Altadena couple paints mural on home spared from Eaton Fire
An unexpected burst of color is painted on an Altadena home in a landscape marked by the devastation of flames on the Eaton Fire.
Graphic designer Courtenay Hrubesky and her partner Pamela Key, a professional illustrator, decided to paint the very bright beacon of resilience on the side of a wall of their Altadena home after it miraculously survived the Eaton Fire.
"Our neighbor's house was fully engulfed to 20 feet in the air and we were watching giant embers go across the street," Key said.
While watching the flames tear through their neighborhood, the couple was scared that they would be to the list of homeowners who lost their house.
"We were not going to make it," Key said. "The house was not going to make it."
However, the house that Key bought for her 84-year-old father a few years ago somehow survived the onslaught of flames.
"It means the world because it would have been too much for him to go through years to rebuild," Key said. "He's only got a little time left."
The couple decided to give their home a tie-dye look filled with a colorful array of smiling flowers and whimsical designs that contrasted the grey, ashy backdrop.
When they finished, Key brought her father to see the mural on his house for the first time after evacuating months ago.
The couple said the mural is not permanent and will only last for at least a few years or until someone builds in the neighborhood.
"I love it," Key said. "It puts a smile on this old man's face in my heart every day."
Their community also embraced the mural, with neighbors like Jimmy Chavira stopping to take pictures.
