By Shamsiya Hussainpoor
A Monbulk professional fine artist has just completed her biggest mural to date – a bright-colourful 8.5-metre botanical masterpiece painted on a building in Rusutsu, a resort town in Japan’s Hokkaido region.
The mural, showcasing Elizabeth Gleeson’s signature folk-nouveau style, combines intricate patterns with nature-inspired designs.
It took Ms Gleeson and her team two weeks to complete, the vibrant mural is located along the national highway, and it has already become a new landmark for the town.
It stands in sharp contrast to the area’s minimalistic architecture, built to withstand up to 14 metres of snow each year.
“This has been an incredible experience,” the artist said.
“The support from the local community has been overwhelming, and the opportunity to create something so bold and beautiful in such a public space is just amazing.”
The project came to life when Ms Gleeson’s work was spotted online by a client in Japan.
The client, who was looking to transform the front of her three-storey home with a botanical mural, loved her style and reached out with a request to use one of her designs.
Ms Gleeson proposed that instead of just providing the design, she would fly to Japan to oversee the mural as both the artist and a consultant.
“I suggested that if she covered my travel and accommodation, I could come over and make the mural happen,” she said.
The client agreed, and the project began to take shape.
This mural marks the artist’s third large-scale house project, following earlier works in East Gippsland and Malaysia.
While the mural was a success, the project wasn’t without its challenges and one of the biggest hurdles was when the paint delivery went wrong.
“The base colour of the paint was completely off,” she said.
“We ordered a beautiful teal, but when it arrived, it was bright marine blue – it was totally not what we had planned.”
With little time to spare and no custom paint available on the island, Ms Gleeson and her team had to get creative, and they ended up mixing their own paint to get the right colour.
“It added a lot of extra time to the project, but it was definitely worth it in the end,” she said.
And language barriers also posed difficulties, as Ms Gleeson does not speak Japanese.
“I had to rely a lot on Google Translate and a lot of patience – it wasn’t easy, but we made it work,” she said.
The mural itself required extensive scaffolding, as the building was 25 metres high, Ms Gleeson and her team had to use four levels of scaffolding to reach the walls.
“It was a bit nerve-wracking at first, but once we got started, it was actually great,” she said.
Once it was finished, the artists said the local response to the mural was overwhelmingly positive.
“The owners were absolutely thrilled with the results,” she said.
“It’s been amazing to see how the community has embraced the mural – it feels like a real collaboration and I’m so proud that my work is now part of this town’s landscape.”
The mural is already attracting visitors and is expected to become a popular spot for tourists and locals alike.
With the success of this project behind her, Ms Gleeson is already looking ahead to more opportunities in doing similar projects around the world.
“I’d love to continue sharing my art with new communities, especially in places like Japan where public art is starting to gain momentum,” she said.
Her journey into mural painting started seven years ago, after she moved away from costume and fashion design.
“I’ve always been creative, but it wasn’t until recently that I found my true passion in murals,” she said.
“The style I use now is a mix of folk art and nouveau, with lots of colour and intricate patterns – it’s a style that really speaks to me,” the artist said.
Her latest mural in Japan is just the beginning of what she hopes will be a long and successful journey as a muralist and professional artist.
She hopes her vibrant murals can also brighten people’s lives and make the world a nicer place to live.
“With everything happening in the world right now, I just want to bring beauty and positivity wherever I can, and art has that power,” she said.
