Christmas murals at Grants Pass, OR

The Home For Christmas mural, above, is one of eighteen unique murals on display in Grants Pass, Oregon over Christmas. Panels 5 x 10 feet display colorful scenes by day. With fiber optic lighting they transform at night to shows of color, music, and light.

Click on any gallery picture on this page to get the enlargement and a description of the mural’s special features.

Crescent Beach - Surrey, BC

Our walk down Crescent Beach today took us past "Meg’s Place" – a beach house that is not shy about celebrating Christmas. Piped Christmas music originating from somewhere on the property floated across the path and a peek into the yard revealed a festive fairyland.

A Christmas mural in progress

I have no personal photos of Christmas murals – therefore no pictures to post. But there are some to be found on the web.

A mural artist named Cam has posted several Christmas mural works in progress.

View the almost finished first project here.

If you’re interested in how a garage-door-sized piece of canvas becomes a mural, check out his slide show, tracking the progress of the project above.

Art Gallery - Thunder Bay, ON

Murals decorate the covered window openings of the art gallery – a building located on the Thunder Bay waterfront (which was closed until further notice when we visited there this summer). The paintings, which look rather unremarkable from a distance, are really beautiful when viewed up close.

Winnipeg, MB

Yesterday the home team – the B.C. Lions – won the Grey Cup (football). Now, I do not claim even reflected glory from this. Our very tiny Grey Cup party fizzled when someone (not I) got sick. My only participation in the game was to occasionally check on the score from the bedroom where I was reading.

The game was played in Winnipeg - and I realized, as soon as I saw this site what I would have wanted to do had I been there.


This mural is located at 756 Ellice Avenue in Winnipeg. The artist is Jill Sellers. Check out the link above for 552 more mural shots, photos of other art, and artist info from around that city.

Cloverdale - Surrey, BC

On our way to the Remembrance Day ceremony on Saturday, we passed this mural. It does a good job of representing Cloverdale (one of Surrey’s several town centers), known for its flea markets, antique shops and the rodeo. Cloverdale’s quaint western-town streets have also made it a favorite location for movie and commercial shoots. Smallville, Postal, Hot Rod and others were filmed there.

The three scenes of remembrance, below, are painted are on the wall of a building facing the cenotaph square -- in Cloverdale as well.

Cloverdale Cenotaph, Surrey BC

Ernie and I joined hundreds of others at the Cenotaph in Cloverdale this morning for a Remembrance Day ceremony.





A special event this morning was the unveiling and dedication of a new statue on the cenotaph memorial


The representation of a World War 1 soldier, kneeling at the grave of a fallen comrade was commissioned to replace an earlier similar one which was melted down to make bullets for World War II. This new piece was paid for in part with funds raised by Surrey school children.


Before we left, we unpinned our poppies and placed them with hundreds of others on the memorial as a token of our remembrance and thanks to Canadian soldiers past and present.





We remember.

Lest we forget

These murals are painted on the walls of the Smithers Legion, Smithers, BC. They remind us of the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in W.W. I, II and the Korean War.

Remembrance Day is Saturday. Of course, this year we'll also be remembering Canadian soldiers who have died much more recently in missions like the one to Afghanistan.

Beachcombing - West Vancouver, BC

We spent some time walking on the beach today, and I was reminded of these little finds we made on a different beach this summer. Who would think beachcombing would yield mosaics? We noticed these walking along the West Vancouver sea wall.

Shivery murals from Agassiz, BC

Much of northwestern B.C. is shoveling out from under a dump of snow this weekend – a reminder that winter is already here, even if not officially by the calendar.

The weather reminded me of this series of murals by Skoda Razmpoosh – icy enough to make one shiver without any snow in sight! They decorate buildings in the town of Agassiz B.C.

Catacombs - Lakehead University, TB Ont.

The tunnels that connect various buildings on the campus of Lakehead University in Thunder Bay were covered with murals. Below are four details from one wall, which was a montage of subjects and styles.

Zajac Ranch, Mission BC

This mural depicting travel by stagecoach was painted by Dean Lauzé* on one of the out-buildings of Zajac Ranch in Mission, B.C. This isolated camp facility sits on the shore of Stave Lake. It’s mostly used for children with disabilities and life-threatening illnesses.

Zajac also rents out their facilities to church groups, families etc. Our choir went there for a retreat last weekend. These two murals showing area wildlife were painted by A. W. Hansen. They decorate the walls of the residence building in which we stayed.

*More murals by Dean Lauzé
More public art by Dean Lauzé (Orcas in the City Project)
Pixel orca
Trev Orca

Kurtenbach Vintage Orca

This is a mural found along one of the hallways of Kelowna General Hospital. Along with serving as a decorative wall, it is a way to display the names of people (written on the birds) in whose memory gifts have been given to the hospital foundation. (Click to enlarge)

The mural is a scene of Lake Okanagon – the geographical feature which has helped to define this interior resort town. It depicts lake activities (sailing), the town’s surrounding hills, the brilliant sun which makes this area such a fruit- and wine-rich garden, and of course the birds – signifying those who have left us.

Outdoor store - Thunder Bay, Ontario

This outdoor equipment store in Thunder Bay gets shoppers in the mood with realistic wildlife murals. You can practically smell the pine, hear the cry of wolves, and feel that tug on the line!

Mural on the ceiling of a smoking room

Canada Place - Vancouver, BC

This handsome wall hanging consists of small fabric squares stitched together to create a cityscape. It's on the walls of the lobby in Canada Place.

(The metal frame is bent because I stitched two photos together with my panorama-maker - in real life it's straight and true.)

Whitehorse, Yukon

This striking cultural mural is from Whitehorse in the Yukon. It is on the Dana Naye Ventures Building at Black and 5th and was painted by ‘Colin.’

And no, I haven’t been to Whitehorse. But Samson Hartland has. He lives there. Find pictures of more Whitehorse murals on his blog Northern Light.

Virtual tour of Murals in Whitehorse

Virtual tour of Murals in Whitehorse II

Hat-tip: Rebecca

Photo credit: Samson Hartland - used with permission

Murals of Thomas Hart Benton - Jefferson City, Missouri

For the last 30+ years of his career, artist Thomas Hart Benton concentrated on painting murals in the public buildings of the midwest states.

Joyce of Quiet Life pointed me to his murals in the Missouri State Capitol, a series called "The Social History of the State of Missouri." They depict scenes from pioneer days and the history of politics, farming and the law. Three panels show local legends.

This scene, the first of those legend panels, shows Huck Finn and Jim, fishing in the Mississippi. In the background is a paddle boat with the name “Sam Clemens” (aka Mark Twain and Missouri’s most famous writer) written on the side.



More of those striking murals can be seen here.

Let's Party!

This playful mural brightens the side wall of a balloon and party supply store in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Terry Fox Monument - Thunder Bay, Ontario

When we were in Thunder Bay this summer we made a special trip to the Terry Fox Memorial. This monument, just outside Thunder Bay on Highway 1, is a few kilometers from the spot where Terry Fox discovered cancer had come back and was forced to give up his Marathon of Hope. (He started April 12, ended September 1, 1980. He ran 5,373 kilometers in 143 days on one leg and a prosthesis).

Tomorrow, September 17th, is the day of this year's official Terry Fox Run when people in cities all across Canada and the world run to raise money for cancer research and continue the project Terry started in 1980.

About Terry Fox

Terry's early years

Story of the original Marathon of Hope

Map of Terry's journey. Below that are excerpts from a journal he wrote along the way.

Terry Fox Monument - 2

Terry Fox Monument - 3

Terry Fox Monument - 4


Notice the provincial emblems that line the mid-section of this side of the monument. (Click on photo to enlarge.)