A Bernie Barn

The side of the barn needed to be painted anyway," Tanych chuckled.

Lebowitz said she was thrilled to see how well Muck captured Sanders' energy. In the mural, he appears to be mid-speech, perhaps pondering a weighty issue.

"You can see the concern in his eyes, which is something I really like," Lebowitz said of Muck's work. "Bernie is clearly very concerned about the future of America. And I think [Muck is] great at capturing emotion in her portraits, which is a great quality in a portrait artist."

The barn mural may be one of the grassiest examples yet of the kind of grassroots support fueling the Sanders surge. His exuberant base is turning out in droves to rallies around the country, then spreading the Vermont Senator's core message that income inequality is a crisis that demands attention.

The artists said they hope Sanders continues picking up steam nationally, but even if he falls short of the White House, they promised he will still have a treasured place on their red barn.

"I think Bernie will always be an icon in Vermont," Lebowitz said, smiling. "The people of Vermont know Bernie. It's always going to be great to have a portrait of Bernie."