Rock Spray, Resene Adrenalin, Resene Milk Chocolate, Resene Fuel Yellow and Resene Raven.

One recent commission that brought turbo-charged joy to a customer involved painting an enormous mural of a Harley Davidson and Hot Rod on the side of a large shed. Zoe-Beth found the scale and the corrugated iron surface her biggest challenge to date.


Zoe-Beth says the full-throttle mural, which was commissioned as a birthday present, was one of her hardest yet. The hot rod motorbike and Route 66 inspired design is painted in Resene White, Resene Black, Resene Turbo, Resene Rock Spray, Resene Adrenaline, Resene Milk Chocolate, Resene Fuel Yellow and Resene Raven.

Although she also does pen and pencil drawings, she loves the artistic freedom that comes with murals. A recent request to paint the kids’ room at Whakatane Crossfit allowed her to create a bright high-energy room.

“It was a pretty dark, grey room and the owner just wanted ‘something with bright colours’. I decided I wanted to make something that would flow across the two walls and also have some local landmarks. I drew the design on freehand and chose a colour palette. However, I had no plan on where the colours would go, I just went with the flow and tried to create balance as I went,” she says.


Zoe-Beth decided to “go with the flow” when choosing the colours for the mural in the kids’ room at Crossfit Whakatane. The colourful room is painted in Resene White, Resene Endeavour, Resene Black, Resene Turbo, Resene West Side, Resene Spray and Resene Christalle.

Zoe-Beth loves the process of creating murals and seeing a small design on a piece of paper come to life in large scale. She finds it more difficult to narrow down her favourite Resene colours. 

“This is tough! Resene Endeavour and Resene Turbo would be a close first.”

Follow Zoe-Beth on Facebook and Instagram 

Published: 18 Feb 2021