Now that the New Maitland Hospital has been officially opened I can share with you,at last, my little part in it. Late last year I was commissioned by NSW Government Health Infrastructure to create the artwork for the Paediatric areas of the New Maitland Hospital. I worked alongside the very talented Jaime Pritchard who, like me, was one of several artists invited to contribute to the Hospitals artwork. Jamie designed the beautiful trees that my images of animals live in and around. There are about 30 wall areas including the Paediatric Floor, Emergency Waiting Rooms, Outpatients, Day Surgery, Imaging and Procedure Rooms. The animals are made from collage paper and acrylic paint. These include koalas, echidnas, kangaroos, flying sugar gliders with Harry Potter glasses; Emus and dogs on bikes, birds of all colours and sizes, goannas on skateboards, a crocodile, frogs and even three blind mice. The images were then transferred onto thick decals, for easy cleaning, and then applied to each wall area. The brief was to design artwork to add a little joy and distraction in what can be a very frightening and challenging time for kids and their families…and to also bring some joy to the amazing staff. I had so much fun creating these creatures and thoroughly enjoyed working with the teams involved with the project. Here are some of the images of the animals and the areas in which they reside.