The most controversial piece of public art to descend (and ascend) from the capital has now been immortalised on a t-shirt.

The shirt, produced by Canberran designer Peter Gray, is one of the first pieces of Skywhale memorabilia available to purchase.

The very first souvenirs, the double-sided love or hate Skywhale badges, were a kitsch hit – something Mr Gray hopes to achieve.

“I thought that the ‘Keep Calm and…’ meme might be a funny piece of Skywhale memorabilia. I haven't really seen anything that people can own that has Skywhale on it yet so I thought I would try my hand at it,” Mr Gray told Fairfax Media.

He said he was surprised at how long it took for creative and enterprising locals to ride the publicity coat tails of “Canberra’s most troublesome piece of art”.

Mr Gray, a public servant and emerging designer who studied Fine Art, created the print on Monday by combining a photo of Patricia Piccinini’s Skywhale and the motivational slogan originally circulated by the British government in the late 1930s.

Within the first 24-hours of the shirt being posted on an online independent design forum he had already sold “a couple”.

“It’s a pretty tired meme but I think the irony is pretty spot on,” he said.

“I really enjoyed the whole Skywhale experience, or what has now become known as ‘Canberra’s most troublesome artwork’. My kids loved it too. I love it and I’m sick and tired of defending Canberra so perhaps the message could be taken literally.”

And the Skywhale may have departed our skies for now, but Chief Minister Katy Gallagher confirmed via Twitter that it would be back before the end of the year - so stay tuned for the dates of the next flight.

Mr Gray also created a time lapse video of Skywhale’s first tether and hopes more headline making art makes it way to Canberra in the future.

Centenary of Canberra executive director Jeremy Lasek confirmed on Wednesday that the controversial balloon will be back in the capital for a number of appearances throughout the remainder of 2013.

“The timing and the locations should be confirmed in the next week or so,” he said.

“We are also excited that Skywhale will be the star attraction at the 2014 Canberra Balloon Spectacular next March.”