You can take Willie Nelson out of Texas, but you can’t take Texas out of Willie Nelson. The Outlaw Country legend remains a permanent fixture in the Lone Star state. Now, some local artists are celebrating Nelson with a monument that’s almost as tall as his career is.
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Juan Velazquez and Travis Avila are the brains behind the 40-foot-tall Nelson mural. The duo painted it on the side of the building in Hillsboro, Texas. Both artists were more than up for the challenge, according to KWTX.
Their aim was to capture the Red Headed Stranger in vivid realism. They wanted something that would capture Nelson’s grandeur and make visitor’s heads turn. Avilia told the outlet, “Their minds are blown, and then when we come out here and paint something realistic, they’re like, ‘Oh, these people are artists.’”
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Velazquez also added, “A lot of people, maybe, have not seen the type of art that we’re painting here, and it’s just good to be able to bring that to them.”
Community Celebrates Willie Nelson Art
The community contracted both artists to pain Nelson as a way to commemorate the singer and all of his good deeds in the area. Nelson has a habit of helping out local areas in Texas when they need it the most. For instance, the singer threw a benefit concert to raise money for the courthouse after it was damaged in a fire.
“The community likes new art. I like to call it, ‘Art based economics.’ We bring some art, we bring some people, bring money to businesses. The whole town gets happy,” said Avila.
So how did the artists bring Nelson to life? Well, it took more than 120 cans of spray paint to create Nelson’s visage. So far, the public seems to love the image of the country singer.
“They were very excited. We had a lot of people – even if they don’t stop and talk to us – they do wave or they do honk,” said Velazquez. The artist hopes to create some future murals, so perhaps he can continue to bring to life country royalty. “It would be nice if, even some of the cities, they commissioned even one or three murals per year. Like, one or three murals for local artists could make a big difference.”
[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
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