Life-like smoke billows out of the oversized wooden pipe while the woman smoking it looks down, deep in thought.
A woven shawl is wrapped around her curled shoulders and a headband tied at the side of her head keeps the stray wisps of hair off her face.
Tauranga artist Owen Dippie, has recreated the legendary portrait of Ina Te Papatahi, of Nga Puhi, which was originally painted by Charles Goldie in 1902.
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The larger-than-life piece of art measures more than 8m high and is so lifelike that on a windy day you would almost expect the subject's hair to move.
Yesterday, Dippie finished the portrait after a week of painting.
He usually worked on his creations "every now and then" but with his latest work being in such a public place - on the side of Broncos Sports World, Masonic Park - he decided to complete it as soon as he could.
"I think it looks pretty good, I was really intimidated doing a Goldie portrait because his paintings are legendary so I'm really happy with how it's turned out."
"I love portraits so I got the most satisfaction working on the face, that was pretty cool," he said.
Dippie drew the portrait freehand, without the aid of a template. He said he looked at Goldie's work, then spray painted it on the wall. He believed his creation was the largest Goldie replica in the world.
"Goldie's work is just amazing, so exquisite so it's a weird feeling standing here looking up at this.
"It was quite hard to replicate this one ... with the spray paint," he said.
Instead of his usual signature, Dippie signed the portrait with his formal name on the bottom right corner in gold calligraphy.
"Anyone that's interested in Goldie's art will recognise that it's his style. I did it in respect of Goldie but the main reason is because I don't want anyone to think it was mine. It was his original work," Dippie said.
A graffiti-proof coating was sprayed over the painting last night, to prevent taggers from vandalising his art work.
Tauranga City Council and Creative Tauranga backed the central Tauranga project.
Creative Tauranga chief executive Tracey Rudduck-Gudsell said the cost of the artist's materials was covered by a funding grant from Creative Community Funding, from Creative New Zealand via the Tauranga City Council. She said Creative Tauranga administered the funding.
"Owen has been associated with Creative Tauranga for about six years now ... and I think his work is amazing," she said.
"He did a wonderful job [of the Ina Te Papatahi portrait] and we totally endorse what he's doing."
Mrs Rudduck-Gudsell said she would like to see more high-calibre street art on the walls around Tauranga City.
Dippie said he wanted to change the negative stereotype surrounding street art. He has portraits and paintings all around Tauranga and also in New York.