Welcome to Mural Moments

A note from the artist of Murals for Mutts, Anna Hamilton:

What I thought in the beginning would amount to about 50 dogs on a wall that would make a nice mural, has turned into so much more than that.  I never expected what happened.  I never expected that much interest and that much emotion over this.  Having animals, I do understand the emotional attachment, but the difference seemed to be being able to see them on the walls. 

That is when I realized that the people, especially for the memorials, were being helped by having their beloved pets immortalized on a wall.  I would say probably 60 to 70% or more of the requests are memorials, and all of them eventually will be. 

What I found was that people were coming and wanting to tell me stories about their animals, and it made them feel better to talk about it.  It wasn’t just a mural and these weren’t just pictures of dogs.  I wasn’t just painting, but I was helping people heal from their losses and move forward in their lives.

I have a couple examples from the early days, and on the Dogedin mural, which is the original big wall at Skip’s Bar and Grill in Dunedin.  I was painting and it was of less than a week before our big event in June.  It was at the height of being busy and I was swamped with pictures.

I was on a ladder, I was painting some dogs in the Dogedin letters, which is specifically a memorial, and I had a man come up who was driving a city pickup truck.  He was a thin, older man, I would say maybe a little rough around the edges and quiet.  He stood there watching me paint.  He said, "How can I get my dog on the wall?”  

I am normally a talkative person, but I was not feeling well because I was working a lot.  It was hot, and I was under pressure to get this done for the next week.  I was a little bit short with him and told him he would have to come back next week because I had to have these animals done for the event.  I was kind of blowing him off a little because I was in a hurry and getting overwhelmed by all of the people coming up to me at that point. 

It was really unlike me to behave this way, but he still stood there quietly.  It just felt like there was something more going on with him, so finally I just decided to ask him what kind of dog he had.  He said he had a little Yorkie.  I thought he said she died last month, but he was speaking so softly. 

I told him I was so sorry she passed away last month, when he corrected me and said she passed away that morning.  He started to cry, he started to cry almost uncontrollably, and I got down off the ladder.  I told him to go get her picture and bring it back in.  I put it on the wall that day for him. 

He brought his wife back downtown with him and they told me the story of her, how they had had her for 15 years, and how they were unprepared for losing her.  They were able to share the deep despair they felt, together, with me.  It was so upsetting to him, just as it is for all of us.  But it meant so much to them to see her on the wall.  I watched them walk by to look at her while I continued to paint other dogs.  Every day after I painted her little head on, they would go by, and I think even two years later, they probably go by and look at her little face there.

The one thing about painting the dogs on the walls is that I am painting from a picture that the people give me and they are happy pictures.  These are pictures of what their dog really looked like and how they want to remember them with their happy expressions.  When I paint them, I look for specifics of what that dog looks like and try to catch the personality.

There are quite a few of these stories that were touching and I have cried at the walls with people many, many times.  I have heard the stories and memories of most of them.  I had another one from that mural that was another early one.  What is interesting about this was is that the dog actually passed away 20 years prior. 

This was a man, probably in his late 40’s.  He was having his girlfriend’s two little dogs done as a surprise for her.  I was painting these little dogs in the background area of the mural, and then he starts talking to me about a dog he used to have.  He said, "Let me show you something." 

He pulled his wallet out, and in his wallet was a little wallet-sized picture of a chocolate lab mix dog named Odie.  The picture had been weathered because it had been in his wallet for 20 years.  He goes on to say that he had carried this picture around every day for last 20 years.  He said “for 20 years I’ve thought of this dog because I was young when I had him.  I loved him so much, but it was a bad time in my life.” 

The man shared how he felt regret because Odie was a sick little dog and he couldn't afford his care.  He could not take care of him in the way he felt he should have.  I could feel the pain of him telling me that he had to have the dog put down, but he felt at the time he had no other choice.  I am sure we have all been through that with certain situations in our life, maybe not specifically like this, but we look back and we have lived with regret. 

He said, “Do you think you could put him on the wall?”  I know the picture’s not very good.”  I said of course I can, and I painted Odie under a tree in the park scene on the mural.  He came by afterward and he said, “You set him free,”  and he added, “I don't have to carry his picture anymore.”

We want to expand the healing power of the murals to immortalize your pet’s story in writing, here on the Mural Moments Blog.  All you have to do is write down what you learned from, experienced with, or loved the most about your beloved pet and send it to muralmoments@muralsformutts.com.  If you have a before picture, send it along with your story and we’ll take care of the rest (most will be edited/rewritten).