A drive-by by a world-renowned mural artist has seen Papamoa Pony Club gain a new equestrian-themed spraycan painting on its club shed.
Graham "Mr G" Hoete just happened to be passing the club on Papamoa Beach Rd, saw the blank shed wall, saw the location and saw the horses. By the end of the day, the blank wall was adorned with a spraycan painting of a white horse.
"It was purely spur of the moment," said Mr G. "I drove past, saw the blank blue shed in a nice location and saw the club riding so I went over and asked for permission to paint one of their horses on the shed, they said yes."
It took him about three hours to spray-paint the mural.
"A lot of the locals could see me painting it and came over and loved watching it unfold," he said.
The equine portrait was based on Mangatu's Cloud, the horse of 16-year-old Lucy Cheadle from Paengaroa, who was at the club rally when Mr G stopped by.
He photographed the horse and returned later in the day.
Club member Michele Scott, who was also at the rally, said she didn't know who Mr G was but some others did.
She said the club was "super privileged" to have Mr G's work on its shed.
"We are such a small boutique club so it's pretty amazing, we are so lucky. It's phenomenal to be able to do that with a spraycan."