General News
24 July, 2022
Mural wows judges at national competition
A STUNNING new mural at one of the region’s most popular tourist spots has been recognised on the national stage, with the hand-painted artwork winning a gold award at the 2022 National Sign & Graphics Awards.
The Emerald Creek Ice Creamery recently underwent a brand facelift with the help of Leo Schoepflin Design and Atherton business Signhub was contracted to install the new signage including the mural.
The mural was done by Signhub signwriter Andy Lowe and apprentice Mia Caulfield and covers the entire back wall of the shop with beautiful, vibrant, hand-painted images of ice creams, sundaes and ice cream ingredients.
It was entered into the traditional signcraft skills/airbrushing or handpainted murals category and won gold.
Mr Lowe also entered a design he did for the Cool Moon Motel in Ravenshoe while he was freelancing last year and took out silver.
Signhub entered three of their works into this year’s awards including the new entrance signs for Tablelands Regional Council, the Under Blue Skies Bookshop in Mareeba and the ice creamery.
Mr Lowe said while hand-painting the mural was time consuming, the result was more pleasing to the eye and environmentally friendly.
“There is a number of different ways this could have been done, this way gives you the most authentic look and it also means that kids can’t get here and pick away and pulls things off – it will last a lot longer,” Mr Lowe said.
“The most important thing about this mural is that it is green and environmentally friendly, what we are trying to do as a company is promote more of this kind of work.
“If this was a digital print job it would have been up in a day.”
Mr Lowe and Ms Caulfield spent a working week at the ice creamery doing the mural, applying several coats of paint and meticulously going over their work.
Mr Lowe believes the detail and time that went into the mural including the fastidious brush work, won the judges over.
“It is a great pat on the back for the whole team and it is a good thing to bring across our point of difference,” he said.
“With this sort of line work, both sides of your brush are the line so there is a lot more to this job plus everything had to be second or third coated.”
Despite the amount of effort, Mr Lowe and Signhub owner Bob Ramsay worked hard to find the right sweet spot between quality work and cost effectiveness for both Signhub and their customer.
