You can immediately tell it’s Lee and Sheri Hay’s work.

First, there are the bold colors. Red. Yellow. Green. Blue.

Next, the geometric shapes. It almost seems as if the walls are moving.

Finally, slashing across the mural are the words “Trinity Trails.” The typography welcomes bikers and joggers along the trail as well as the crane and butterflies included in the painting.

The Hays have been painting their way into North Texas’ heart with the same gusto they swept into each other’s life years ago. Lee, a Londoner, met Sheri, from Fort Worth, when they were seeking Caribbean dive buddies.  

They quickly discovered they had a love for painting, design – and each other. Their “creative spark” and a need to “push paint” led to SaxonLynn Arts in 2011.

“It was meant to be the Caribbean and not Texas. … We we’re going to ‘dive buddy’ each other. … Texas, the stop off to dreams of salty air and sea breeze. Hey, we fell in love and serendipitously created our little art biz,” the couple said.

Over the years they’ve done a variety of projects.

There are murals on interior walls showing Noah’s Ark, pirate ships and the Death Star.

But it took the couple 20 gallons of paint to create one of the largest murals in Fort Worth – a 133-foot-long, 20-foot-high recreation of the Texas Christian University football stadium.

All of this to say the couple is sometimes creates art that is “larger than life,” but other times the scene is no bigger than daisies and butterflies along a river trail.

“We pride ourselves on creating artwork that is full of movement, rich in color and with a precision for detail,” the couple said. “For us the eventual mural is an end to a long journey; a singular gift to an audience unknown.”