The grass around her was high, and the moon and the fireflies were out, and it seemed to be “a little piece of fantasy come to life — a slice of the most vibrant parts of life.”

As one of 20 artists chosen recently to adorn 20 panels covering windows on the Gable’s building prior to a proposed renovation, Garber is trying to replicate that scene — and the feeling it evoked in her — with paint on plywood.

“It was pure and innocent,” Garber said of the experience a year ago. “Just delightful.”

A partnership between Altoona Blair County Development Corp., the city, ArtsAltoona and the Mirror arranged for the painting of the panels in hopes of improving the aesthetics of downtown during the transition period for Gable’s.

Local artists began painting murals on Monday as part of the Gable’s building project for the nation’s 250th birthday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The partnership received almost 70 applications for a chance to paint one of the panels, according to Main Street Manager Jamie Baser Foust.

An eight-person committee ranked the applications, which included samples of past work and a brief explanation of the concept behind each proposal.

The applications were stripped of identifying information to prevent bias.

The artists chosen were those with the highest composite scores.

The partnership held a panel-painting “kickoff” Saturday, in coordination with Levity Summer Fest, so that the 10 artists who participated got to start their work under the gaze of spectators and with live music in the background, Foust said.

Thad Dalby of Altoona paints his mural at 11th Avenue and 14th Street in Altoona on Monday as part of the Gable’s building project for the nation’s 250th birthday. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The deadline for the artists to finish is the end of July, although the partnership is encouraging them to finish or at least to be well on their way before Independence Day, so the panels will look good for the many visitors in July, including those that come to the YMCA race downtown on the Fourth and those that come for the visit of the Big Boy locomotive the following week, according to Foust.

There will be a $1,000 award based on the opinions of a group of judges and a $1,000 award based on votes that can be cast on the Mirror website.

Garber, 30, comes from an artistic family and has always been artistic herself.

Her cousin, Sarah

Garber, painted a mural last year on the side of the Railroad Retirement building in the downtown, and their grandmother, the late Mardell Garber, painted billboards for Penn Advertising, devised the logo on the New Look Uniform & Embroidery building near the southern split of Valley View and Pleasant Valley Boulevard and created murals still visible in First Church of Christ and the Bellwood-Antis Public Library.

“God gave me the penchant for it,” Elizabeth said.

She began to take art seriously in 2019, she said.

“That’s when my paintings started to look good,” she said.

Elizabeth had a showing at her cousin’s Clay Cup coffee shop in the downtown and more recently at Main Street Mercantile in Bellwood.

She usually paints outdoors, “en plein air,” she said.

She found out about the Gable’s panel painting contest via a Mirror article.

“I decided to give it a shot,” she said.

Just around the corner from Garber on Monday afternoon, fellow artist Thad Dalby was painting a montage of local iconic objects, with the K4 steam locomotive the central focus, but with the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the Edith Davis Eve Memorial Chapel at Penn State Altoona, Baker Mansion and the Mishler Theater all possibilities to be included.

Dalby started his work with a head-on drawing of the locomotive on a sheet of paper, then transferred that to the panel. He is using various photographs to ensure the accuracy of his representations.

He’s using outdoor acrylic paint, which dries fairly fast.

All his life, he’s been into visual art, he said.

“I’m just drawn to it,” he said.

He got early encouragement when he drew an orange sailboat as a kindergartner, reproducing an image he’d seen when his parents took him to Glendale Lake.

Everybody said nice things about that effort, he said.

He’s gotten in deeper in recent years since his retirement and his two children having reached adulthood.

“It’s relaxing,” he said about the work. “It’s a nice way to spend your time.”

Still, he’s “an amateur,” he said, repeatedly.

“I’m happy to be included,” he said. “I don’t intend to get too cocky.”

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.