Photo by Deb Gau Artist Greg Wimmer removes areas of flaking paint before doing maintenance work on the mural at the corner of Main and Fourth streets in Marshall on Tuesday. Wimmer painted the original mural back in 2011.

MARSHALL — It wasn’t the first time mural artist Greg Wimmer had come to work on a building in downtown Marshall. This time, however, he wasn’t creating a new mural — he was maintaining the artwork he created at the corner of Main and Fourth streets back in 2011.

The mural, which celebrates the role of music in the Marshall community, has been exposed to the elements for more than 10 years. As a result, there are areas where the paint is damaged or flaking off, Wimmer pointed out. Since Friday, Wimmer has been working to remove the damaged paint and patch up areas of the mural.

“It’s kind of like being an archaeologist,” Wimmer said of working with all the different layers of paint on the building wall.

Some areas of the mural had more wear than others. Wimmer said places on the wall that had decorative red brick work underneath the mural seemed to be in worse condition, so he had to strip the paint before doing restorations. In other areas, he was applying bonding primer before touching up the paint.

Wimmer said some areas of the mural will be a challenge to restore, like places where he did a lot of brushwork. He’s working from reference photos, but also by looking at mural itself.