Audrey Low and Therese Lydia Joseph working on the mural with me at NSNH

In the 80’s I was very fortunate to work on a number of murals in the Netherlands with Artist Jan de Kok. One was a very large mural in a school building. So fast forward to 2014 and I am working with fellow Artist Therese Lydia Joseph and my daughter Audrey on a mural commemorating 75 years of the North Shore Neighbourhood House in the North Vancouver Community.
It is a wonderful organization and working together with its Executive Director on this was great. They run daycares,Seniors programs as well as other recreational programs all over the North Shore . The Food Bank setup is really impressive. One of the clients of the Food Bank said that the NSNH had humanized it for them by offering a table to have coffee and soup at so they could socialize. All in all a worthy non-profit society. See their website for more info and the option to donate too: http://www.nsnh.bc.ca

Some of the images of the mural on the balcony of the
activity room at the NSNH at  East 2nd Street, North Vancouver

We made three separate murals using a graphic of the North Shore Mountains as a backdrop. For one mural we used drawings done by children in a Daycare run by the NSNH. It was fun watching all those talented faces very seriously drawing their impressions of the NSNH and their community. Another mural with the same background was full of drawings done by seniors who participate in a social group run by the NSNH. They drew all about the North Shore as they remember it from the past, a real eye opener to how much the North Shore has changed. The third mural was inspired by the Food Bank and other services that NSNH provides.

Painting a mural is an incredibly weather sensitive thing to do. We were lucky that September in Vancouver was a great month full of sunshine. Alas now we have to wait for good weather in order to put on the protective layer. Which could be a problem as it rains a fair amount throughout the winter. Thank you to Muralist and ArtistTodd Polich for offering us advice on how to paint a mural. Please come and check it out.