A New West artist is hoping to raise some money for dog-related charities by offering to paint dog or cat faces on a local fence.
Margaret Halsey has owned a pooch for the last two decades and routinely goes for walks with her four-legged companion, Smyth, a black and white whippet. As residents of Devoy Street, part of their route includes strolling past a laneway south of Eighth Avenue, just west of Devoy where Sixth Avenue going west to east ends at Eighth Avenue.
Last July, after envisioning a “mural of dog faces” along the bare fence that stood in that laneway, Halsey approached the homeowner on whose property it stood to ask if she’d be OK with letting her start the project.
“I thought it would be something the neighbours would appreciate,” Halsey told the Record. “She loved the idea right away. We started with my dogs and hers, and I called it the dogs of Sixth and Devoy.”
Fast forward to today and the mural now contains 15 dogs and four cats, with room for 15 more.
Two of those canines are a guide dog puppy and his sibling, both belonging to a woman Halsey met last year while painting. It was at that point Halsey decided to turn her labour of love into a fundraiser that would benefit dog charities.
“I’m asking for a donation of minimum $50 for a face on the fence,” she said, adding she recently made a $250 contribution to B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs, which also provides support for people on the autism spectrum.
From initial sketches to the final product, Halsey noted it can her up to 10 hours to complete one portrait. She first starts by looking at a photograph of the animal and drawing it out. Once she’s satisfied, she takes the drawing to the fence and makes herself a grid, to ensure the image is proportioned, and starts painting.
“Sometimes I get to a point, and I look at it, and it’s finished because I’ve captured the spirit of the dog,” she said.
Halsey admitted she’s had to make some adjustments to her craft. Her usual medium of choice is paper or canvas, and she’s experimented with only a few outdoor surfaces, including a dog mural on the side of her former East Vancouver home.
But the response from local animal enthusiasts has been nothing but positive.
“While I’m painting, they say, ‘Wow, awesome, we love walking by. It’s good of you.’ I also get people taking my card, saying ‘I’ll send you my picture,’” Halsey said.
The local artist can be seen in action at the fence during the New West Cultural Crawl on Sunday, Aug. 14 between 1 and 4 p.m. She’ll be accepting commissions by donation and can also be reached by email, [email protected].
Asked what she’ll do next once that space is filled up, Halsey said she already has another fence in mind.
