A new mural is brightening up one pediatrician's office in Cranbrook.
Dr. Jason Feniak asked local artist Kirsten Taylor to paint a mural on his office walls and the artwork has been thrilling kids who visited the office ever since.
"The kids love it," Dr. Feniak said. "And the parents do too."
Feniak said he couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.
"It's far beyond what I originally imagined and it's so much better than I originally imagined too," Feniak said.
Taylor recently completed the project which she has been working on since May.
Taylor said her goal was to make kids comfortable in a doctor's office.
Feniak requested a jungle theme, and liked the animals in one of Taylor's earlier pieces, located in the Cranbrook in the library.
The animals take on a look of their own in the painting.
"They are not cartoony at all," Taylor explained. "They are realistic, but they are not. The colours that I used in his office are all really bright and fun and colourful. But they are pretty detailed — you can see their fur and all their eyes are unique to each animal. They are all kind of made up on their own. I don't really copy an image. I look at some reference, but then I make up my own animal, so they're all specific to me I guess."
Taylor is from Cranbrook originally, but spent a number of years in art school. Aside from her work as an artist, she holds a degree in graphic design.
"I've always liked illustration and painting by hand," she said.
"Even though I prefer the hands on approach to things I still do design work for the Cranbrook Theatre. I do logo designs and so I do still do that stuff."
She also works as an art teacher.
Taylor said in terms of her art, the biggest project she's done so far was the butterfly mural that used to be on the strip.
That mural was covered painted over years ago — it used to be on the building that now houses Brothers Insurance.
She also redesigned the front of Sakura restaurant downtown.
"Then I have a painting in Lotus books that was commissioned about ten years ago," she said.
In Kimberley she designed and helped paint the graphics at the Spirit Rock Climbing Gym last fall.