During our February 2026 sales conference, a member of our Marketing team presented upcoming campaigns to bring attention to the Pabst Blue Ribbon brand, including plans for a mural project. Nick’s interest was caught. As an artist for more than 13 years, Nick had spent countless hours creating paintings and honing his craft outside of work. 

When the presentation wrapped up, Nick wasted no time. 

As luck would have it, the colleague who presented the mural project was sitting at his table. “I showed him some of my artwork, and he was into it right away,” Nick recalls. What began as a brief conversation quickly evolved into a crossover between Nick’s professional and personal worlds. 

Nick connected with a venue near Carleton University in Ottawa that was interested in bringing a mural to life. The venue offered a large wall directly above the music stage, and the owner gave Nick something every artist hopes for: complete creative freedom. 

Initially inspired by classic rock-and-roll and edgy imagery, Nick began experimenting with a few different concepts before landing on a distinctly Canadian icon: a raccoon. The choice turned out to be a perfect fit as the venue already had an ongoing joke about raccoons causing mischief around the property. Nick saw the animal as the ideal symbol for the mural’s energetic theme.

The raccoon was a natural fit for the mural, but according to Nick, the biggest challenge was deciding what would fill the rest of the space. Partway through the design process, inspiration struck in the form of a circuit-board, a concept that tied together the worlds of music, technology, and the mural’s electric energy. 

The final mural design features a cyberpunk-inspired raccoon gripping a Pabst Blue Ribbon can between its teeth. An electric circuit, spreading out from the can, reflects the energy of live music within the venue.

Taking the mural from a concept to a final product required precision, creativity, and a lot of dedication. Nick spent nearly two months preparing the project before ever lifting a paintbrush. Using a digital design process and a custom stenciling technique, Nick carefully scaled the artwork to fit the space, ensuring every detail was aligned perfectly. He estimates the entire process took between 250 and 300 hours, including roughly 14 days of painting, often working 8 to 10 hour stretches at a time. 

For Nick, the most rewarding part of the process wasn’t the finished mural, it was the process itself. 

“I really enjoy the act of making artwork” he shares. “You get into a flow, into a zone. You start, and the road looks long ahead of you, but by the time it’s finished, you’re almost sad that it’s over.” 

The project also offered a unique way to connect creatively with a brand Nick works with every day. Rather than simply displaying a logo or a can, Nick wanted to create something memorable; something people would stop to look at before even realizing it was a Pabst Blue Ribbon mural. 

That balance between art and brand storytelling is what makes the finished piece so compelling. Ultimately, it's a reflection of the creativity, passion, and talents that exist throughout Sleeman Breweries.