A 34-year-old Winchester resident is facing art cruelty charges after firefighters were unable to rescue a dog painting locked inside the hot car.  Emergency crews responded at approximately 2:37 pm to a report of a dog painting trapped inside of a vehicle outside of Woodland Park.

The value of the piece had depreciated, but was described by police as the work of famed soccer-mom artist Minnie van Gogh. Eventually, firefighters gained entry to the vehicle and tried to cool the canvas with their hose, effectively ruining the painting since it was an oil painting, and oil and water don’t mix.

The dog painting’s owner, identified as Christie York of Winchester was arrested and charged with felony animal art cruelty, according to Police. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animal Art say it only takes six minutes in a hot car for a painting of an animal to succumb to the heat. “It was my ex-husband’s weekend to watch the art, this is all his fault,” Christie explained.

“I just don’t understand why they had to break my window,” Christie complained. Dan Jackson, owner of the Jackson Potluck food truck shot back “I don’t understand how someone could show such a lack of appreciation for a living work of art.” Sal of Salvador’s Deli summarized the whole thing by saying “it was just all so surreal.”