Cheyenne Renee, a self-trained artist and muralist, has painted a mural at Cornell College’s Welcome Center in Thomas Commons.
“My goal is to have 50 murals painted in all 50 states to be completed by 2025,” Renee said.
The mural at Cornell College is the fifth mural she has painted since getting started with the project this past April.
Renee said she has always been painting throughout her life, but didn’t look to pursue this as a career until around age 14.
She chose Mount Vernon as her destination in Iowa, from one of her followers on Facebook when the town was mentioned. From there, Renee asked if it would be a possibility to create a mural for the college.
Renee said she spends one to two days on site getting a plan for the mural and space she is painting, and then the painting process can take three to four days to complete, depending on the mural size.
Renee, who was homeschooled, said she has pursued painting professionally the past two to three years, off and on, but with the focus on this project, everything has fallen into place.
She paints with latex interior and exterior house paints.
“They’re durable paints, easy to mix,” Renee said.
Her favorite part of painting has to be the interaction with people as she’s working.
“I’ve done some commissioned works in my studio, but I really like live interaction with other people when I’m painting,” Renee said. “I also love interacting with other artists.”
She and her husband are traveling the United States in a camper. Renee said there is a long term goal that all 50 murals will also be part of a documentary project they are working on.
For more information on Renee and her painting, you can check out CheyenneRenee.com or her Facebook artist page.