This oil painting on stretched canvas by Neil Hartles is titled Rutledge Lane its inspiration came from a trip to Hosier Lane. Rutledge Lane is a horseshoe-shaped laneway that connects to Hosier Lane. It became a scene of controversy in 2013 when Melbourne street artist Adrian Doyle got permission to paint the entire laneway Nursery Blue. Melbourne graffiti artists weren’t too happy with this happening to the Laneway. Within hours of it taking place, they started to tag and graffiti the walls again. It looks as if they were determined not to leave one square inch of that Nursery Blue colour.
Hartles has created a painting of dynamic colours from the old cobblestone road to the Nursery Blue bins full of empty spray cans and graffiti all over the walls of this iconic Melbourne laneway. He has even placed his name somewhere for the viewer to find.