A brushstroke of flavour: The vibrant feijoa mural in Palmerston North

23 May 2023

Artist Darcelle Nesser has done it again, adding joy and colour to the streets of her Kiwi town. If you’re driving through Palmerston North city centre, you’re sure not to miss the bright and brilliant feijoa painted in fantastic Resene paint colours.  

"After having finished painting all the bollards on George Street, Palmerston North, I really wanted to paint a wall,” Darcelle says. “I spent a few weeks wall scouting, looking for empty public walls around the CBD, and saw this particular wall.

“I had a great supportive team within the community and the council and I was granted complete freedom to do as I wish with this wall.

Darcelle’s giant fruit mural in Palmerston North. After studying the feijoa, Darcelle found the perfect paints to embody this delicious fruit. The skin is painted in Resene Bilbao, Resene Tree Frog, Resene Parsley, Resene Pacifika and Resene Neva, the flesh is painted in Resene Golden Sand, the pulp in Resene Horse Neck, Resene Half Turbo, Resene Whiskey Sour and Resene Cornfield, and for blending and accented tones, Darcelle used Resene Travis, Resene Whiskey Sour, Resene Perfume, Resene Greige, Resene Outrageous, Resene Wild Thing, Resene Half Turbo and Resene Black.

For a while, Darcelle pondered on what she wanted to paint. She took many factors into consideration, such as what colours would accentuate Palmerston North City Council, as the wall is part of the council building, what would be something easy and meaningful for people to look at, and the main thing – the public’s impression of Darcelle’s first wall as a wall mural artist.

“I wanted to paint something that would show the world exactly what I could do if I could paint whatever I wanted in the middle of the city - so I decided a giant feijoa will be perfect,” Darcelle says.

“It has always been a dream of mine to be able to paint giant fruit murals so this felt like the perfect place to make it happen. I love feijoas. I have spent so much of my time looking at and eating feijoas, so it is the fruit I trusted to have as my first experience of mural painting.

“We are in the middle of Autumn, and feijoas are everywhere. Whether we love feijoas or not, it is a part of our life here and we all have something to say about this particular fruit. It is a polarising fruit that garners a variety of opinions.”

Darcelle’s plein air still life painting on the side of the wall near where her large mural lays. Colours such as Resene Half Turbo, Resene Golden Sand and Resene Tree Frog represent the vibrant shades of this local fruit.  

Darcelle was given a bag of feijoas from some close people in her life, and she decided to use these as models for her mural. Once finishing the mural of her giant feijoa, she returned to the same spot to do a life-sized plein air still life painting on the side of the wall for fun. This was an enjoyable and rare experience for the artist – painting how she would normally paint at home on a canvas, but instead outdoors in public and painting on a wall.

“I hope this mural will make people think about the role of fruit in their own life,” Darcelle says. “Fruit brings together people, memories, and time, and just like talking about the weather, fruit is a conversational staple.

“Fruit is a significant token of life; it is always there in our day whether we realise it or not and it provides us with nutrition, comfort, nostalgia, routine and newness. I hope to keep being able to paint giant fruit around the country.

“Since I had never painted a giant wall before, I decided to not plan what style of painting I would do as I would not know what would work practically and what I could personally achieve. I decided to just figure it out on the day of painting.  

“I trusted in the process of learning on the spot and letting the giant feijoa come to life as it happens. Terrifying, but exhilarating."

See more of Darcelle’s work and designs: www.darcellen.com

Check out her Instagram: @riseofthepigeon

Published: 23 May 2023