Muralist touching up Fresno's Marilyn Monroe

Muralist FranCisco Vargas was busy Thursday working to finish a "facelift" of a Marilyn Monroe mural on the Weco Welding Supplies building on Ventura Avenue between Seventh and Eighth streets in southeast Fresno.

The original Marilyn mural that Vargas painted 20 years ago had begun fading and peeling, so Vargas was asked to spruce it up.

Vargas, 61, who has traveled the state and the country painting signs and murals for about 35 years, completely changed the Marilyn image, giving her a monochromatic color scheme and a paint brush in place of her iconic cigarette.

It's also bigger -- 11 feet by 15 feet instead of the former 8-by-12.

The mural on the east side of the Weco building is visible to sharp-eyed westbound motorists but is shielded by a barbed-wire and chain-link fence.