Bahama Llama's adventures-11-09-06

It has recently been pointed out to me how useful a blog can be for an artist. With all the activity involved with Bahama Llama, and with events sometimes changing from day to day I think a blog is a sensible way to effectively answer questions about what's happening!

So, ...

Heeeeeeere's Jeanne!

As a quick catch-up, for those of you that don't know, I was selected to be one of the artists to paint an animal for the Abzoolutely Chestnut Hill Business Association's public art project. It's a fundraiser for three worthy purposes.
According to their website, http://abzoolutelychestnuthill.org, "The proceeds from the auction, the raffle, and sales of AbZOOlutely merchandise will be shared between the Chestnut Hill Community Fund, projects for the preservation and beautification of the District, and the Philadelphia Zoo."

Once I was selected, and I was told that PECO Wind was my sponsor, I set about the task of designing a naturalistic theme that would have "wind" as a major factor. I played around with some fun titles and themes, including "Llama in Pajamas", or "Pajama Llama" as a title. Designs of trees blowing in the wind transformed into palm trees; sailboats changed into a tall sailing ship, and the final design for "Bahama Llama" was finally completed sometime in July, 2006. After working on painting him during the summer, with the help of my friend Lisa, (she had a working truck) we delivered him to the Business Association's Office on Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill in August.

September 16th was the day of the unveiling: around 50 painted zoo animal sculptures were simultaneously unveiled up and down the main roads of Chestnut Hill. It turned out to be a lovely day (after the threat of rain that morning). After the unveiling, many folks walked up and down the avenue to enjoy the delightfully different styles of art on the animals. I was sorry to see that a few of the animals had already sustained major injuries.

Well, a few weeks ago, I got the word that Bahama Llama had become a casualty, with its legs broken off. He was at Roxy Auto Body Shop, being repaired. Then I heard he was fixed and ready for repainting. Then I heard he was broken again! After his second"surgery", this time to recreate a broken ear, I went to Roxy's to repaint. (By the way, Roxy did a fantastic job of making Bahama whole again!) The way I understand what happened was this:
1- Bahama was found with its legs broken off at the base.
2-Roxy Auto did a terrific job fixing the legs.
3-While waiting to be re-installed onto his base, Bahama met with some unsavory character(s) and lost the top third of his ear. There were also several scratches across Bahama's body!
4-Back to Roxy again! Thank you, Frank, the fiberglass expert, for crafting him a new, beautiful ear!
5-I got the word that he needed repainting and went up there today to do part of the job. I discovered that he fits into my Toyota wagon after all, (I didn't think he would), so I brought him home to finish the repainting job!

I must say, my llama is having quite a wild ride!




That's all for now! I gotta get painting!