Sunshine Edmonton Trail Outdoor Mural
Painting "Sunshine" in the Freezing Cold
This project was completed by The Bear and Unicorn for Leroux Studio and Smoke & Puff, with the generous support of the Crescent Heights BIA at their Edmonton Trail location. The Crescent Heights BIA reached out to us to help revitalize this specific building. Because the two co-located businesses are vastly different, the goal was to create a cohesive mural that warms up the space and brings vibrant color into the surrounding community.
Mural Title: Sunshine
Artists/Studio: David & Maya (The Bear and Unicorn)
Location: 812 Edmonton Trail, Calgary, AB
Scale: 282 Sq. Ft.
Year: 2025
PROJECT CHALLENGES
Site Challenges
Transforming the Edmonton Trail building presented intense vertical and logistical challenges. At 282 square feet, this project marked our second venture into high-altitude painting.
Because the heavy boom lift could not fit on the sidewalk, we had to secure permits to close down a driving lane on Edmonton Trail. This created a strict operational window: to avoid disrupting Calgary's heavy rush hour traffic, we were completely barred from painting during peak hours. Our daily timeline was tightly squeezed between early morning starts and a hard cutoff at 3:00 PM.
Once in the air, navigating the multi-story "canvas" required maneuvering a complex articulating boom arm that tilted and extended around physical obstacles, including an existing commercial sign on the right side of the building that severely restricted our movement.
Compounding the tight schedule was the building's thick, unforgiving stucco texture and the late-October climate. The team battled plummeting temperatures and biting winds, fighting both the clock and the elements to ensure the paint could set and the artists could operate safely.
Design Challenges
The primary creative hurdle was finding common ground between two highly distinct business identities: a music studio and a smoke shop. The initial concept featured smoky trails to represent Smoke & Puff, but the clients preferred to pivot away from literal smoke imagery. Through collaborative refinement, we arrived at a balanced design that focused on a universal feeling: a girl lost in the joy of music, with vibrant musical notes fluidly moving across the building to tie the entire architectural space together.
THE SOLUTION
Artistic Approach & Creative Process
The artistic approach was born out of a desire to create harmony from contrast. To bridge the gap between a recording studio and a smoke shop, we focused on the shared emotional experience of both spaces, relaxation, rhythm, and atmosphere. By centering the design on a central figure enjoying music, we created an inviting, universally relatable anchor for the building. Vibrant musical notes wrap around the architecture, acting as a colourful, energetic current that physically warms up the stark exterior and reflects the creative pulse of the businesses inside.
Production & Execution
Executing a detailed piece on heavy stucco under a ticking clock required intense physical labor and unexpected repetition, often forcing us to spend extra time going back over sections we had already painted just to get solid coverage. Because the rough texture easily eats up traditional equipment, the team utilized a variety of heavy-duty rollers and specialized masonry brushes, manually working the paint deep into the annoying, hard-to-reach crevices of the stucco.
Working from an articulating boom lift in sub-zero October temperatures meant adapting our materials on the fly; we had to carefully monitor paint viscosity against the freezing winds. Precision linework around obstacles like the building's prominent right-side signage was achieved using high-output spray paint designed to withstand lower temperatures, ensuring the design remained sharp despite a highly restrictive workspace and strict afternoon deadlines.
IMPACT & RESULTS
The transformation of 812 Edmonton Trail has completely altered the local streetscape. What was once a muted, overlooked exterior is now a landmark piece of public art that injects warmth and energy into the Crescent Heights community. The mural successfully unified two distinct businesses under one beautiful façade, significantly boosting their curb appeal and local visibility. Feedback from the BIA, neighborhood residents, and foot traffic has been overwhelmingly positive, with locals noting that the vibrant colors of "Sunshine" bring a much-needed sense of joy and warmth to the block, especially during Calgary's colder months.
FROM THE CLIENT
"We've worked with David & Maya from The Bear and Unicorn on a number of projects over the past few years and they remain at the top of our list on teams to call when public art projects arise in Crescent Heights Village.
Most recently, we worked with them to complete a large-scale mural on Edmonton Trail. The timeline was tight and we weren't as organized as we should have been, but the Bear and Unicorn team took the reigns like pros and made every arrangement to get the project done. This included a robust consultation process by which all stakeholders had their input, working with the BIA, landowner, tenants and tenant customers to minimize impact, navigating the red tape of parking, pedestrian safety, etc. and, of course the execution of a great mural that is already garnering lots of positive feedback from the community.
We highly recommend The Bear and Unicorn team for public/corporate art projects that will bring life to your space with a smooth, professional process.
— Crescent Heights BIA
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