Mural to Adorn ARF Store

A beach scene featuring a blue sky, a lifeguard chair, beach umbrellas, and dogs and cats playing together will soon grace a loft area at the recently renovated thrift shop run by the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons in Sagaponack. The mural, a gift from Carol Saxe, a Springs artist, will be installed tomorrow.

    Ms. Saxe, who illustrated and co-wrote “A Dog Lover’s Guide to the Good Life,” has provided art to ARF before, including for the first ARF pet calendar in 2006. “I have a whole line of work, a series, featuring animals at play,” she said this week. The paintings, which feature dogs surfing, sunning, and relaxing in Adirondack chairs on the beach, can be seen on her Web site, saxestudio.com.

    “I did a painting, 18 inches by 48 inches,” she said, referring to the basis for the mural, which is called “Paw Daze of Summer.” A mural company scanned the work to approximately 5 feet by 16 feet and will be at the thrift store on Montauk Highway tomorrow morning at 9 to install it.

    The mural was originally going to be on a wall, “but the light wasn’t good there,” Ms. Saxe said. She noticed a higher area, “starting eight feet off the ground,” that had good light and would have otherwise been an unused white space. It was decided the mural would go there.

    Ms. Saxe said her own two rescue dogs, Aspen and Vail, both terrier mixes with strong personalities, inspire her.

    “It’s going to be lovely,” said Wendy Peterson, the manager of the ARF store. “It will adorn the building and be a terrific focal point.” In more ways than one: “It’s a great reminder of why our store is here,” she said. “People will remember that what they spend here goes to support the Animal Rescue Fund.”

    Although the store is listed on the ARF Web site as closed for the weekend, Ms. Peterson said she anticipates opening on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. “It should be ready for viewing then.”