The Royal Australian Airforce Mural
I never thought I’d have the opportunity to go into the depths of a military establishment when I set foot on Australian ground. In May of 2018, not only did this come to pass, but I also received a flying lesson with a R.A.A.F pilot in one of their brand new simulators (I wasn’t very good)! This extremely sci-fi experience has to be one of the more fascinating projects I’ve worked on recently. My Grandparents fought with the English R.A.F during the Second World War and I had a very short-lived stint as an R.A.F cadet, making this all the more a heartfelt project. Thanks to Juddy Roller agency for hooking me up!
92 Wing in the Adelaide Airbase has recently had a complex built to accommodate a new series of planes and training facilities. The building is minimalist in style with large slabs of concrete, sleek lines and large atriums - pretty much a perfect canvas for a mural.
This commissioned ‘street art’ (mural) was something of first for the R.A.A.F. Needless to say many of the personnel were very apprehensive of a paint-covered artist letting loose of their brand new premises. Equally, I was slightly terrified of spilling a pot of paint from the top-level scaffold I was to work off of. Bar one pot of water this thankfully didn’t happen!
The imagery itself was based upon 92 Wing’s official emblem, the Merlion. It symbolises the watchful eye of the R.A.A.F over the waters of Australia with both its wings and aquatic tail. The original painted illustration, signed by the one and only Queen Elizabeth II was presented to me before I got underway.
For ventilation reasons, I painted the majority of this piece with brushes and rollers. I haven’t used that medium on that scale for a long time but I absolutely loved it. I was reminded how fun and easy it is to texture with rollers and precision work is much easier. To give the wings some va va voom, I used gold spray paint along the edges which you can see at certain angles or when you walk past the mural at a particular time during the day.
Working with scaffold is always challenging on a large scale. You are unable to step back and see the overall picture as the scaffold planks obstruct your view. This is slightly terrifying as you don’t see the finished mural until the scaffolding is removed and you’re unable to make any changes! Thankfully it all looked great. Phew!
I loved this experience so very much! Thanks for having me the Royal Australian Air Force! Thank you to my ‘bodyguards’ who signed me in and out every day and had to sit in the same room as me the entire time to make sure I wasn’t a spy! Haha
