SwiftMantis's latest Palmerston North mural brightens Deerstalkers Hall

New Zealand Deerstalkers Manawatū branch vice-president Bryce Pratt (left), president Neville Carter and the artist SwiftMantis with the nearly completed mural in Thomson St. Photo / Judith Lacy

The royal red stag looks as if it's about to leap off the wall and trot up Thomson St in search of fresh fern.

But the deer really lives on SwiftMantis' latest magnificent mural, which covers the back wall of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association Manawatū Branch's hall on the corner of College and Thomson streets.

Below the deer is a whio (blue duck). NZDA Manawatū branch vice-president Bryce Pratt says the deer and whio are two heroes of the association. The branch is at the forefront of trapping whio predators in Oroua Valley.

The idea for the mural came after the hall was repainted.

Pratt is pleased with the completed artwork.

"What a great job [SwiftMantis'] done. It's pretty special really, not just for us as a club but for the entire community."

SwiftMantis is best known for his January 2020 mural of his cat Squishee on the back of the Grand Hotel in central Palmerston North.

As well as painting the deer mural, he ran a one-day workshop for four Awatapu College art students. SwiftMantis is an Awatapu old boy and he taught the students how to apply large-scale imagery to a wall using a scribble grid to get the proportions of the design correct.

"If you don't proportion it right it doesn't matter how well you paint it, it will just look weird."

The scribble grid of the whio's beak. The technique helps SwiftMantis get the image's proportions right. Photo / Judith Lacy

He wanted to recreate the majestic Kiwi landscape and the awe-inspiring sight of a deer in the wild.

"I like creating a vibe and mood to the mural, I want to give you the feeling when you see it."

SwiftMantis had never painted a deer or whio before but had tattooed both. He's used techniques to draw viewers to first the deer and then the duck.

Every mural is different and requires him to rethink what he knows and reinvent the wheel each time.

He studied design and photography, then illustration and animation, at UCOL and specialises in realism.

"It's a competitive career and you have to be pushing it to the utmost."

He also competes with himself, seeking to make his latest mural his best.

His first task with the deer mural was visiting the wall to visualise the space and then make rough sketches on top of photos fo the wall.

Before he picked up a can of UV-resistance Molotow Belton spray paint or started the scribble grid, he created the deer mural image using photobashing - a technique where artists merge and blend photographs while compositing them into one finished piece.

The mural also depicts a tui, huia, kiwi and kererū. As the huia was last spotted in the Tararua Range in 1907, SwiftMantis likes to include a huia in his murals. He says the huia was absolutely adored and cherished. "We just kind of walked it straight into its extinction. There are lessons there we need to know more than ever."

Ninety-five per cent of the mural is spraypainted; he used a brush where the imagery demanded it and spray paint is not suitable, eg. for the tui's eye and throat tufts. He finished with spray paint on top to achieve the smooth and blended look. "I don't really have a formula set in stone. I like to hybridise techniques on the fly and see what works."

SwiftMantis' primary trade is as a tattoo artist - Mantis Mike Tattoo. He got into painting murals in 2016 when he helped Gembol do Good Earth Matters in the UCOL carpark. He and Gembol then did a mural at the Campbell St campervan carpark.

The painting of Squishee, a stray cat SwiftMantis found under his tattoo studio, has been selected to feature in Illusion in Design: New Trends in Architecture and Interiors. The book will be published by Rizzoli New York next year.

People really responded to the Squishee mural, it just "absolutely blew up", he says. He's had people think it was on a building in Prague as they didn't recognise the Palmy landscape - admittedly an angle many residents don't see. Others said it must be Photoshopped. SwiftMantis considers this the ultimate compliment as it was 100 per cent spraypainted.

"That was a real passion project for me, it was telling my own cat story."

He has also painted Kevin the Parkland School cat, Hangar the Whanganui Airport cat, and Levin cat Niko, a rescue who now lives on a feijoa orchard.

But back to deer. Pratt says deerstalkers view deer as trophy animals. There are seven species of wild deer in New Zealand with the Ruahine and Tararua ranges dominated by red deer.

"For us as hunters it's about getting out there and enjoying the outdoors, enjoying the environment, the ecology."

Deerstalking provides organic, free-range meat for family and friends. By being smart about what and where they hunt the herd can be well managed.

"Hunting is conservation, we're not out there with all guns blazing. There is purpose in what we do."

The Department of Conservation says deer are valued as a recreational, cultural, and economic resource. They are hunted for sport and to harvest venison.

But, unless their numbers are managed, wild deer can damage the environment by selective foraging. Deer have no natural predators, which means they can grow to large numbers without the support of hunters, DoC's website says.

A progress shot of the whio, part of SwiftMantis' mural on the Deerstalkers Hall in Palmerston North. Photo / Judith Lacy

Pratt says NZDA has adopted the whio and members trap its predators, which include stoats, weasels, ferrets, rats and feral cats. Where the whio lives is a sign of a healthy river system with clean, swift-moving water and a lack of predators.

The Manawatū club has 152 members - men and women of a range of ages. Pratt says the club is going from strength to strength with membership nearly doubling in the past three years.

It runs NZDA's hunts course that covers where and how to hunt, bushcraft, river crossing, navigation, firearms safety and butchery.

The mural was paid for by $4000 from Palmerston North City Council's Creative Communities Scheme, donations from club members, and support from scaffolders Acrow.

It will be added to the city's arts trail and a sign erected explaining the mural.

The club meets on the last Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm (not December) with guest speakers on topics of interest.