Artist Laura van der Spek has let her love for dinosaurs and her cat show in a new Chancery Lane mural.
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The spray paint artwork is inspired by Jurassic Park and took Ms van der Spek months to create and complete.
“I have always loved dinosaurs and my friends requested it. So it’s Cat Meets Velociraptors by popular demand,” she said.
“This has taken me several months. The idea of cutting out all the stencils seemed really simple but the execution took me a lot longer than I thought I would,” she said.
“The cat took over 100 hours. The hat was drawn from a still taken from the movie and then breaking it into a seven layer stencil, cutting it out and painting it took about 100 hours.
“Cutting and lining up stencils was hardest part. There are three layer stencils, five layer stencils and the cat is a seven layer stencil.”
Cat Meets Velociraptor is Ms van der Spek’s second mural in Chancery Lane following her 2013 artwork The Cats of Chancery Lane.
“My first in 2013 was my final submission for university and my first public commission by the council. It was a big paste up of my cat, so I really wanted to keep him in there for the second rendition.
“I really wanted to challenge myself (this time) and I thought it would look cool. I'm so happy with how it's turned out.
“I keep thinking that I want to add to it over the years. Maybe add some pterodactyls in the sky or a Tyrannosaurus Rex sneaking over the hill. But I am so happy with it.”
Mr van der Spek’s mural is one of many Chancery Lane works commissioned by the City of Greater Bendigo.
Aerosol artist Brendan Purser, paste-up artist Mr Dimples, pop-icon muralist Hackney Hockney and illustrator Gert Geyer have all completed works at the Hargreaves Street end of the lane.
“I love what the council has done. They have been so supportive and encorouging of local artists,” Ms van der Spek said.
“Since 2009 they have done such a wonderful job and found such different artists.
“Hopefully other people have respect for the work. We put a lot of effort into these works. It's phenomenal.”