He's a surfie who paints. Or an artist who surfs.

Either way, he's colouring up the townscape of Waihi Beach – transforming a public dunny into a conversation piece and a piddle into a visual seaside experience.

'Well, that's good then,” says an underwhelmed Shane Walker.

This might get his excitement up then. It's Sunday morning, just gone 7am and it's sheeting down. A bunch of joggers, walkers and dog owners have been captured by what Shane's done to their new main street dunny. They have stopped and grouped to critique.

'Think he's got it.” 'I quite like it.” 'Mmmmm.”

No-one's saying anything bad, which must mean they think it's good. Most of them are of the grump generation – so if they had something harsh to say, they would certainly say it.

What Shane has delivered to Wilson Rd is a vibrant surf-scape, which wraps itself around four walls. And even if you don't like sand between your toes, it's an irrefutable invitation over the low lying dunes and into the briny. Even on a crap day like today it's a glowing advertisement for what Waihi Beach has to offer.

And the car? It's an iconic Chevy Nova.

'It's not anyone's car. It's just a car that appealed to me as an old surfie wagon,” says Shane.

But the dog, the cool dog, is someone's.

'The dog's very real. Name's Rocky. He's a staffie that got bigger in the painting. And I gave him some shades just to jazz him up a bit.”

Rocky was a master stroke. The Sunday grumps, especially the dog owners, liked Rocky.

'He's pretty placid – a bit of a cruiser, a bit of a character.” That's certainly the dog we see on the dunny wall. 'I just wanted to have a bit of fun with it.” It's fun but it also brings the surf – and sand 50 metres above the high water line – to the main street. It's feel good and it looks good.

Shane's signature is also scrawled on the ablution block outside the Waihi Surf Club. Another dunny, another mural, another eye-catching public artwork. And also up the road at the Beaches Motel. That kicked it all off.

'I know the owner and one day he asked me if I wanted to paint a wall. So I did.”

And if you come out of the fish 'n chip shop in Katikati and hang a sharp left you will bang straight into a larger-than-life George Vesey Stewart, founding father of the town. That's got Shane's name on it too.

It's an interesting career shift for the one-time mining labourer, prospector, explorer and signwriter. 'It's been a mixed bag of lollies. But the dream is to be the artist and for the last year I have been trying to pursue it full-time.”

He might need a few more commissions like the Wilson Rd job. Five thousand dollars for three weeks work and he supplied all the materials. 'And I graffiti guarded it.” That's a good deal for a public artwork, a bargain for ratepayers.

Shane may be sniffing around for another mural but he's getting on with his smallscale stuff.

'There's jokey stuff of animals.” Like the Waikato country huntaway kitted out in chequered shirt, oilskins leaning on a fence post with a beer in his paw. Waikato Draught, of course. There are also the surreal studies and 'bits of landscapes”. He likes to undersell.

In the meantime, he awaits another wall. Find Shane's artwork on Facebook.