So back in January we get an email from this guy named Anthony.  He is an artist (well not in REAL life, in real life he does document handling or something that isn’t as interesting as his painting).  He said the following:

First, I would like to say that I absolutely love this sanctuary. I would love to visit some day, hopefully with an adoption in mind. Currently, I am starting to work on a series of Acrylic Paintings, small ones, that I plan to leave at random places like bus stops or libraries, shelters, where ever, for people to just take if they want it, for free. These works will be my “Inspire” series, and have the number in which they were painted on them.  In addition to the rest of the information about the paintings, I would love to place the web address for Pets Alive on the back of the paintings.

Wow. How amazing is this? Someone that never met us, found out about us, believed in what we do here and is using his talent to make a difference for us.  We were amazed.  Anthony and I chatted on and off in email for a while, then he donated some oils for our Penny Social and then we got around to asking him if he would do a mural for us on the wall, on the brick house stairs.  We had wanted to do this for some time but the artist we had been talking to lived very far away and we couldn’t make it work out.  Anthony started later that week.  First he had to prime the walls – he did the entire downstairs and upstairs.  It looked great.  Then he came every weekend until the mural was done.
This past Sunday, he finished.
It is so cheery and so happy and really fun.  It brightens the whole house and everyone who walks in stops to stare and they ALWAYS smile and say something akin to “wow”.  Yep.  Wow. In the past few months we’ve all gotten to know Anthony, he has helped us in various ways and attended our events, and now I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to him as a friend.  Check out his website too when you get a chance: http://www.anthonytrott.com/
Thanks Anthony for doing this for us.  It’s beautiful and greatly appreciated!  Below is a picture (pending a better from Becky – I am no photographer) and of course that is Scrumpy (aka Tommy) sitting at the top.  I LOVE it!  Always puts a  smile on my face when I walk in here (as if there wasn’t enough reason to smile before!).