Momentum Mural
Seattle 2025
In this mural for Momentum Sports, “stickers” of teens & kids living in the moment ANd ENjoying nature ARE depicted ADVENTURING to local lakes, trails and mountains.
© 2025 meg&d Design
PAINTING PHOTOS / PROGRESS
DAY 0: BEFORE WORK BEGINS
DAY 1: PRESSURE WASHING
DAY 2: PRIMER LAYER
DAY 3: TAPING
DAY 3: YELLOW & BLUE BACKGROUND
DAY 4: GREEN BACKGROUND
DAY 6: WATERBOARD START
DAY 7: WATERBOARD DETAIL, BOAT START
DAY 8: BOAT DETAIL, BIKER 1 START, WATER REFLECTIONS
DAY 9: TRACING & BIKE WORK
DAY 10: THE MOUNTAIN RISES!
DAY 11: SNOWBOARD WORK
DAY 12: SNOWBOARDER 2, BIKE PATH, & START DROP SHADOWS
DAY 13: BIRDS, DROP SHADOWS & TREES
DAY 14: TOUCH UPS, SIGNATURE, QR CODE, EASTER EGGS & SEALANT PREP... almost done!
OUtCOME
The top is the target design and the bottom is the final painted mural.
There are also several small easter eggs painted in the mural, for anyone who stands close to it in person. Click the link to see what they are!
🥚🥚🥚🐣
Background
Megan loves how paint can transform basic spaces around us, and how murals bring beauty into urban and industrial landscapes.
Her first mural, painted in 2024 in collaboration with another local artist, Devi Brunsch, is viewable on the Villa Academy campus in Laurelhurst.
The Momentum Mural is the artist’s first solo installation.
Artist Megan Galbraith Donahue moved to Seattle over 15 years ago. Born in Florida, she’s also lived in Boston and San Francisco. Yet, since making Seattle her home, she’s fallen in love with the PNW landscape and all its local beauty has to offer us... when we take time to appreciate it!
She captures this spirit in her mural for a small business that celebrates nature and teaches the next generation to as well, Momentum Sports (owned by the same family that operates Wunderkind, known amongst Seattle parents as “the place that does the lego parties”). Every summer, vans of kids and teens head out for bike rides and water sports during weekly summer camps with Momentum Sports. In winter, they take vans out for “Ski Bus” (and snowboarding) on the local mountains.
Links to other sites:
Momentum Sports’ website: http://mxvsports.com/
Wunderkind Seattle’s website: http://wunderkindseattle.com/
Villa Mural website: http://www.villamural.com/
Villa Academy website: https://www.thevilla.org
The artist’s yarn paintings are viewable here on this website.
DESIGN ITERATIONS
BRAINSTORMING
Initial idea…. was just drawing by hand with some old markers I had nearby, that I was trying to use up… I was inspired by vintage Ski posters, and wanted to depict a spirit of fun and adventure.
CONCEPTING
These iterations adjusted for the aspect ratio of the wall, and explored a design where the left side was made of lego bricks (for Wunderkind) and evolved to action on the right (for Momentum Sports).
In discussion with the owners, we decided to simplify the focus towards the action of the kids.
I leveraged a lot of AI during this phase just to fill in the gaps of my illustrations as I moved around elements. Then, I’d replace the AI-generated pieces with my own illustration for the final look (usually drawn with my Remarkable tablet, or ink/paper. Occasionally I did some digital illustration work in Photoshop).
REFINEMENT
Early “action shots” were drawn by hand using my own reference images (pics I took myself or generative AI images I made) or inspiration sourced from the internet. I decided to ask the owners for action shots of their kids or campers to use, instead. In the final design, all of the reference models are of real people—Ronan for the bike poses, Preston for the others. The boat is also based on the owners’ actual watercraft.
FINAL VISUALS
Color and Font studies to wrap up the final look and feel of the mural.
The owners decided not to use any large typographic elements, so we removed the references to “Seattle” as well as the business names from the final design.
VIDEOS
MEGAN PAINTING THE SMALLER MOUNTAIN PEAK
MEGAN PAINTING DETAILS ON THE LARGE CYCLIST
VISIT
3318 NE 55th St
Seattle, WA 98105
Please do NOT park in their lot — use street parking.
(They need their spaces for the business vehicles)
Interested in commissioning a mural for a wall? Please reach out!