HILLSBORO, Texas — Willie Nelson is a Texas icon, and now his face emblazoned on the side of this building in his Hills County home.
The Texas town owes a lot to Willie Nelson, as the country music icon helped to rebuild the Hillsboro courthouse after it burned down — that’s why he’s looking at the courthouse.
“I love the fact when the courthouse burned he raised money and now he’s looking at courthouse," said artist, Travis Avila.
"That’s how we planned it.”
It took the artists out of the Dallas Fort Worth area four days to finish the mural.
Armando Aguirre says, “We stood back, looked at it, and said, 'Yeah, we’re doing it'," Armando Aguirre said.
The lead artist on the project paints murals in a big city and specializes in faces.
“I specialize in portraits," Juan Velazquez said.
“I loved the experience — it’s one of the best we’ve done," Avila said.
"Juan killed the face, and we came together and really took on the role of creating images of the artist life inside Hillsboro.”
They even painted a Vanessa Guillén mural in Fort Worth, and loved bringing their work to Hillsboro.
“This is art-based economics," Avila said.
"It brings life to the community, culture, money — people want to eat at restaurants.”
The efforts are pulling in dozens of onlookers, and have created a lot of buzz online.
“I’m surprised how quickly it got attention — the murals always grab and this one got it fast.”
“They have a photo of someone getting married," Aguirre said.
"We just finished signing it and left and there’s a couple in their wedding dress and suit and everything in front of mural.”
If you’re an aspiring artist and would love to create in your hometown Travis has some advice.
“Follow your dreams and make your city recognize local artists," Avila said.
