Fire Brigade

At first the Vernon fire brigade had only leather buckets with which to fight fires. An insurance company prompted them to purchase a hand-drawn engine equipped with a hand pump. The vehicle in the mural - a later upgrade - has a motor.

"Vernon Fire Brigade" - 1999
3002 - 32nd Ave., North-facing wall

War Posters

These poster murals are also from Vernon. They're drawn on walls near the cenotaph. Their messages obviously come from a different era.

Wartime efforts

A whole street of buildings facing the cenotaph square in Vernon has paintings in memory of wartime. These can be viewed from Cenotaph Park - 31st Avenue and 30th Street. Again Michelle Loughery was the lead artist.

In Memory - 2001

Unfortunately there was a truck parked right in front of the handsome soldier, so I only got a very oblique shot of him.

I love the amazing sky in the mural below.

(Click on any photo to enlarge)

Alice Parke Diaries

Alice Barrett Parke's daily journals were the inspiration for this mural. In 1891 this Port Dover, Ontario resident moved to the Okanagan Valley to be a housekeeper for her brother. She married Harold Parke, a former Northwest Mounted Police officer and wrote in her diaries about work, health, religion, race and gender relations, and women's lives.

Her diaries later became the book Hobnobbing with a Countess and Other Okanagan Adventures: Diaries of Alice Barrett Parke, 1891 - 1900, edited by Jo Fraser Jones.

Alice Park Diaries
2002 by Michelle Loughery lead artist
2910 - 31st Avenue in Vernon.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

I like the handwritten journal page background and granny glasses. I wonder, when she was writing those diaries, did she have any idea they would someday be published?

Vernon murals

We spent a few hours last Saturday mural hunting in the Okanagan city of Vernon. (Yaaay - new murals at last!) Vernon's mural project, which consists of 27 murals scattered throughout the downtown area, is described on their website:

The mural project was a multi-year collaborative effort which included both a youth employment and revitalization strategy. Initial core funding came from Human Resources Development Canada as part of a job creation program.

Over 54 youth were hired and gained valuable life skills and real work experience. Many of these youth have gone on to rewarding careers. Two of the youth, Steven Skolka and Tyler Toews have created their own company called Canadian Murals. ...

The mural project created pride in our heritage and was a catalyst for revitalization of the heritage character of Vernon's downtown business center.

In the days ahead, I'll be posting my photos of these murals here. Today we begin with the mural "Shuswap and Okanagan Railway" created in 2000. It is located at 2899 - 29th Street and Michelle Loughery was the main artist.

Shuswap and Okanagan Railway

This spur of the CPR was begun in Sicamous in 1890. It reached Vernon in 1891. Though it was officially called the S&O, it was nicknamed the Molasses Ltd. because people said they could make the trip faster by foot.

(Information about the murals comes from The Heritage Murals of Downtown Vernon website.)

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.

Dutch Mother's Restaurant

The street wasn't the only place we found murals in Lynden.

We had lunch at the Dutch Mother's Restaurant. Our table was in a room with this streetscape mural.


These fine folk keep an eye on the clientele in the buffet area.

Tulips, clogs and windmolen

Lynden Washington has a delightful mural wall on Front Street. Not surprisingly it's on Dutch theme. When we visited, about two weeks ago, the town was gearing up for Dutch Days, thus the sideways view of the first panel (there was a tent in the way).

Click on any picture to see a larger view.

Sound of silence

Do you hear it? Silence. No more music. When I checked the Sonific website this morning, after noticing my player hasn't been working in the last few days, I discovered that it is no more, due to music licensing issues. I'm sad. Explanation is here.

Just do it!

Mural sightings have been scarce lately. However, I do have a few I still haven't posted here.

Here is one that brightens the walkway wall of the Superstore in Kamloops, photographed when we were there a few weeks ago. I guess the reminder is to do more with that load of groceries you're trucking home than to only wear out the couch.

Beach Mosaics

This morning we drove to West Vancouver for brunch with friends. Then to settle that yummy combination of French toast sandwiches, fruit salad, and coffee we took a walk along the sea wall.

Someone has been busy, laying more mosaics into the stones along the walkway. These new ones join several I posted here in November '06.

Beach peas

Anchor

Seahorse

Fish

and a whale

Easter Pysanka

I've been saving this beautiful Vegreville pysanka statue / weather vane for this season. Here it is today -- a week before Good Friday.

We stopped in Vegreville on our trip through Alberta last fall to photograph this largest pysanka in the world. It was put up in 1974 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the RCMP and to celebrate the cultural diversity of the Vegreville community. Hubby, standing at its base, gives an idea of its size.


Pysanka are traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. They are made with chicken eggs using a batik process, where wax, funneled through the tip of an instrument that's as fine as a pen (stylus), provides a resist to many baths of dye. The end result is amazingly intricate and colorful.

My husband is of Ukrainian descent and his mom had her own collection of pysanka -- not made by her, though.

For a detailed description of the process and explanation of what the colors signify, visit "Art of Ukrainian Pysanka" by artist and muralist Patricia Buzo of -- Patricia's Palette.

For a collection of hand-made pysanka that spans years, check out Luba Petrusha's Annual Collections gallery. Click on each year (top) to view the collection of that year's pysanka. Absolutely stunning!

Airport Murals

A few years ago I had a wait at the Calgary airport. I believe that is where I photographed this interesting collage mural.




When I was back through Calgary a few weeks ago, I looked for it - but it was nowhere in sight.

Instead, this horsey mural was on display in the flight lounge area.