Each piece is 2.4m (8′) high

mosaic murals created with ceramic tiles

Artist comment: Brief from the client on this work was to simply recreate the beauty of our Blackall Range, including lots of animals and colour. The Kondalilla mosaic murals have begun!

Inspiration was gained from visiting 3 of our favourite spots on the range – the escarpment overlooking the Sunshine Coast & ocean (at dawn), the “bottom” falls at Kondalilla Falls, and the “middle” falls also at Kondalilla (seen in order from left to right). A lot of the individual elements were inspired by what we saw at the time we were there, but we also received some unexpected inspiration from actual visits from the various animals to the studio. For example, while we were working on the Catbird, a live one flew into the studio & lodged itself behind a cupboard. In the process of rescuing it, I was given the the chance to look at him close up, and express what I saw in the artwork. A wonderful experience, but one that was repeated several times in different ways during the construction of the work.

The entire work took 3 months to create, and involves 17 local species of animals & many different local plants. Drawings, preparation and pre-cutting alone took almost a month (including two 8 hour days on the grinder!). There’s at least 75 different coloured tiles used including 23 different greens. Even with this many colours, we found it very challenging to achieve some of the contrasts and blends over such a large area.

The work can be viewed at the “Mayfield on Montville” shopping/restaurant/artgallery complex at Main St, Montville.