IDDLES Lane is on its way to becoming the most popular thoroughfare in downtown Rochester as everyone tries to get a sneak preview of the masterpiece slowly being unveiled by artist Tim Bowtell as he completes the stern face of ex-cop Ron Iddles.
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Tim has been hard at work since Sunday, day and night, in hopes of finishing.
Weather has been his enemy, however, with last week's 38C and 40C days bringing his work to a standstill.
His start date was meant to be October last year, however the weather didn't allow it.
“It’s been over 40C for most of the days and it’s just started raining, but we've finally managed to make a start,” Tim said.
“I was first asked about doing the mural in July last year and started watching Ron’s TV series, as well as going through all the photos and information I was given.”
His dedication to the project even found him labouring into the depths of the night on Wednesday – paintbrush in hand and the scene starkly lit by floodlights – working long hours in a bid to reclaim some of the time lost to the weather so the artwork can be ready for its official opening.
Ron Iddles started as a dairy farmer in Rochester and went on to spend 43 years investigating serious crime – and recording an astonishing 99 per cent conviction rate in that period.
Tim was selected by the Iddles family to illustrate their beginning as Iddles Brothers Shoe Shop in the 1950s to Ron becoming the man behind Foxtel’s Ron Iddles: The Good Cop and star of a biographical book of the same name.
He has painted murals in northern Victoria before, including the GrainCorp silos in St James, the Winton rest stop and Weathercraft Winery near Beechworth.
The mural will include quotes and information about the Iddles family and will be painted in sepia tone on the heritage-listed wall.
