I was beyond excited to be invited to paint a mural as part of the Get Up Street Art Festival in New Plymouth. 26 murals popped up across the CBD over a week in March 2026. Artists travelled from around New Zealand and Australia and it was so fun meeting a bunch of creatives I had admired and connected with through instagram and discovered some new ones! It’s always such a buzz watching a city slowly transform wall by wall.
My only twist? I had just two days to finish the mural because my son was turning four that weekend. Nothing like a hard deadline to keep things motivating!
The wall sits under the bridge at Huatoki Plaza. Open briefs are always fun, however total freedom can actually make things trickier... so I set myself a few parameters. I started thinking about the way light and shadows intersect in that space. So I explored silhouettes, overlaps and colour intersections that echo the shifting light under the bridge.
From there I pulled in references from the local environment. The shapes are loosely inspired by harakeke and miro leaves, native botanicals found throughout the surrounding Taranaki landscape. It’s important to me that even my more abstract murals still have a quiet connection to the land, a little nod to where the work lives.
Two very focused days, plenty of paint, and a lot of coffee later, the mural was done. So many highlights... Being part of the Get Up Street Art Festival, seeing my work in a new region, and spending some time talking to the locals while painting my mural in New Plymouth and rubbing shoulders with such a talented group of artists. A weekend of dreams!
Big thanks to Dulux for the paint sponsorship and to Monarch for the brushes.
Love this mural? I'd love to paint more in this style, you can download my mural guide here or flick me an email hi@jasminekroeze.com to get in inquire.
