A wall of huge red poppies morphed by Impressionism into warped pomegranates.
A 130-foot-long dinner table set with water-filled glasses and fruit.
Butterflies landing on a yellow sunflower that fills up the side of a building.
And sepia-toned coal miners wearing helmet lights and grim expressions.
Those images are among the huge outdoor murals that have been quietly popping up around Northeast Pennsylvania the past few years as muncipalities try to brighten up once-vibrant downtowns.
"We believe that art is a critical part of revitalization," said Michael Lombardo, a former mayor of Pittston who now sits on the board of the city's redevelopment authority.
The growing menagerie of wall paintings in NEPA is reminiscent of Philadelphia, the "city of murals," which has produced more than 3,000 in the past three decades.
"That was really our inspiration," said Charles Barber president and CEO of the Luzerne Foundation, a charity which funds community projects.
"But then (the financial crash of) 2007 happened."
Several murals went up on South Main Street in Wilkes-Barre right before and into the crash, including "The Beehive" - the red poppies - by local artist Leigh Pawling, and "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries" - the fruit on the white tablecloth - by John Pacovsky.
But the project fizzled when the recession hit, which weakened donations, and because Kathleen Godwin, an arts enthusiast and the driving force behind many of the Wilkes-Barre murals, moved away.
Without the energy and funds, it was hard to create a painting that can cost tens of thousands of dollars in artist's fees, materials and equipment, such as a cherry picker.
"Personally I think they're all worth millions of dollars," Mr. Barber said. "I look at them as being really not just a work of art, but a very important element of economic development, of economic vitality. It really is beautification."
In Wilkes-Barre's stead, the city of Pittston has taken up the paintbrush, both metaphorically and literally. The "Heritage Mural" on Main Street, unveiled last month, features several coal miners, women on sewing machines and a huge steam locomotive, the major industries of the town's past.
To lay down an initial outline, the artists used an overhead projector at night to display and trace the image on the blank wall.
Private donations and a state grant covered most of the mural's $30,000 price tag, Mr. Lombardo said.
The city has future plans for at least two more murals. The first, on the walls of Joyce Insurance on North Main Street, will be a painting of the old Laurel Line, the street car that ran from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre, stopping in Pittston along the way.
City officials are still kicking around ideas for the second, such as the town's great athletes, which includes two inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, as well as an abstract take on a tomato, the namesake of Pittston's annual festival.
"It's an outward reflection of what the town's values are," Mr. Lombardo said of the inspiration for the murals.
Contact the writer: pcameron@citizensvoice.com, @cvpetercameron on Twitter