This was the welcome center for the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, Iowa. The designer’s concept called for bamboo thickets to disguise the exposed beams at the end gable of a large room. I advised the Zoo that a mural isn’t capable of disguising I-beams, and an additional surface to hide the beams would’ve cost money that the Zoo didn’t have. The result was only partially successful, I think.

But I had a variety of subjects to paint that offset my disappointment: a snowy conifer forest with elk, a view out the mouth of a bat cave at sunset, and a Midwestern grass field with a door in the middle of the sky. To see how I managed to disguise the door, see my Mostly True Tale, Hidden Features, or the Art of Camouflage.