MONTE VISTA – On Highway 285, nestled near the new O’Reilly’s Auto Parts building, a water building that belongs to the City of Monte Vista has come to life.
Multiple adorable farm animals have been added to the building, appearing to peek out from behind the bricks and smiling at everyone who passes by it.
Artist Cheyrl Morris is the magician behind the playful mural. Morris is excited about her creation and smiling next to the water building as she spoke about the inspiration for the project.
“Well, I wanted to put a smile on people’s faces, not just have them look and go aww. When I saw these bricks on this building, you’re not going to believe this, but I also saw a car that had these pets on the window. It looked like the pets were breaking through the glass. I thought to myself, this building is just calling for animals to peek through it. I decided I wanted it to be more fun than aww, when people saw it, and that’s why I went with these characters,” she said with a smile.
Morris said the drawings are called caricatures, as they are cartoon animals. The water building now has a peeking cow, lamb, goat, at least three horses, a burro, a lama, and the building also has a bull, with a pink pig standing nearby, and in the corner of the pig is a tiny web with a spider in it, reminiscent of “Charlotte’s Web.”
Morris said the idea for the tiny spider came from Monte Vista’s own City Manager Gigi Dennis.
“Gigi saw the pig and she said oh you just have to just put Charlotte in there,” Morris said with a chuckle. “So, I drew Charlotte, and I was surprised because my 13-year-old granddaughter, who I thought would know nothing about Charlotte’s web, also noticed that Charlotte was in there.”
Morris began painting in kindergarten. She said her kindergarten teacher told her and her mother that she would be an artist someday.
“She told us that I was going to be an artist because I drew a little house, but added curtains, and a windowsill, and put sidewalks and flowers, lots of details, not just a tiny house. With the influence of that, I started drawing. I drew horses first, and I have been drawing ever since,” she said.
Morris also created the “Running Thunder” mural for the City of Monte Vista. It depicts horses in flight and is on the side of the Stars and Strikes bowling alley. She enjoys painting these scenes for the city and hopes to do more.
“I had all this paint left from the mural of the horses, that I painted at the bowling alley, and I approached the city about adding these animals to this water building and they thought it was a great idea, so we went with it. If there is a chance for me to paint more of these murals, I would just love to, I really enjoy painting,” she said.
Morris said that her latest mural took her about a week to paint, close to 40 hours, and she thoroughly enjoyed painting the animals. She grew up with an agricultural background and believes that pictures of agriculture just add to the picturesque views of agriculture in town.
“I was blessed with a little bit of talent, and this is something I enjoy. I enjoy contributing to my community. The city is going to pay for the sealant, and I was happy to donate my time, and paint these animals. It worked out nicely, and I hope to make everyone smile,” she said.
