Mural artist paints up Pascagoula

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) - So many times we’ve heard about the pandemic ruining businesses or personal journeys. In the case of Banks Compton, the pandemic actually helped him find what he really wanted to do.

“I had a career in New York building decor for luxury events, and because the hospitality industry took a huge hit, I went off and got into mural painting,” Compton said.

He’s done them in Arizona, Rhode Island, and now Alabama and Mississippi.

“I came over here to do a mural at Scranton’s in downtown Pascagoula. I wanted to do things that reflect Pascagoula, like the great blue heron, the sun and the water. I wanted it to be something everybody’s familiar with,” he said.

We learned there are two ways to do murals. One is projecting, where you use a projector to send the image to the wall and then trace it, and there’s doodling. It looks like something from The Matrix.

“It gives me landmarks on the wall where I can do the mural,” Compton added. “That’s how I get my small sketch on the big wall.”

They say these murals are key to downtown revitalization.

“We’re getting a lot of coverage on Facebook and social media because it looks good and it really pops out,” said Richard Chenoweth, owner of Scranton’s Restaurant.

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