Returned mural artist James Ellis was armed to the teeth with spray cans and paint early last week as he made yet another colourful addition to the canvas board that is Moree.
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“The guys at Statewide Aviation asked me to come and paint the side of their hangar at Moree Airport, so that’s what I’m doing,” he said.
The Brisbane-born artist made his debut at Moree in early March to paint a mural at the corner of Heber Street and Roslyn Lane.
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The bright colours and larger-than-life sized depiction of a farmer and calf quickly caught the eyes of interested locals.
Since then he has been on a whirlwind art tour, painting for numerous businesses and organisations.
“I prefer doing big murals in public places rather than smaller ones in private spaces because there’s the element of interacting with locals. And from what I’ve been hearing from people, is that there is a strong interest for more art in town,” he said.
His latest work is at the Statewide Aviation Hangar at Moree Airport, the former haunt for Aircare.
“Statewide Aviation has been using the hangar for three years now, so it’s time they had their own look on the hanger,” James said.
The landscape mural comprises of a crop duster in flight over fields of sunflower, wheat and cotton against a warm-coloured backdrop of the setting sun.
“I was driving from Narrabri to Moree and I passed these incredible fields of sunflower. It was amazing to see,” he said.
The artwork is also the largest project he has tackled at Moree to date, but James already has set his sights on even bigger murals.
“I would love to paint on the silos you see on the right as you drive into Moree from Narrabri. Just to have something like, ‘Welcome to Moree’ painted across them would be incredible. It would also attract a lot more visitors into town,” he said.
James said he had drawn the attention of Moree Council to paint other projects in town, but nothing conclusive had come from informal talks.
Since completing the mural at the Statewide Aviation hangar last week, James has painted two murals at Warialda Public School.
He said he has attracted interest from a place in Pallamawalla and Clontarf Academy at Moree.
He will return to Brisbane to restock his painting kit before he returns to Moree to paint at Harman Outdoors and the Moree Race Club.
There’s no room for doubt that locals will be seeing a lot more of James and his colourful creations.
