Completed in February 1999, the mural/sculptural piece features a gray and white cat and a black puppy. The mural was completed in conjunction with the ground-breaking of the new City of Columbia pet adoption center.

From an article in The State Newspaper from February 19, 1999:

“When he heard about plans for the new shelter last year, Blue Sky said he volunteered his services as a muralist. In 1987, he said, he painted a smaller but similar mural for the county shelter in Newberry, ‘and the folks there said it really boosted their adoptions.’

Site preparation for the mural began last summer. City workers laid the foundation and the cement-block walls, which now are decorated with cat-and-dog images.

After the concrete surface was covered with stucco by Gordon Plastering Co., Blue Sky began painting the cat’s head last week.

In painting the mural, Blue Sky utilized the traditional ‘grid method,’ he said. He first drew a grid or series of numbered squares over a small paper sketch, then drew an enlarged, corresponding grid on the work surface.

‘It’s very hard to get things positioned on a mural of this scale,’ said the artist, whose most famous mural is ‘Tunnel Vision,’ which decorates a building wall on Marion Street.

The overall structure for the shelter mural was designed by local architect Lesesne Monteith, Blue Sky said.

The mural’s brown and gray earth tones will blend in well with the surrounding landscape, Blue Sky said. The mural also will be flooded with lights at night.”