LAKELAND — A colorful mural has interrupted Lakeland’s business-as-usual traffic flow on North Florida Avenue, as motorists slow, even stop, to admire its beauty.
The mural, painted by artist Gabriela Jaxon, reaches 34 feet up the side of the Thom Downs Antiques building at 235 N. Florida Ave. The work was commissioned by the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency as one of three such murals to be painted by the end of January.
Facing the side parking lot, a woman’s face peers down from the wall, her four eyes seeming almost otherworldly, a burst of contrast from the ordinary downtown area.