Cannery Row Mural Project

Monterey, CA, 10/25 – 10/29

This 28′ x 53″ mural was commissioned by Chris Shake and brought to life his vision of honoring key figures and icons of Cannery Row and Monterey. It can be found along the trail close to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, behind Austino’s Patiserrie.

Press Links

Check out the interview and painting footage from KSBW: https://www.ksbw.com/article/mural-celebrates-cannery-row-history-monterey/69194708 – I posted the video from this here:

New mural honors iconic Cannery Row figures

Clipped from the Carmel Pine Cone Newspaper:

Close-up Photos

That’s a wrap! My selfie with my cart-o-things and the mural before I left Monterey on 10/29.

The Monterey Bay Coastal Trail you should take to go see the mural!

The process

The design emerged from the client’s suggested imagery/icons. I did a lot of research into the Monterey area, Kalissa Moore, John Steinbeck, Ed Ricketts, and the Western Flyer. After visiting the mural space, spending time in the area, and looking at various reference images, I compiled the key components to create a story to meet his vision:

Initial draft

Edited this end of the mural in the second draft

Toned down the sky and submitted this final draft and proposal

Above is an image of a mock up I made to add to the proposal, along with reference images and rough sketches I used while figuring out the composition.

The owner of the wall had to request permission from the city and eventually the Coastal Commission. After a few weeks, the proposal and design were approved and I made moves to schedule time and prep for this project. Staying down in Monterey helped me out tremendously and I want to sincerely thank my client, Chris Shake, for this opportunity and helping everything come together!

Unfortunately, I did not set up a real timelapse video and wish I had. In lieu of that, here’s a process video I put together of all my progress shots from 10/25 – 10/29/25: