Don Rape, 71, a retired concrete contractor, with his dogs, Auto-Carr and Her Q. Lees, shows the mural he painted during the summer on a retaining wall behind his barn in Jackson Township. The mural was painted in sections, inspired by things he liked throughout his life, and includes themes such as Robert Crumb's "Mr. Natural," Steelers and his high school. Rape used a scissor lift for completing the upper sections. The mural can be seen when driving north on Perry Highway, before entering Zelienople. Cary Shaffer/Butler Eagle

Don Rape woke up one day this summer and decided the wall of the family barn he is renovating needed a little something.

The solution can be seen on Perry Highway, just south of Zeilenople.

“I just decided that that wall that we poured years ago, it was looking kind of bad, so I wanted to dress it up,” Rape said. “So I laid out a little mural for myself and painted it.”

This isn’t the first time Rape has shared his gift with the world. When he was 13 years old, he paid for a 10-speed bicycle by designing T-shirts for customers. Family and friends would go to Rape with a blank T-shirt asking for a specific design on their shirt, and for $2, he’d draw it on the shirt.

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