Hi, my name is Caryn Cast, I am an artist and muralist living and working in Queens, NYC. This past November, I strolled past Lockwood Astoria and asked the owner, Mackenzi, if I could paint a pigeon there. Long story short, I wound up painting a skateboarding pigeon on the outside wall of Lockwood Astoria. This sparked the idea of painting in the backyard of Lockwood Williamsburg. After tossing around a few ideas for the wall, we all agreed it should be a bodega kitty in a shop full of fun things. And if you look closely, you will find a lot of Lockwood nuggets displayed on the shelves.

My favorite part of the mural is the kitty, who I have named Mr. Snacks the Wonder Kitty. He throws shade to anybody that walks outside : )  It was also very fun to paint the Andy Capps Hot Fries, Fabuloso bottles, Slim Jims, Bubbalicious....

All in all the mural took 26 days to create. When I was about halfway through, mother nature took over with a string of rainy days. After waiting out a few of them, I decided to make a fort so that I could paint while the rain was coming down. I taped up a tarp to the wall on an unfinished section and painted the sour patch kids, de la rosa, and pop rocks all in the pouring rain. Somehow, the tarp worked!

I am also a crazy pigeon lady, and at some point after the scaffold came down I noticed there is a cute little community of sparrows that fly from backyard to backyard looking for snacks. I discovered that one of them, who I named Tater Tot, really likes granola, so I started leaving out a few sprinkles for him every day while I painted. Before long, Tater Tot and a few of his friends would stop by every day looking for granola. They would chirp SO loud and there was all this bird drama. They were also very delighted with the fort I made; it was like fine dining in the rain. One day I got up to take a break and caught Tater Tot through the window snooping through all of my paint bags trying to find granola for him and his friends. 

My artwork entails whimsical portraits and animals doing people things. I am constantly inspired by New York City, its characters on the subway, the pigeons on the sidewalks, and food from the local eateries. I recently painted a mural of a Pigeon Lady at the 2nd Avenue F train subway entrance. I also volunteer to paint murals at animal rescues, most recently painting a mural of two cats at Save A Gato in San Juan Puerto Rico this past Spring, a dog + cat dinner party at NYC Second Chance Rescue in Long Island City, and a bird themed mural at a bird sanctuary in Seville, Spain.

My popup shop at the mural launch party will have bodega kitty art prints, tote bags, collectible wine glasses, trucker hats, as well as clay snack ornaments: cheetos, takis, tater tots, smarties, de la rosa, bubbalicious, and more. I will also have clay smoking lips magnets, tshirts, bookmarks, and a few other surprises !