If you wandered past the Old Ambulance station on Kiama’s Terralong street during the last couple of days, you’ve probably noticed that one of the town's rather dull-looking walls has received a makeover.

But just not any makeover.

Local artist Claire Foxton, selected to paint the ambulance wall as part of the Kiama Winter Street Festival, says:

“I wanted it to be a very Kiama-based design. I grew up around here, my mum grew up around here so it’s a special place to us.”

Claire Foxton.

For the Kiama mural, named ‘Tides of Time’, Foxton explains that she wanted to pay homage to the area’s fishing history and seaside setting. 

After doing a bit of research in the Kiama Library’s online archives, she came across “this amazing image”. 

Taken back in 1964 down at the harbour, it depicts a boat and a deckhand, a guy standing on the front of the boat. The boat Shirley Jean was owned by another local, Headley Brown.

“I thought it would work really well on the wall,” she says. “I put my own spin on it, in terms of the colours.

Then, I wanted to add something really personal that reflected my connection to Kiama.”

She asked her mum, who’s been collecting shells near her home on Jones Beach over many years, if she could pick out her favourites and share images of those. Which she did, and Foxton incorporated them into the piece.

Foxton at work.

“I’m really pushing the colours in a lot of my work so it’s just not looking like a photo. And I tend to go for these blues and turquoises a lot, and it fits with the Kiama coastal theme,” she says, describing her style as a combination of abstract and realism.

“When you look at the palettes that I use now, it’s similar to what I used in the very early days.” Foxton painted her first mural in Wollongong in 2016. “The blue has carried through on through my work.”

She has tried not to include it but then, she’ll look at her work and feel like there’s something missing.

“I put a little bit of a blue in it, and I go, ‘ah, that’s what it was,’ ” she laughs, admitting she might even be a tiny wee obsessed with the colour.

To the common eye, it looked like any ordinary brick wall, but Foxton says it was a challenging surface to paint because of the unseeded bricks and the deep grooves in the mortar. 

“It’s definitely taken me longer than it usually would on a smooth wall because the bricks take so much paint.”

Which begs the question, how much paint will she be using?

“Oh, it’s hard to say because I’ve dragged out all my old tins of paint. But I probably used at least 20 litres already. Maybe more including the primer. Let’s say 30 litres,” she explains.

The Janne Krimson and Scott Nagy mural at the Joyce Wheatley Community Centre.

To paint a mural could be compared to doing an oil painting where the motive gradually develops on the canvas through the layering of paint and sections.

Even with an approved design, Foxton says there’s an element of experimentation happening on the wall. 

“A lot of the time, I’m watering down the colours, brushing them lightly over the top and putting some solid colour over the top. Seeing how the colours interact together on the wall is the most fun part of the project.” 

On that note, it’s time to head over to Hindmarsh Park to enjoy these two new, cool additions to the Kiama communal space.

The Council received funding from the NSW Government for two murals. The one at the former ambulance station, and one at Joyce Wheatley Community Centre, created by the artistic duo Janne (Krimsone) and Scott Nagy.