Jamie Harkins has been painting Mount Maunganui street scenes at night, with the paintings being exhibited at Float Antigravity Fitness for one night and one day only.

The exhibition launched on Friday night and will open again today, Saturday from 12noon to 4pm.

Jamie, who is internationally famous for his three-dimensional sand art, hasn't been painting the main tourist tootle along Maunganui Road and around the beach roads.

Instead he's slipped into the mid-roads, the ones that locals mostly know and use. Grove Avenue, Moa Street, Tay Street, Sullivan Road, around the back of the Mellick and Tweed Street. Houses, mailboxes, intersections. Capturing the nightly inky blues and golden hues from the street lights. And he's lifted from the footpaths the cats that come out to play - a soft brush flick and felines appear on canvas, their ginger and black fur smudging the evening scenes, tails flicking with mischief.

Jamie's night time landscapes transport you into a quiet world of stilled Mount Maunganui streets illumined by the moon, with shadows cast across garages and solitary parked cars. Hydrangeas, low shrubs and concrete paths are sensed, more than seen, slipping back behind the houses, windows reflecting the shine of nearby lamps.

'I'm trying to give the Mount another identity other than surf, summer and tourist locations,” says Jamie. 'The locals who live here know how great winter and night time is because the crowds are gone, there isn't all that noise, just you and the town. I feel like I know the Mount so much more because I've painted each tree.

'For this exhibition I wanted to do the opposite of what's been done,” says Jamie. 'Everyone is into the whole facade of beach, surfing and tourism. But what's local? Streets, cul de sacs and intersections. It's about getting people to focus on the here and the now of where we're going and what we were.

'When you go out at night and there's no one around, you get those moments of clarity. I'm trying to get that clarity across, through colour. The colour of night.”

'There's so much changing here with buildings and streets,” says Jamie. 'We know it's all going to be gone or changed five years from now. I thought the locals might like to buy these. Creating a time capsule of now and holding it so they can look at it and say ‘that house used to be there'.”

Jamie has been painting for years. An early exhibition where he sold everything turned into commission work, and a part time job at Tay Street Café helps bring the creativity back into his painting.

He's worked in chalk, pastels and oils, and for this one night/one day exhibition, being held at Float Antigravity Fitness, he's using acrylics. He's developed his own unique technique.

'I work by layering – it's a very slow technique,” says Jamie. 'I paint the canvas black, then go over

it with snail trails of white. I go over it more than 30 times. The last process is layering colour over top of that.”

He finds the time-consuming layering results in the painting looking different under different lights.

The exhibition launch featured music by Dieggo Lopez.

Jamie's exhibition will be open to public viewing Saturday July 28 from 12noon to 4pm at Float Antigravity Fitness next door to the Mount Cinema.

Louise and Chris Kirkham

Dieggo Lopez playing music at the exhibition opening on Friday night

Rachael Stanway and James Stanbridge

Leah Rogers and Abby Meg Andersen

John Baxter and Jimi Colzato

Jo Smith, Bronya Rae and Abby Meg Andersen