This historical mural in Chemainus shows the main dirt road through the small town on a bright sunny day in 1945. Being a Vancouver Island mural artist, it was a great pleasure to paint this Chemainus story into life.

This mural shows young girl, Aileen Heikkila, riding her bicycle down Chemainus Road in 1945. The wind has picked up the letters in Aileen's bicycle basket, and blows them past Clement's Drug Store and Shaw's Men's Wear store fronts.

An old fashioned general store front, Clements Drug Store was first opened by Stuart Clement in Chemainus during 1928. I love painting old buildings like this into my murals, adding local Vancouver Island history.

A young lady in a blue dress rides her red bicycle down Chemainus Road in 1945. She hasn't seen the wind has removing the letters in her basket, or the paperboy on the other side of the street who would later be her husband. This was such a beautifully unique story to paint into a mural.

Letters blow down Chemainus Road as a 1941 Buick special leads the viewer's eye further into the distance. Painting buildings along a road with a dip in it was a fun challenge, as the buildings are downhill after Shaw's Men's Wear. I strive to paint a realistic perspective that helps the world of the mural open up to us.

A close up photo of the 1941 Buick Special that I painted driving into the distance of this Chemainus mural. I often use vehicles to show a date and take us back in time, but not so far as Conan the Barbarian's era, despite the Barbarian hanging out by the road on the right side of the mural.

A paperboy delivering the Vancouver Sun in 1945 pauses in front of the Jolly Trio, a small town corner store. Next door I painted signs in this Chemainus mural for Dr. Bryant's dental office (upstairs), a beauty salon, and Jimmy Webster's barber shop.

Young Russ Roe, a paperboy and Chemainus local shown delivering the Vancouver Sun in 1945, is immediately smitten by the young lady on her bike. As a BC mural artist who was also once a teenage paperboy (and smitten by a girl or two), this mural was great fun to paint.

Being a BC mural artist, I always look to add local stories to murals where possible. The Vancouver Sun newspaper held by the paperboy in 1945 covered 100,00 people greeting the Seaforth Highlanders, as they returned home to Vancouver after World War 2.