Turner mural taking shape downtown

RITZVILLE – Stroll down Main Avenue and you'll see characters being painted on a building next to Umpqua Bank.

Tina Turner, working with John Rankin and Linda Kubik, is adding barkeeps and customers to the building exterior. The depiction is based on a black-and-white photo from the era when the building was a tavern called The Office.

Rankin will complete the "ghost signage" and Kubik will add an awning.

Turner said she typically works on commission, painting scenes of farming and aviation. In 2013, for example, she painted a mural at the nearby Gritman Senior Center.

"The best part of painti...