Clinton artist Janette Marvin has been designing and painting murals for more than 40 years. She\u2019s behind the city mural in Clinton, another on Musgrove Street and just recently completed a mural in Cross Hill.<\/p>\n
Years ago, the late artist Skip Shelton painted a train mural near Little River Park on East Main Street in Laurens, featuring the now closed River Tracks Caf\u00e9 and Marvin had noticed it was quickly fading.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy kids used to play in the park there. It was likely done to advertise the caf\u00e9 but it was well done,\u201d Marvin said. \u201cI knew Skip. He was such a good artist and this mural really identified the location. I didn\u2019t want it to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marvin has experience in refurbishing old murals and along with her daughter Kathryn Lee, got to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a rough surface to work on and we had to scrub the concrete to get rid of mildew and moss growing on it. It was quite the effort,\u201d Marvin said. \u201cIt had faded so much it was really sort of a ghost mural. We could just barely see the outline to bring it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two ladies researched the area and located a few photos of the original mural.<\/p>\n
They chose to add a sky to the mural; the more paint added prevents the moss from growing back and they are omitting the River Tracks Caf\u00e9 advertisement but otherwise, they were able to complete the work very similar to Shelton\u2019s original.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to get as close to the original as possible. There were spots we couldn\u2019t make out the color even in the photos and it was so faded you couldn\u2019t tell,\u201d Marvin said. \u201cHaving known Skip and knowing that we have a similar style, I think I did something he would have approved of and we did the best we could. Hopefully, it cheers up that spot and adds something to the county.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelton\u2019s work is still displayed across the Upstate. In addition to the mural in Little River Park, Shelton painted murals on Dr. Steve Crow\u2019s building, the train depot in Owings, at Westminster Elementary School in Westminster and many more.<\/p>\n
Marvin\u2019s work can be found at the Joe R. Adair Outdoor Education Center, Martha Franks Retirement Community, near the United Way of Laurens County\u2019s community garden beds and more.<\/p>\n