A Norfolk Western 1218 locomotive emerges from a hazy, sage-green landscape painted on a three-story brick building in downtown Roanoke. The mural, titled “Nature Train,” features two tall trees shedding leaves, along with a squirrel and vines clinging to what was the world’s most powerful historic steam locomotive built by the railroad, now the Norfolk Southern, based in this city of southwest Virginia.
Read MoreJon Murrill transitioned from a career in art education to painting murals full-time in his hometown of Roanoke and surrounding areas of southwest Virginia. Here, the spray paint can-wielding artist poses on a lift before his “Neon Owl” piece at a coffee shop in Blacksburg.