New mural for school's kitchen garden

The mural was designed and painted by local artist Mandy Schone-Salter (MAN.De) and was generously paid for by Katoomba RSL Club.

Some of the pupils' favourite things about the mural are that it includes local Upper Mountains plants that can be found in the nearby bush and that it features the school's totem - Guma, the King Parrot.

Katoomba RSL CEO, Nick Darias, said: "Our RSL is a community club working for its members and the community. We have a great relationship with all local schools, especially Katoomba Public School, and we're proud to be associated with the funding of the mural."

Mandy Schone-Salter is a Mountains-based artist working in urban art, photography and community art. Her work encompasses large-scale murals, paste-ups and stencil art works, as well as installations.

She has worked on street art projects both in Australia and around the world and has also worked with school students across Sydney.

Katoomba Public is already planning some more lovely murals, thanks to receiving a state government Community Building Partnerships grant.

"The children have lots of ideas about what else they'd like to see painted around the school, and we'll be putting a call out to local artists very soon," said community liaison officer Catriona Paterson.

In other mural action elsewhere in Katoomba, the Three Sisters mural at the railway station has been given a new lick of paint.

The mural, painted by Vernon Treweeke in 1992, had deteriorated after exposure to the elements.

It was removed recently and restored by local artist Peter Marshall.

It has now been reinstated at the station. The work was done as part of the NSW Government's new intercity fleet project.

And at the Food Co-op Big Little Shop (opposite the regular co-op store in Hapenny Lane), mural artist Nastia Gladushchenko has just painted a botanical mural in the window.

Gladushchenko's work has been featured in huge city murals, on business branding and in art exhibitions.