Artist Gordon Daugherty unveiled a newly commissioned mural at the Alexandria location of paint supply store Potomac Paint. The third painting done for the local retailer debuted for a crowd that included local painters, city representatives and customers on Tuesday afternoon.

Potomac Paint owner Bill Thornton explained his relationship with the artist. “He was a customer and I told him I wanted to help his business,” Thornton shared. Since then, Daugherty has also provided paintings and murals for Potomac Paint’s Arlington and Chantilly locations.

Daugherty, who has lived in the Alexandria and Arlington areas previously, drew on Old Town’s landmarks for the basis of his work. He now lives in Sykesville, Md. The mural depicts a painter working on a building amongst well known scenes in Old Town. The mural features the Christ Church, City Hall, the Old Courthouse, the Confederate Soldier Statue and the George Washington Masonic Memorial. A fitting depiction for the store located at 3610 King Street in Alexandria.

"Researching the buildings is easy now thanks to the Internet," Daugherty explains. "There are so many quality photographs that I can use for research. I used to have to do all that at the library."

Service was the theme that Thornton wanted to be present in the mural. “The buildings and institutions represented all provide service to the community.” When speaking about the painting and its relationship to Potomac Paint, Thornton summed it up as such: “We serve the painter, the painter serves Alexandria.”