Local artist Jos Coufreur is used to working hard, but when the team from Channel 7’s House Rules renovation show rocked up at his door asking for a giant painting within 48 hours, his skills were really put to the test.
“I got a phone call from the council, and they said we’ve got someone who wants a mural in their laundry, but they want it like ASAP within the next 48 hours, and would Jos consider that,” Hilly Coufreur – fellow artist and Jos’s wife - said.
Later that day the Coufreur’s home turned into a TV set, with House Rules contestant Kate arriving to give Jos his brief.
“Then we had to do it all again for the camera; they knocked on the door and came in as if for the first time, laying out the instructions and all,” Jos said.
“And of course the van was here with the big House Rules sign, and we’re getting phone calls from people, the neighbors, saying ‘oh are you renovating your house?’” Hilly said.
“And we couldn’t tell them anything.”
The painting, created in January as a feature piece for Mandurah’s own House Rules contestants Andrew and Jono King, is a portrait of film character The Dude from The Big Lebowski, holding a cup of tea that reads ‘a cup of tea fixes everything.’
"When [Kate] came she had something different in mind that she wanted, a mural on the wall, but that could get covered over next time someone changes their mind," Jos said.
"The style that she wanted was more pop-arty, with black outlines... but that's not quite my style, she came to me because she liked my work, so I had to do it a bit how I do it.
"I used a little roller for most of it, my normal work I use big brushes, and also a knife."
Within one night and a day, the painting, more than two metres in height, was ready to be picked up and installed in the King’s laundry.
“It’s sort of scary, because you do this sort of thing, and we’ve got no idea if the twins actually like it,” Hilly said.
“It was a whole whirlwind.”
“I’m happy with it, it came out good,” Jos said.
