Canmore mural coated with new colour

CANMORE – A Canmore artist has given new life to a downtown Canmore mural.

Pat Jakubiec has left his mark, once more, on the wall behind JK Bakery Cafe (7th Avenue), spraying over his weathered design with a new Rockies scene.

When the trees around the edges of the wall were cut leaving behind unpainted space, the artist felt it was time for a refresh.

“I just said, ‘Ah, maybe it’s time to just blast it all over with something new,’” said Jakubiec.

“We just kind of agreed that it was going to be an ever-changing and evolving space,” he added, agreeing with the building owner.

Painting over his old design that featured classic Bow Valley symbols of an elk, a marmot, Mount Lady Macdonald and Alberta’s wild rose with primer, the graffiti artist got to work.

“You’ve got [Mount] Yamnuska looming in the background, and then it’s kind of like a night scene-ish where the sun starts rising barely, and it illuminates pinky orange,” he said of the new mural’s wintery design.

An ode to the sprawling prairies that roll out the carpet for the Rockies out west, the artist added a prowling cougar and snowshoe hare on high alert, alongside a train engine.

“Those are older model engines that they use just to switch cars around Exshaw,” Jakubiec said of what inspired the design.

The artist, who now has about 200 murals to his name, remembers the first time he turned the brick wall into a work of art three years ago.

“I painted the last mural in winter. It was freezing cold, and then now it’s blazing hot and I’m painting winter scenes, it’s just funny it worked out that way,” he said with a laugh, remembering the blizzard he worked in to complete the first mural.

Without picture references, Jakubiec sketches a concept on his iPad and projects a rough outline on the wall. From there, creativity does the rest.

“I just loosely put outlines and then I just pick away at it. I didn’t use any reference images this time around, so that was cool. I just painted from truly just artistic expression,” said the artist whose tag, Tower, can be seen on murals across the Bow Valley, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

With murals on the back burner this year, Jakubiec says he’s been focused on creating his own canvas paintings but the artist still has some designs in the pipeline that one day he’d love to coat a blank wall in.

“ I have a list of Canadian wildlife animals that I want to do,” he said.

“I still would love to do a giant bison somewhere in a really nice prairie setting or sunrise or sunset … and some more fish, like local trout species are always fun, too.”

Crowdsourcing his supplies for this project, Jakubiec thanked all those who donated towards the mural, helping him bring the design to life and buy the many cans of spray paint needed for the piece.

“ I’m super thankful for all the family and friends that helped,” said Jakubiec, who started the project in July.

Murals last about 10 years at the most before weather gets to them, Jakubiec added.

“You’re not going to get a beautiful mural preserved for 20 years. It’s not a thing,” he said.

“Once this one wears out, expect it to change in another few years.”

The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. This position covers Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation and Kananaskis Country.