Home mural celebrates Salish Sea

When John Knowlton purchased his home just outside of Langley last year, he wanted to do something with the bright red, textured accent wall in his living room.

Realizing it would make a nice canvas for someone, he sought an artist who could paint a commissioned mural within his home. Within the span of four days, Stanwood muralist Carly Sarver brought Knowlton’s vision of the Salish Sea to life.

Using a rough sketch doodled by Knowlton in green ink, Sarver painted an underwater marine scene replete with smiling porpoises, dancing crabs holding mussels as castanets and a school of salmon madly swimming away from a hungry orca licking its chops.

Apart from Knowlton’s sketch and a few reference photos, Sarver mostly pulled from her imagination to bring the mural to life.

“It takes a lot of trust on the client’s end, and then I just go for it,” Sarver said.

“She just went with it,” Knowlton agreed. “She’s got the eye. She’s really very talented, and I like the way she thinks.”

Since quitting her day job in 2020, Sarver has been traveling all around the state painting murals of nature in restaurants, yoga studios, public pools, hospitals, salons and nurseries. On Whidbey Island, she also recently completed murals on three pillars inside Payless Foods in Freeland.

“I like painting on larger spaces versus smaller spaces,” the self-taught artist said. “On larger spaces I feel like I can get a lot more detail in less amount of time than on a canvas.”

Acrylic paint is her preferred medium, simply because she works quickly and needs it to dry fast.

When asked what she does if she makes mistakes, Sarver replied, “It’s only happy accidents. The nice thing about acrylic is it forces you to be creative and think, ‘What else can I put there?’ and you paint right over it.”

In creating Knowlton’s mural, Sarver used forced perspective techniques. Some of the salmon in the foreground appear just as big as the orca chasing them. At times, Sarver said, she found herself subconsciously holding her breath while painting, as if she was truly underwater.

Knowlton likes to refer to the mural as a community effort. A regular at the Taproom at Bayview Corner, he solicited ideas from the staff and other patrons about what should be included. It was there that he first learned about Sarver and her work as a muralist.

For Knowlton, a journalism instructor at Green River Community College in Auburn, Sarver’s mural is his first ever commissioned artwork. Last week, when the mural was completed, he invited the contributors to an unveiling party in his home.

“This mural is living proof of the power of community to come together and do something that’s really cool,” he said.

As for Sarver, demand for her murals is growing. So far all the jobs she’s gotten have been by word of mouth.

“I’m all about whatever you love to do, whatever is your desire, your passion, if you can find a way to make money off of it, then you will never work another day in your life,” she said.

For inquiries about her work, email carlyh15@gmail.com or find her on Instagram @c.a.r.l.a.a.y.

Dancing crabs holding mussels as castanets are part of Carly Sarver’s mural.

A mural containing the marine wildlife of the Salish Sea is the first thing one sees when entering South Whidbey resident John Knowlton’s home. From a hungry orca licking its chops to a pod of smiling porpoises to a harlequin duck, there are plenty of details that catch the eye.