Underwater

This smiling dolphin gives a cheery welcome to the patrons of Grateful Heads Hair Design, on McPhillips Street, Ganges, Salt Spring Island.

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Butterfly wall

I just loved this eye-catching wall of butterflies. It borders a parking lot on McPhillips Avenue, I think, in downtown Ganges, Salt Spring Island

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Ka'anapali dreamin'

This colourful scene decorated the wall of one of the lanai buildings we passed on the Ka'anapali (Maui, Hawaii) walkway where we got a bit of exercise each morning before the sun got too warm. 
 

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Japanese style

This colorful nature mural is a beautiful draw for Japanese Noodle.

Waves and whales

This coloring-book-style mural once decorated the side of one of the utility / washroom buildings along the White Rock promenade. The last time I was by, the mural had disappeared, however.



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Doorway whimsy

This mural adorns an entrance way with a light touch. I'm not positive about the location, but I think it's White Rock, B.C.


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Branching out

 This tree mural, painted on the side of a shop in Ocean Park (South Surrey) is only visible at an angle because of the nearness of the building beside it.

 The grapevine detailing is a nice touch.


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Ancient whales

I don't know the age of this Victoria, B.C. mural, featuring killer whales --  but it's not new!

Gray's Whales mural

In Port Alberni we saw a mural with another kind of whale. This mural of Gray's Whales was painted by Jeff King.

Parksville killer whales

But killer whales aren't popular only on northern Vancouver Island. These are swimming around Parksville

Port Hardy killer whales - 4

These beauties were swimming amongst the flower hangers at the front of the grocery store

Port Hardy killer whales - 3

Here's another chubby black-and-white cutie. (They do look cute, don't they - water pandas!)

Port Hardy killer whales - 2

I love the interesting effect of the killer whale mural painted on the truck trailer displayed against the ocean in the background - somewhat surrealistic.

Port Hardy killer whales - 1

A favorite north Vancouver Island subject of murals is the killer whale. In Port Hardy, we saw them everywhere.

Here is one painted on the school.



(Notice the muralist Razmpoosh - who also painted these Agassiz murals.)

The beavers are coming!

Yikes, these furry creatures look big enough to take on the cars! I think they're beavers. It's a shame so much of the painting is hidden by vehicles.

Hidden in plain sight

After our time at Powell River last September, we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and Courtenay - Comox.

This landscape featuring flowers decorated the tops of the stores down one of the streets in Courtenay. It's a a beautiful painting and a pity it isn't more in-your-face.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Deep woods find

I've been meaning to wake up this mural blog for a while now. Though I haven't photographed many new murals lately, it is the season when I'm again in the mood for murals and mural hunting. I'll try to post new murals twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays)

We'll start with a few that have been moldering in my collection, just waiting for their moment in the spotlight.

We came upon this primitively painted storage tank on our vacation last year, as we hiked through the forest from the north to south side of Savary Island (nearest city - Powell River).



As I said, I'll be posting murals twice a week now (Mondays and Thursdays) so come back often to see what's new!

Kalamalka Lake

I've been holidaying, thus the almost month-long absence. And I have been collecting more murals!

But before we get to those, let's finish Vernon. Today, the mural at 3300 34th Avenue North. This mural celebrates Vernon's beautiful Kalmalka Lake. It was based on a hand-tinted photograph by George Meers and captures the lake's greenish-blue hue. Included are a detail of the brush work and the head artist's signature.

Kalamalka Lake (2002)

Amateur muralist

(Sorry, but we're really scraping the bottom of the mural barrel here...)

These are murals I painted quite a few years ago, when I was in charge of the kids' part of our church's missionary conference.

This mountain village represents a mission compound in Venezuela.




And this, of course, is the jungle.

White Rock whaling wall

One of my favorite local murals is this whale mural in White Rock, seen on Johnston Road as you head toward the beach.

A little sleuthing on the internet has netted me some interesting info about it.

The 21 metre long mural of three life-size gray whales was painted by Wyland, in September of 1984. At the time he was only 28 years old and lived in California. It was the fourth of Wyland's "whaling walls." In February this year he completed number 95 in Key Largo.

List of Wyland's whaling walls

Wyland painting whaling wall 79 in California.



Painting the Key Largo wall (number 95).



and fast-forward ...