FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- Daisy Jean Cathcart

-- Story by Paul Clinton, photo by

Daisy Jean “D.J.” Cathcart’s eyes were opened two years ago, while she

helped an America’s Cup team prepare for the yearly yacht race in

Auckland, New Zealand.

Marine muralist Wyland offered to spice up the hulls of the team’s two

boats -- “Abracadabra I” and “Abracadabra II” -- with three whales,

bottlenose dolphins, a Pacific blue marlin, a tiger shark and colorful

reef fish.

The artist’s love of sea life, in turn, inspired the Newport Beach

resident. So much so that Cathcart volunteered to help Wyland on his next

project -- a whale mural painted on the corrugated steel outer wall of

the New Zealand Maritime Museum.

“The goal is to create an awareness of the value of marine life,”

Cathcart said. “It’s a wonderful piece of art combined with a wonderful

conservancy message.”

Wyland has painted more than 80 murals, known as Whaling Walls, on

public buildings from Japan to France to New Zealand.

The two local examples include a massive, 116,000-square-foot mural on

the Long Beach Convention Center that was named the world’s largest mural

by the Guinness Book of World Records in 1992 and a smaller mural in

Laguna Beach.

Wyland has set a goal to paint 100 murals by 2011.

To help Wyland accomplish his goal, Cathcart has given much of her

time to the Wyland Foundation in Laguna Beach. The nonprofit is basically

the organizational backbone for Wyland’s effort.

Cathcart, along with a team of other helpers, usually accomplishes the

grunt work needed to make the walls possible -- securing city permits,

getting the word out and connecting other organizational dots.

Cathcart helped organize a foundation fund-raiser in March at the

Radisson Hotel in Newport Beach. She helped pull together items that were

auctioned to raise money for the cause.

The 45-year-old Cathcart grew up in South Carolina but now lives on

Lido Isle. Her motive for volunteering hits straight at the heart of her

reason for living in the city -- so she can spend her leisure time in

Newport Harbor.

“For me, I’d rather be out playing on the water,” Cathcart said. “My

focus has been on working to enhance and protect that water playground.”