An American artist who has painted murals about whales across Canada and the world has unveiled his 100th and final work in Washington, DC. The artist, simply known as Wyland, has been creating building sized murals for 28 years.

Politicians, environmentalists and the public in the nation’s capital honoured marine life artist and conservationist Wyland on October 1st in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The event celebrated the installation of Wyland's monumental mural "Hands Across The Ocean," which spans a half-mile, seven-block length on the National Mall.

Wyland and one of his 100 'Whaling Wall' installations world-wide

"Hands Across The Ocean" was created in Beijing during the 2008 summer Olympic Games with the participation of over 3,000 children from 110 countries. The massive work is the final piece in Wyland's epic "Whaling Wall" series, which he began 27 years ago with the goal of eventually donating his time to paint and install 100 life-sized marine life murals worldwide.

An estimated one billion people on four continents now see the biggest environmentally themed public art project in history, Wyland’s “Whaling Walls”, every year. He has painted mammoth murals in Canada beginning in 1984 with the creation of “The Gray Whale Family” on the side of a White Rock, British Columbia building.  He has also painted murals in Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto.

Hailed as a "Marine Michelangelo" by USA Today, Wyland is an accomplished painter, sculptor, photographer writer and Scuba Diver. The Southern California-based artist has galleries throughout the United States, and his artworks are in museums, educational institutions and corporate and private collections in over 100 countries. He is equally renowned for the Wyland Foundation, which was established in 1993. In partnership with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the foundation is actively engaged in teaching millions of students worldwide to become caring, informed stewards of our oceans, rivers, lakes, streams, and wetlands.