Working in short bursts and with a steady hand, Mathew Vizbulis sprayed lines on the wall of a Crowland Avenue business, bringing colourful flowers to life Thursday morning.

Vizbulis, an artist for most of his life, had spray can after spray can on the ground in front of him as he chose which colour he was going to use next on the south wall of Redeemed Goods, on the east side of Welland.

The wall was blank before he started his work this week and he was given free rein by the business and its manager to lay out what he wanted.

"I think he has a feel for Open Arms Mission and Redeemed Goods . it's amazing to watch him work," said Pam Taylor, store manager.

Redeemed Goods, at 289 Crowland Ave., is a thrift shop operated by the mission, a Christian organization that also operates a food bank and helps people in need in the community. The thrift shop sells such things as clothes, household appliances and furniture.

Taylor, relatively new to the position, believes there will be a great response to Vizbulis's work.

"There's a lot of traffic on the street and I think a lot of people will see it," she said.

Vizbulis wasn't chosen at random to work on the mural, he has a connection to the store.

"His mother, Sharon, is on our board of directors. We heard so many great things about him . how community-minded he is and how he draws attention to where he works," said Taylor.

Vizbulis said his mother told Open Arms and Redeemed Goods that he could paint a big Thrift Store sign on the side to help attract people.

"When we realized we had access to the entire wall I pursued it and said, 'Let's go for it.' I asked if there was anything standing in the way and they all looked at each other and said no," he said.

Inspiration for the project came from a large mural the Fonthill-raised artist recently completed in downtown St. Catharines - a 20-by-60-foot piece. That piece played off the Garden City nickname and consists of flowers on a large wall with windows that make it look like a garden.

"I approached it with that idea."

With Welland known as the Rose City, the theme worked out well. There will be roses incorporated into the piece once complete.

Vizbulis, who studied at Ontario College of Art and Design University, said he was working on large murals as far back as high school. He described his work as 'street style' and influenced by skateboard culture.

"When I was a growing up as a white suburban kid there was no real exposure to any kind of spray paint art. There wasn't any around."

As a skateboarding teenager, he said, the culture in the '80s and '90s brought street art into the world more than it had been. What he likes about street art is the scale of it, whether a large complex piece or something very simple, and it being in the public sphere.

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"If we had a look around Welland today we could see plenty of walls that could have colour."

Street art can be relatively inexpensive, but it can add up depending on what's being done.

"For example, here I'm not trying to fill everything, that would be very expensive. I'm going for coverage and getting a lot of colour out there."

Speaking of colour, Vizbulis said there are at least 600 varieties to choose from these days, far more than the colour palette available when he was in school.

The wide choice opened more artistic avenues and with the industrialization of spray, it's now more durable and long-lasting. Pointing out a Barbie pink colour on the wall, he said it will stay bright and vibrant for at least a couple of years before it starts to fade.

"These are colours you don't see every day," he said.

As with the Redeemed Goods mural, Vizbulis said when a business or organization has control of a space it's easy to create public art.

With those renting or leasing it's much harder to have that public art because there's bureaucracy to go through and some landlords lack the courage to have something on their property.

"We need to discuss this as a community and work on it, because once it happens, everyone likes it. But the road to getting there is very difficult and confusing . but people can always whitewash a wall if they don't like the piece."

Nathaniel.Johnson@niagaradailies.com

905-684-7251 | @DaveJTheTrib