A group of painters have brushes ready to help raise funds for the Humane Society of Escambia County this weekend.

Lyn Gill is spearheading a fundraiser as part of the Pink Pirates Painting Party organization. The event will featuring a Friday evening painting party featuring pets and will include a family fun day on Saturday.

“We know that the Humane Society is not actively operating a shelter anymore,” Gill said. “The group will continue to function and will be actively taking care of animals that are adoptable. This is our effort to help in their plans to continue that work.”

Gill said the painting party featuring portraits of pets will be held at the L House in downtown Brewton beginning at 7 p.m. Friday evening.

“We will be painting pet portraits in a variety of styles,” Gill said. “There will be realistic pet portraits and a ‘pop art’ portrait to choose from for the party.”

The one-of-a-kind paintings will involve additional needs as opposed to painting still life, Gill said.

“Because of the individual attention involved in producing the paintings, the price for this party will be $45 if purchased beforehand and $50 at the door for the realistic pet portraits,” Gill said. “For a pop art portrait the cost is $35 in advance or $40 at the door.”

Gill said sending photos of the pet for pre-painting work would make the portrait process go more smoothly.

“We ask that anyone interested in the pet portraits send photos to us in advance,” Gill said. “We want to create portraits that will be cherished. Send as many photos of the pet to be featured in the portrait as you’d like. We will do some prep work to make the process easier.”

Saturday’s events are geared toward the family with plenty of activities and information available throughout the day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We want this to be a fun day focusing on the Humane Society,” Gill said. “The Saturday event will be geared toward children with lots of activities. We will have art projects including T-shirt art and face painting. We also have some goodies for the children and will be conducting some games and other activities.”

Gill said games and coloring books will be free for participants; however there will be a charge for face painting and glitter tattoos.

“We want to do what we can to educate the community about what the Humane Society does,” Gill said. “This event is a lot about education and letting people know that the Humane Society does more than shelter animals.”

Gill asked pet owners to submit photos for pet portraits by sending by email to creativecauses11@gmail. com