Pawn shops line the stretch of Colfax Avenue in the Aurora Arts District. One of them will have a new look: A black-and-white portrait of a woman, painted alongside a giant wizard owl.

The murals are among the works featured in the 2026 Colfax Canvas Mural Fest, which takes place from 4 to 11pm on Sept. 4, as part of First Friday in the district.

In the days leading up to the event, artists were working in the hot sun, putting the finishing touches on their work.

On the side wall at EZ Pawn next to the Fox Theater, Aiko Szymczak worked from a lift on her “moody lady,” a portrait in her signature black-and-white style set against a bright, vibrant background.

Szymczak said the piece reflects what feels like a “really tough year on a lot of levels for everybody.” She said she likes to paint people “who might be looking in the eyes of adversity and silently blooming from that.”

She often adds a plant or other living element connected to her subjects. For this mural, a vine winds through the woman’s fingers.

Szymczak previously painted a mural as part of the festival and was happy to return this year.

The man she calls her “artner,” Brian Ortega, is relatively new to Denver. The muralist and tattoo artist, who goes by Zurdo, was working on a giant owl next to the woman on the wall.

“That’s kind of what I do. My thought process behind painting is making sure it’s more of filling up the space,” he said.

Ortega hopes people enjoy his work, but he knows that what happens to a mural after it is finished is out of the artist’s control.

“I’ll paint these (murals) and forget about them. Months later, somebody will message me and comment, ‘Oh, you painted the owl?” he said. “I painted a wizard a year ago here, and I still get comments from people.”

Szymczak agreed.

“We love painting. Paintings are for the community,” she said.

That sense of community is also at the center of a second new mural just down the street, on the back of an apartment building.

Artists Gus Rey and Phillip Bernal created their mural featuring a beekeeper and a bee.

Bernal, an avid gardener who likes to “bee watch,” came up with the theme after the artists were given a set of criteria for the project.

“You’re assigned this building, and then they gave us five words. The thing that stood out to me was ‘community’ and ‘hardworking,’ and I thought, what in nature does that automatically?” The answer was bees, he said.

Rey and Bernal blended their different artistic styles to create the final colorful work. So far, the response from the neighborhood has been positive.

“It’s been cool to see how many people have come out and expressed that they live right here, and they’re so excited that something is livening it up a little bit,” Rey said.

As a “jealous wasp” flew past Bernal’s hat, he added that people had already approached the artists with suggestions for future projects.

“There’s a bunch of other buildings, and you guys need to go do that, too,” neighbors told them.

For now, the artists are painting just this one building.

The two new murals are part of First Friday in the Aurora Arts District with art and music spanning the area.