Dolphin mural with a message

"I would like people to think about what they are putting down drains as well rubbish pollution on our beaches." Tess Sheerin

The artist behind the new ninemetre tall, 22-metre wide mural in Wellington has a simple message: Rubbish from our cities is polluting our coasts.

‘‘If you are seeing rubbish on the beach, pick it up.’’

Tess Sheerin, an environmental activist and artist, has spent the past three years creating murals across the country to highlight her environmental message.

Although her message simple, the murals were not.

It took her 12 days of painting in Wellington’s wind and rain and about 60 litres of paint to get the Willis St mural completed.

The Doubtful Dolphin, a dolphin with a storm drain full of rubbish for a stomach, was completed on Friday on the side of Cumberland House.

It is the fifth and final piece after she completed murals in Queenstown, Dunedin, Christchurch and Auckland as part of her nationwide pollution awareness is push.

Her mural of a disembowelled crayfish on Auckland’s North Shore created some furore earlier this year, when local board members voiced objections

Seven people, including her mum, helped her bring colour to Wellington’s blank canvas.

‘‘It was very difficult in the short time frame to get it up,’’ Sheerin said.

Wind and rain halted some days, but on others she continued despite the weather.

The ‘‘awesome support’’ from the community helped make the mural happen, Sheerin said.

She received a donation of environmentally-friendly paints, and won a Canon Community Grant that went towards filming the mural-making process.

Sheerin co-ordinated a beach cleanup at each location she created a mural.

On Saturday morning she was down at Oriental Bay picking up plastic.

‘‘I would like people to think about what they are putting down drains as well rubbish pollution on our beaches.’’