ATHOL – Those heading up Main Street toward the Uptown Common this week saw an unexpectedly pleasant change in scenery at the former site of Stan’s Auto Body & Towing. Eye-catching bursts of color now cover portions of the time-worn gray cement walls that encompass the property at 963 Main St.
Royalston mural artist Sonja Vaccari, sitting on padding on the cemented ground, was seen applying black paint inside a sketched outline of a person doing a handstand, one of several panels that carry different themes. The work-in-progress mural blends messages and local nature themes, including a thistle, the national flower of Scotland where the town of Athol got its name. Vaccari is supplying and using exterior house paint and spray paint. She wasn’t planning to add a clear coat and is unsure of how the paint will hold up, particularly in the rainy weather.
Vaccari works two jobs three-quarters of the year so she can create oil paintings that she sells, and is volunteering her time on the Main Street mural, which she hopes makes people smile. She is “very thankful” to Stan Paluilis for allowing her to paint his property, and plans to do more every day. She has no obligation to finish the project and hopes to continue through October before cold weather sets in.
She said “very, very interested kids” have been stopping by, and one young artist gave her his business card and was going to help her later in the week.
Her “museum quality custom murals” have traditional, classical, historical, primitive and scenic motifs. For more information, visit www.sonjavaccarimuralist.com, or call 978-249-2280.