Spectacular mural being created on the outside of Levin business

The star of the giant mural being painted in Oxford St, Levin, is local rescue cat Niko.

Have you seen the amazing 5 metre high and 20 metre long mural being painted on the side of the Novus Glass building in Oxford St?

The star of the artwork is local cat Niko, a rescue who now lives on a feijoa orchard just out of town, and the perspective of the Tararua Ranges is from directly above his home near Potts Rd.

Horowhenua District Council have commissioned Palmerston North-based artist SwiftMantis to create this masterpiece, which he's been working on for about three weeks.

Funding for the mural comes under council's recently adopted Community and Social Development Action plan.

This plan looks for opportunities to beautify and add vibrancy to spaces, creating a colourful community, according to Cathryn Pollock, HDC's acting community, wellbeing and engagement manager.

"[Council] believe the addition of this mural to our community adds to the vibrancy that we're setting out to achieve and we're hoping that this is just the start of many feature murals in our district," said Pollock.

Stunning depiction of the Tararua Ranges as part of the giant mural being painted by SwiftMantis in Oxford St, Levin.

Murals and street art are actually SwiftMantis' second profession, which he began in 2016.

"I'm primarily a tattoo artist ... have been tattooing for just over a dozen years and now run my own private studio, In The Shade," he said.

SwiftMantis' street artwork predominantly focuses on animal realism and in the past few years he has moved towards animal portraits and storytelling.

The stray animals stories series began with a portrait he did of his own stray cat, Squishee, for Street Prints Papaioea in Palmerston North last year.

"I then painted a portrait of Kevin the school cat at Parkland School [also in Palmerston North] followed by Hangar the airport cat in Whanganui," he said.

SwiftMantis met the cats and photographed them to fit the large scale mural perspective, getting down on the ground to shoot them at an upward angle to match how a person would view the mural on the wall.

The mural in Levin started with wall preparation which involved sealing the 100sq m raw concrete surface with 17 litres of sealant.

SwiftMantis' face wears the creases of all his hard work - mask-wearing is compulsory when spray painting.

"My work on this project has been a bit off and on due to bad weather and having to finish early because of the shorter winter days."

Plus he became unwell trying to paint through the recent cold snap.

SwiftMantis believes he'll be finished the mural by Friday or, at the latest, early next week. To see more of his amazing work check out his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SWIFTMANTISProductions.

The Horowhenua Creative Communities scheme opens for applications on August 1. People are encouraged to apply for creative projects they want to pursue. If it's a mural, they seek permission from the owner of the identified space before applying.

More information can be found on the council's website https://www.horowhenua.govt.nz/Home.