Looking at his gridded-up concrete canvas last week, Tank estimated that the finished artwork — which will feature one of the artist’s favourite subjects, the native Australian blue wren — would cover around 36m x 9m once complete.
“It’s great that Foodshare has decided to do something like this,” he said.
“I think it’s a nice gift to the people of Mooroopna rather than a blank wall.”
Some passers-by showed concern about the simple doodles that adorned the wall in the initial stages of preparation, but Tank explained that the tag-like ‘graffiti’ served in a similar way graph paper would to map out shapes on a small grid before transferring to a grid of bigger squares.
He said it was a tried and true method of getting proportions right when creating large-scale artworks and that it eliminated guess work and the need for having to stand back and assess the artwork regularly from the other side of the car park.
None of the doodles will remain visible when the mural is finished.
Aside from his squiggle grid, high-vis vest and umpteen cans of spray paint in a full spectrum of colours, Tank also needs a boom lift to get the job done.
The artwork has been the subject of discussions between Tank, the Foodshare board and its volunteers for around 12 months.
Tank said it was initially going to depict the Foodshare story, but after several more ideas were tossed around, the group settled on a final concept.
“We came up with the idea of just giving a nice, big, happy picture to the people of Mooroopna and Shepparton,” Tank said.
“Everyone loves blue wrens.”
Weather permitting, he said the piece would be finished within two weeks, which would be followed by an official celebration to mark the bright new addition to Greater Shepparton.
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