the ‘little bit different’ mural

When owners Brad and Elana of Cafe Botticelli approached me to paint a mural on the wall inside their cafe I was tickled pink! Having designed their coffee cup illustration 3 years ago I knew that this mural was going to be fun to do and I couldn’t wait to create something special once again for this very lovely family.

Cafe Botticelli’s brief was to have a mural celebrating over 30 years in business and to be painted in a playful/fun/humorous style with colours to suite their eclectic cafe.

My solution was to show some of Geelong’s historic events over the past 30 odd years illustrated in a storyboard fashion. Being such a family friendly cafe (have you seen Jabi’s Garden out the back?!) I decided to make it cartoon style.

When you visit Cafe Botticelli here is the Timeline cheat sheet so you know what each illustration is depicting:

1987 – National Wool Museum opens
1990 – Cafe Botticelli opens on Pako
1990 – First commercial FM Radio station K-Rock begins FM broadcasting
1991 – HM Prison Geelong officially closes
1993 – Eastern Beach Restoration
1998 – 21/6/98 The Botts first kiss
2001 – Geelong population is 184,332
2002 – May 23, Skilled Stadium hosts a visit from the Dalai Lama
2003 – Former mayor Frank De Stefano senteced to 10 years imprisonment on fraud charges involving A$8.3 million
2006 – Geelong population is 210,000 becoming the 12th largest city in Australia
2007 – Geelong Football Club wins premiership by record margin of 119 points
2009 – Geelong Football Club wins premiership
2010 – Geelong Ring Road construction Complete
2011 – Geelong Football Club wins premiership
2013 – Cafe Botticelli moves to Minerva Road
2016 – Geelong population is 253,269
2021 – Frank Costa RIP (1938 – 2021)

Pop into this family cafe for breaky, lunch or coffee and check out the mural while you’re there!

Cafe Botticelli
Open daily 7am-3:30pm
Jabi’s Garden 8:30am-3pm
7 Minerva Rd, Herne Hill
Phone: (03) 5229 8292