While many Kiwis are escaping to the beach and leaving the office behind, it's been long days and tight deadlines for a group of artists in Christchurch.
The Garden City is becoming well-known for its street art which started appearing across the city after the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes, adding much-needed colour to the sides of buildings among scenes of ruin.
Christchurch was named by Lonely Planet as a street art capital earlier this year, but this week's additions are not for tourism, they're for inspiration and learning according to the event organisers of Street Prints Otautahi.
Design student Jacob Root is one of 10 young people who was selected to be partnered up with one of 10 international and New Zealand-based street artists for the week-long festival, Street Prints Otautahi.
Mr Root said it's "the opportunity of a lifetime" to learn from world-renowned Irish street artist Fin Dac and help create his design on the YMCA building on Hereford St.
"I know so many people who would give their right arm to work with Fin... it's crazy".
The event was organised by YMCA and the Pushing Arts in NZ Trust with the aim being to help youth in Christchurch find purpose with street art and harness their skills to build a career around it.
The event relies on fundraising as well as support from the Rata Foundation and Christhchurch City Council.
PAINT's Lovie Smith said she hopes future events receive more support in New Zealand so artists involved can be paid for their work.
Fin Dac said he understands how hard it is to make street art into a profession, only focusing on art full-time 10 years ago after becoming "lost."
"I didn't have an outlet and I didn't have a mentor and I didn't have an art education, so I just completely forgot about it," he said.
Ms Smith said the apprentices have learnt how to "skip all of the mess and find the positive path" from their mentors this week.
Challenges for aspiring street artists can be finding buildings that they are allowed to paint on and dealing with the negative perception toward street art held by some people.
The festival helps show the youth involved as well as the public that it can be a positive aspect of the community, she said.
The street art is part of the city's changing face; they're not permanent fixtures due to some sites having plans for redevelopment in the next few years.
The public's able to purchase the apprentices artwork created this week from an exhibition at the YMCA.
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