The halls of the children's ward at Hawke's Bay Hospital are far less scary when they have a ladybug trail to lead sick littlies through them.
And a day in hospital can't be boring when you've got a bright and intricate mural by Jil of Aotearoa to look at.
The Rawhiti artist,
whose real name is Jil Sergent, dotted the last eye on the giant mural this week, a welcome colour injection in the children's ward. It took several weeks to complete.
The hospital's manager of women, children and youth services, Rika Hentschel, said a group of staff from the ward put their heads together last year to think of ways to make their place of work more welcoming.
"One of the members had seen one of Jil's murals adorning a local school and, with a bit of detective work, managed to contact Jil. And look at what has now been achieved. It's amazing," Mrs Hentschel said.
Jil developed her design and entered it into the 2009 Resene Mural Masterpieces competition. When she won the design category, Resene provided the paint required to make it happen for free.
"Jil has been an absolute delight to work with. She is as lively as her artwork and, throughout the process, has been keen to incorporate ideas from children and staff into our mural art."
The mural marks 20 years of Jil's painting for children but was a different experience for her.
"They were a very quiet bunch of children because they are so sick, usually I'm surrounded by questioning creatures," she said.
She hoped it would bring out smiles from those well enough to enjoy her work.
