Painting The Town: Nan Bewley Gives Buildings A Fresh Appearance

By Doug Carder

Nan Bewley was using a fine-edged brush to paint a mural of a monastery in southern Italy on the wall next to the Miami County Medical Center Rehabilitation’s front door Sunday morning.

The rural Osawatomie resident used a broader brush to paint most of the other buildings in the 500 block of downtown the past few weeks.

Businessman Gordon Schrader purchased the paint for most of the work, which Bewley has completed on weekends since the downtown Streetscape project wrapped up in mid-August.

“I started right after the construction crews moved out their equipment. I wanted to do my part to brighten downtown,” said Bewley, who owns the 1930s Mullins Building in the 500 block of Main Street. “The (business) owners have told me to go for it, and some have paid me. I’ve gotten rid of the lavenders and the blues and have gone with earth tones.”

Insurance agent Dianne Crowl-Ventura said she likes the cream paint with darker accent colors Bewley used to paint her building and several others on the north side of the street.

“You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make your business (store front) look better,” Crowl-Ventura said. “It’s amazing how much a fresh coat of paint can brighten up a building’s appearance.”

Bill Butler, who owns the building where Bewley was busy painting the mural – based on a photograph she had taken while traveling abroad, said he was pleased with her work on his and other buildings downtown.

“I think it looks fantastic,” Butler said.

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Posted by Doug on Sep 15 2010. Filed under News and Updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry