Colour connoisseur Ella Simpson has made her mark on Sturt Street, with the addition of a spectacular mural alongside the laundrette-turned-street-food-bar Vietnamese Laundry. Simpson’s trademark palette is making its way around the city, recently popping up on the walls of The Franklin Hotel and East Terrace Continental, but this mighty mural is the biggest piece of art that Simpson has ever worked on, which she completed this week.

“It has been a challenge! Initially I was pretty ballsy and thought ‘this will take me a few days max’ but I soon realised the wall was much bigger than I anticipated and the surface was quite rough so it required a lot of paint,” says Simpson. “It has been such a great challenge though, and something I’m really proud that I pushed myself to do. It’s one for the bucket list ticked off, for sure!”

Simpson met Alex Fahey and Tin Chu from Vietnamese Laundry at her Illustrated exhibition last year. Fahey and Chu then approached her to work on their laneway wall, giving Simpson total free reign with the design. “We wanted to create a vibrant, colourful piece that really grabs your eye as you’re walking past.”

Simpson is usually busy producing art work on a much smaller scale through InkAndRubyStudios, where she works with multiple layers, materials and elements to create her bold paintings, illustrations and mixed media pieces.

“Lately I’ve mixed it up a bit – my last exhibition was a group of pieces painted on ply wood – really rustic, with bright fresh colours. I also work with local event designer Kristy Langdon on lots of bits and pieces – hand made elements, chalk board signs etc for her events. We have a great shared ‘creative brain’ which leads to some really amazing outcomes. It’s nice to work in partnership and be pushed to think differently in an ‘art’ sense beyond my paintings.”

“I am inspired by lots of different artists and mediums, interior design and fashion illustration. I have an obsession with layering – so artists like NZ street artist Flox, UK based artist Erin Petson and local artist Emma Hack are up there with my faves. And colour – anything with a punch of colour.”

Simpson will be putting her finishing touches on the mural tonight, while Vietnamese Laundry serve up Friday night drinks. Look out for more of Simpson’s colourful pieces at the new revamped front bar of the Hotel Tivoli soon, or maybe even at another city wall near you…

“I would love to keep doing more in the future. I’m constantly checking out blank walls in the city and thinking about how I would paint them – this might be my new obsession!”