All the while, Wyland was painting whales and waiting to return to Laguna, which he did in 1976. There he began leading the life of an underfed artist, when one day the lightning struck his neural connections. I thought it would be a rather unique way to do something to help save those beautiful and intelligent creatures. I had been inspired by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and the efforts of Greenpeace. Now I knew, with my ability to paint large murals with an airbrush, that there was something I could do to help.
Art is a very powerful form of communication that can hit the heart and soul.
There was plenty of red netting to clear away first. Some people can't face a long turn of dealing with the bureaucracy of democracy. Sometimes a great idea needs a long period of consideration to become accepted. Wyland stuck it out with the help of Tom Klingenmeier. Wyland took his idea to Greenpeace, which helped him approach the Laguna Beach City Council after he had spent a good time deciding he had just the right wall, along the Pacific Coast Highway.