PENDLETON — Flashes of color and pictures of familiar landmarks found a new place above shopping carts and entryway doors at the Pendleton Walmart.

Local artist Markus Orman is painting two murals in the entrances to the store. The displays draw inspiration from significant locations in the city and acknowledges significant partners who collaborate with the store.

“I’ve already completed one with key elements of Pendleton, and then the other one that I’m doing is more of a tribute to the police station, fire station and school district,” Orman said.

The western entrance of the store displays the first of the two murals Walmart commissioned Orman for. Orman said the mural focuses on well-known structures and products of Pendleton, including the Round-Up grounds, Pendleton Woolen Mills and even a bottle of Pendleton Whisky.

After finishing the western entrance mural, Orman moved on to the eastern entrance, intending to do a similar piece, but “more to heart,” he said.

“I have, like, fire trucks, police cars, the fire station, the middle school, Blue Mountains in the background and the wheat hills, because they’re everywhere here,” he said. “Pendleton police do Shop with a Cop every year. They’re really big sponsors with this Walmart location, so that was really important to them to have the police included.”

Orman said he also plans on including the Round-Up logo in the east mural but is waiting for the Round-Up Association to approve his sketch, due to copyright.

He said Pendleton Walmart manager Shawna Nulf reached out to him late last year about this project.

“She was telling me how there’s this big trend in Walmarts about getting murals like this from local artists from their hometown,” Orman said. “I was more than happy to, I was honored that she asked me to do it. So then I did a sketch, and then included the ideas that she gave to me, then she got it approved by corporate.”

Roberta Lavadour is the executive director of the Pendleton Center for the Arts and was pleased with this project.

“I love that Walmart is providing a canvas for local artists to have a piece of their work in a public space,” she said.

Although the box store is a privately owned space, she said it has the feel of a public space. “I just think you can’t have too much creative expression in the community,” Lavadour said.

Pendleton has a number of murals and sculptures on public display, such as the stylized depiction of cowboy George Fletcher from the 1911 Pendleton Round-Up, the subject of a mural at the intersection of Southwest Dorion Avenue and First Street. Lavadour said the state office building on the 800 block of Southeast Emigrant Avenue also has art on display.

Orman, who is a graduate of Western Washington University, earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art with a focus on drawing and painting. He said he plans on completing his master’s degree in teaching in May.

“I’ve been painting ever since I was little, I’ve always been into creating things with my hands,” Orman said. “It’s been more recent that I’ve gotten into bigger projects like murals so these two murals will be a couple of the first big things that I’ve done.”

The muralist said the first entryway piece he did for the store took roughly 40 hours over a week-and-a-half. He said he hopes to finish this piece within the next week.

You can see Markus Orman’s murals at the Pendleton Walmart, 2203 S.W. Court Ave., during business hours 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day of the week.