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After a year's work, brilliantly colourful mural in full bloom at Regina's Ukrainian Co-op

After nearly a year's worth of work by a local artist, an ambitious mural that evelops Regina's Ukrainian Co-op is officially finished.

Jez Brenwold grew up in the Heritage area near the co-op but didn't know what it was — until he saw a graffiti tag at the back of the store and walked in, offering to paint over it.

"We covered that up and then it slowly started to grow," Brenwold said.

That growth now includes all four sides of the building.

"I didn't think it was going to be the whole building," said Brenwold, who eventually used more than 1,000 cans of spray paint to make the mural.

"But it just slowly grew and I was happy to take that over. It was exciting to test my skills."

Heidi Atter/CBC
Heidi Atter/CBC

He began by painting a large, egg-shaped historical Saskatchewan landscape. After that, the mural expanded to take over the store's entrance, and it now wraps completely around the building and onto its second level.

"Inspiration came from the store," he said. "I want to get the best picture that represented what the Ukrainian Co-op was about."

Heidi Atter/CBC
Heidi Atter/CBC

Brenwold worked with Carin Rodgers, general manager of the Ukrainian Co-op, to look at dress designs and hand-painted eggs to get ideas.

"We wanted to beautify our building," Rodgers said.

That led to the brilliantly colourful flower-based mural that now wraps around the original mural, and the rest of the building.

"It was about trying to make it as bold and beautiful and stand out as much as possible," said Brenwold.

"It's its own egg."

Another goal was to show the heritage of the store, which opened in 1937. Rodgers said the co-op chose the design to balance its Ukrainian heritage with the fact that people from many different nationalities shop in the store.

CBC
CBC

"We decided we're going to go with this, because when it's 50 below and the wind's howling and everybody's just tired of the cold and everything, when we look at our building, we see spring," she said.

"We see the colour and we see beauty and we know that's what's coming down the road."

Rodgers said the core of the city needs more art.

"It looks happy, not tired," she said. "And quite honestly, what Jez did here cost us less than it would have to have somebody roll a straight coat of paint on the wall."

Submitted by Heidi Atter
Submitted by Heidi Atter

People often stopped to chat while he was working on the mural, Brenworth said. Now, he says people have told him they've started changing their routes to work to drive by it.

"I'm happy that I can make that impact on people," he said. "It took a long time."

Heidi Atter/CBC
Heidi Atter/CBC

While he said he's loved being at the store for weeks on end and smelling the food cooking inside, he's also happy to be done.

"Feels really good. I had a really good sleep last night," he said. Now, he said, he's just "happy to admire a whole building."

Brenwold has also completed another mural behind the Victoria Club and hopes to do more work in the future.

You can see more of his work on Instagram @jeztheclumsy or at his website.