Last week I wrote about my first outdoor wall art in America. Today I decided to write about my first interior wall mural in America: mural “the Port”. 
It was created in the fall of 2013 for the same medical marijuana dispensary “Magnolia Wellness” that commissioned me for the mural “Native Birds and Plants of Northern California”.
As soon as the shop opened they decided to decorate their walls with some murals. At first, a graffiti artist was hired to do some basic ornamental décor and their logo on the wall.
As for the main wall in the marijuana dispensary, they wanted something unique, something that would connect them with Oakland. So the theme for the mural was chosen – it was the port of Oakland as the dispensary is located in the western part of the city, very close to the port.
Because the shop was already open, I was only able to work after the dispensary’s working hours. It wasn’t bad, it just took me almost three weeks to complete this wall mural, despite the fact that I’m usually very fast worker. I could work only few hours a night. And I actually liked it – I was fresh every day and was working very efficiently.
I’m really proud of the end result. Detailed, realistic, but not overly “dry”, the mural gives patients and workers of the dispensary something to rest their eyes on, enjoy the wall art while they are waiting in line.
Blue tones of the mural painting force you to relax, sit back and enjoy the details, make you forget that you are in the middle of a city.
After few months some flower paintings were added to the surrounding walls.
Beautiful Magnolia flowers are the symbol and the name of this marijuana dispensary.
So, a few branches with flowers painted behind the bar wall completed the look of the space.
To see more picture of the mural “Port of Oakland” visit the project page in my portfolio >
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The cannabis culture it promoted thrives. Oakland has more dispensaries and underground pot clubs than it did before the raid. Oaksterdam University, the Oaksterdam gift shop and even the dispensary are still in business. Washington state and Colorado have legalized adult marijuana use.