Bears in the Boundary Waters

Bedroom mural—residential commission

For this family, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area isn’t just a place—it’s a tradition. They wanted that place on their wall: the stillness of the water, the trees, the sense of being somewhere wild and far from everything.

The mural spans one long wall of the room, painted onto the existing wall color rather than over it, so the scene feels like it was always there. A lake stretches into the distance, an island sits on the horizon, and a canoe rests pulled up on shore—a quiet suggestion of an arrival, or a departure. Two bears move through the scene alongside birds, all of it rooted in the particular atmosphere of that place the family loves.

This is what I love most about mural work—that a wall can hold a memory, and a room can feel like somewhere that matters.

Do you have a place that deserves to be remembered this way? I’d love to talk.