Whaler Bar breakthrough

 

I believe I have discovered the artist of the Whaler Bar mural - it's most likely Bruce Church, who appears to be living still and has a web site. The picture above is from his web site and that clinched it for me - the clouds and something about the boats is very reminiscent of the Whaler Bar mural. For example:

My first clue was his signature. I originally guess the first name was Bruce, and when I looked at it again recently, I guessed the last name was Church. So I typed "Bruce Church" and "muralist" into Google and voila!

 

I emailed him via his online contact form, so hopefully he will confirm his identity soon. I will certainly want to interview him for my Willie the Whaler article.

UPDATE: I just got an email from Bruce Church confirming that he painted the Whaler Bar mural. Progress!