Murals

Artist Carly Gordon standing on dirt ground in front of a large colourful mural on a building wall, with a clear blue sky above.

MuraL Portfolio

Wetaskiwin long term care

Reminiscing on a prairie Day

Currently, I have been doing mural work in a long term care facility in Wetaskiwin. The first completed mural is shown below, Reminiscing on a Prairie Day, encompassing the main room of the locked unit for memory care (dementia) patients. Completed in 123 hours, most of this was painted at night so the residents would be asleep. Visiting family members and all of the staff talked with me about the impact it was making for their own mental health in the space, as well as the positive impact on residents’ behaviour. Notably - less “calling out” as they are more stimulated.

Right now I am painting a second room there - transforming the recreation room for the rest of the residents into an immersive experience of Alberta scenes featuring several mountainscapes and one giant blue jay (often seen as a symbol of deceased loved ones).

Both rooms are over 1000 sq.ft.

A person is adjusting a painted window with the word 'CAFE' on it in front of a brick wall. The wall has painted green ivy and a flower bed below the window. There is a red and white checkered curtain hanging above the window, and a red and white striped awning at the top.
Wall painted mural of a brick building with a blue door, a window with the word 'Café' above it, flower boxes with tulips, and a sky ceiling with white clouds.
Brick wall with fire extinguisher, fire alarm, control panel, and flower mural at the bottom.

Yes, the brick is hand painted! The cafe storefront serves as a familiar location for residents to feel like they are out socializing and in community with one another.

Not pictured: A striped awning I sewed and installed, and physical menus hanging infront of the cafe window. Magnetic board, white board, and wall light have also been installed. (Photo coming)

A colorful wall mural depicting a sunset over hilly landscape with a river, pink and purple clouds, green grass, and two white ducks on a pond in front.
Colorful mural depicting a farm scene with hay bales, cultivated fields, green hills, and a blue sky with clouds and sunset.
A colorful mural painting of a farm scene with a red barn, green fields, and distant mountains in the background, on an interior wall.

The wrap around farm scene serves as a very familiar location for these residents as many were farmers, and lived their whole lives in the Wetaskiwin area. Vibrant colours and higher contrast aid in visibility for the residents.

Throughout painting this scene, I would overhear them telling each other which road this was or where it lead to, and many were delighted at the very tiny tractor in the distance.

Colorful painted columns with floral designs inside a building, featuring murals of various flowers and plants.

Click below to watch Instagram Reels of the Mural

Quick look at the full process

360 Pan of the Mural

Barn Details

Blocking in Farm Scene

Day 1 + Before Shot

 Vegreville Mural

Fabric of the Land

 In the summer of 2021 I painted this 1200 square foot mural in the town of Vegreville, just to the west of Edmonton, AB.

The mural included a wrap around to the front of the store. The large side features a sunset storm over the prairies (a classic sky for me), and a field made up of Ukrainian embroidery inspired stencilled-on patterns. The front of the building sees the storm wrapping around, and a silhouette of the downtown skyline of Vegreville, including their World’s Largest Pysanka egg.

This mural took 1 full week to complete, and about 30 hours help from my partner Grace.

The mural not only highlights the landscape of the surrounding area (fields, large open sky, skyline of the town, etc.), but the patterns were all created by me, drawing from research I did by visiting the local museums and working from the patterns found on objects and fabric there. The rainbow gradient of the embroidery patterns is a subtle nod to the LGBTQ+ people that have always existed, out and represented, or not.

In 2022 I returned to add to the mural, swapping the Pysanka patterned horizon line for a detailed silhouette skyline representing the different communities in Minburn County.

Click Here to Read about this mural in the Vegreville Area Newspaper

2022 Addition

Large outdoor mural with a city skyline silhouette against a colorful sunset sky, decorated with wind turbines, and patterns of flowers on the lower part of the wall.
A city skyline with industrial buildings and a mountain in the background, above a decorative fence with colorful floral tiles, against a partly cloudy sky at sunset.
A vibrant sunset with an orange and pink sky over a landscape silhouette, paired with a colorful embroidered textile featuring geometric and floral patterns.
A mural depicting a city skyline with wind turbines and a tractor against a pink and blue sky, with a foreground of purple and green flowers painted on a white wall.

 Kenilworth Mural

 Kenilworth Mural

During July of 2021 I painted this mural for the Kenilworth Community in Edmonton, AB. They requested something colourful, local wildflowers included, and coated in anti-graffiti protectant. This mural was completed in about 5 days, entirely by me, and is about 1000 square feet including all walls and roof.

Many of the wildflowers I drew and then painted were from my own garden (our entire front yard has been transformed into a wildflower haven for the bees and the butterflies), and they appear in the mural in rainbow order, a subtle nod to my own queer identity but for everyone part of the LGBTQ+ community to find themselves in the mural. The green and golden background gradient represents a golden sunset, golden hour, golden years - whatever you’d like to call those warm feelings.