One of the busier thoroughfares in Brownwood will have a new look, as Tony Bryant is currently painting a mural at the Vine Street underpass.

Bryant, who has lived in Brownwood for six months, is also responsible for the mural at the Red Wagon restaurant.

“Mr. Kirk, who owns Kirk Funeral Home, I know his family, his brother lives in Marlin and I was doing a lot of murals in Marlin,” Bryant said. “He asked me to do something in Brownwood like that. He went to a lot of businesses, Underwood’s, PF&E, Section Hand, a lot of different businesses to put together a mural that reflects Brownwood. He likes westerns so he asked me if I could do one back in the western days. We tried to find a wall to put in on, took it to the Red Wagon and said Mr. Kirk would like to donate this mural and they said sure. That’s how I got here.”

Bryant then met Brownwood City Council member H.D. Jones, who suggested the current mural being painted at the Vine Street underpass.

“It’s going to be a train coming from behind the stairs,” Bryant said. “It’s only going to take a couple of days to do. I’ve been doing it so long I could do it in my sleep.”

Next on his agenda is painting a mural for Shaw’s Marketplace. In the future, Bryant hopes to be adding his artistic touch to the new multipurpose event center that will be built downtown.

Bryant’s artistic background dates back to working for the Turner communications conglomerate, then moving on to painting billboards for the Foster & Kleiser advertising company.

“I used to be pictorial artist or illustrator for Ted Turner,” Bryant said. “I worked for them for about 10-15 years, then Foster & Kleiser brought me to Texas. I did billboards for them. I was locked into the corporate life but I wanted to do things outside of the company. I wanted to be free to do what I wanted to do.”

Along with Brownwood, Bryant has painted murals throughout the state.

“I have a lot of murals in Waco and Houston, and Mr. Kirk wanted something like that in Brownwood,” Bryant said. “I’m moving here permanently but I still have a studio in Waco. I’m going to be moving that here in the next week or so.”

In his short amount of time in Brownwood, Bryant has quickly grown fond of the community.

I love Brownwood, it’s a really nice town,” Bryant said. “As each day goes on and the more people I meet, I like it even more.”

As for his long-term plans now that he’s in Brownwood full time?

“I’m going to stay here and paint as many murals as I can before I die,” Bryant said. “That’s my goal for the rest of my life. I’m going to retire here. This is what I’ve done all my life, I can’t do anything else. I can’t dance, I can’t sing, I don’t know how to do anything else, so I’m good at this.”