Biboolboorn
Biboolboorn, my first hand-painted mural, completed in 2021, features a 5 x 5m imagined depiction of a salt-water paperbark tree. This tree was designed and painted in what is known as 'tiles', which are essentially shape and value-based pieces of the image, coming together as one. These tiles are first identified from the largest shape and darkest, and then worked all the way up to the light end of the value scale. This is a system of painting, and it helped me a lot with working out the design of this mural. My intention for this mural was to imbue a sense of life and electricity flowing through the tree, informed by the shape design and interlocking pieces of bark and wood.
The mural was painted over 10 days, completed free-hand, sketched up, outlined, and then hand-painted. This work was commissioned by the Building Busselton Team, City of Busselton, with sponsors and funding support through RAC WA, BCCI (Busselton Chamber of Commerce and Industry), and is located down Opal Lane, Busselton.
Building Busselton Team has also provided the following testimonial:
Building Busselton Town Team was thrilled to have Tom Ansell join the Busselton Street Art Project with his mural, “Biboolboorn”. It has added a welcome splash of colour, movement and excitement to a previously drab laneway space alongside five other mural panels created by southwest artists.
Tom came up with a unique concept while still honouring the themes provided by the community, and we have heard a lot of great feedback from the public on his finished work.
Tom is thorough and detailed in his approach and cooperated well with the other artists. He was very involved in the project, participating in an artist talk and interview and as one of the two artists who attended the soft space launch to celebrate the completed murals. All of this shows Tom’s commitment to the overall project through to the very end.
Main photo credit: Andrew Winter.
Details
Size:
25 sqm
Type:
Commercial, Government / Council, Not for Profit
, Exterior
Location:
Artist
Tom Ansell
Tom Ansell is a West-Australian-based Muralist and Visual Artist interested in and practising artworks influenced and informed by both realism and surrealism. Tom completed his BA: Visual Art at ECU in 2014 before going on to study his BA: Visual Art Hons. in 2015-16. During his Honours, Tom had his first foray into public art. It was working with local sculptor, Alex Mickle, on a large project for the City of Bunbury that Tom completed his first public artwork, a 5 m-long re-imagining of the Carbet Castle, a barque that had its demise in Koombana Bay. The finished work, titled The Rescue, can be seen at the intersection of Koombana Drive and Estuary Drive, Bunbury.
In 2016, Tom completed his first mural, a 4.5m x 4m hand-drawn piece titled Sister Cities. This piece drew on Tom's fondness for drawing and mark-making, and was completed entirely in mural markers. In the years following this, Tom had a hiatus and worked as a Tutor, completed formal training to become a Lecturer at TAFE, and continued visual art commissions on the side whilst strengthening his visual art skills through the online program of Watts Atelier.
It was in 2021 that Tom began to see the viability of pursuing murals as a full-time business. In April 2021, Tom completed Biboolboorn, a 5m x 5m depiction of an imagined saltwater paperbark tree. This was his first painted mural and led the way to open up more consistent murals and develop his business.
Tom Ansell
Tom Ansell is a West-Australian-based Muralist and Visual Artist interested in and practising artworks influenced and informed by both realism and surrealism. Tom completed his BA: Visual Art at ECU in 2014 before going on to study his BA: Visual Art Hons. in 2015-16. During his Honours, Tom had his first foray into public art. It was working with local sculptor, Alex Mickle, on a large project for the City of Bunbury that Tom completed his first public artwork, a 5 m-long re-imagining of the Carbet Castle, a barque that had its demise in Koombana Bay. The finished work, titled The Rescue, can be seen at the intersection of Koombana Drive and Estuary Drive, Bunbury.
In 2016, Tom completed his first mural, a 4.5m x 4m hand-drawn piece titled Sister Cities. This piece drew on Tom's fondness for drawing and mark-making, and was completed entirely in mural markers. In the years following this, Tom had a hiatus and worked as a Tutor, completed formal training to become a Lecturer at TAFE, and continued visual art commissions on the side whilst strengthening his visual art skills through the online program of Watts Atelier.
It was in 2021 that Tom began to see the viability of pursuing murals as a full-time business. In April 2021, Tom completed Biboolboorn, a 5m x 5m depiction of an imagined saltwater paperbark tree. This was his first painted mural and led the way to open up more consistent murals and develop his business.