Art and soul put into work to cover sign

‘‘The work has a basis of looking at the natural [and man-made] environments and trying to ... merge ... those two.’’

A spot of ‘‘commercial graffiti’’ has been covered over with a bright new design in Lower Hutt.

Artist David Brown took 10 days to create the mural, called Catchment, as he worked on up to four storeys of scaffolding while watching out for windy weather.

‘‘It was very physical and just a bit of a challenge.

‘‘This is only the second [mural] I have done of that size,’’ Brown said.

Meticulous planning went into the mural.

Brown had to figure out how to recreate the artwork from his initial digital design to the 18-metre-long by 8-metre-wide space.

He used a grate across his work to keep it on track and checked it constantly to make sure the life version matched his digital version.

‘‘It was only a couple of times I went down the bottom and realised it was a bit off.’’

If he caught errors or wrong lines creeping into the work, he was able to adjust it and keep the painting on track.

Now, he’s looking forward to the official opening on Thursday - the first time he will see the artwork without the scaffolding. He was ‘‘eager’’ to see it in full. Catchment will be opened officially by the Hutt City Council with a karakia on Anzac Lawn on Queens Dr.

Brown drew inspiration for the mural from both the natural world and man-made objects, such as fences and roads.

‘‘The work has a basis of looking at the natural [and man-made] environments and trying to get a merge or intersection between those two, bringing it together in an abstract, geometric framework.’’

Catchment covers up an old Raine and Horne real estate advertising sign that has been on the side of the building on Laings Rd for three decades.

Hutt City Deputy Mayor David Bassett dubbed the old advertisement ‘‘commercial graffiti’’.