A mosaic decorated life-sized Highland cow bench has raised £3,600 for the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance.
“Sweetie Annie” – designed by mosaic artist Katy Galbraith – was part of a Highland Cow art trail in the Perthshire town of Crieff.
Eleven of the Crieff cowches were placed around the Strathearn town by Crieff Succeeds this summer in an attempt to bring more tourists to the area.
The cowches were sold at a dinner event at the town’s Hydro for a total of £24,900.
Katy – who had lived in the town for 20 years – designed the cow around the theme of sugar mice as she was a sponsored by Gordon & Durward, a local sweet manufacturer and shop.
She worked primarily in recycled materials – including broken china and donated materials to keep costs down.
The project was particularly difficult due to the challenges involved with fixing due to the make-up of the cowch.
She said,
“Whilst I had been forewarned that the surface of the Cowch was textured, I hadn’t really realised just how textured it was – even the painters found it challenging.”
“Every tile had to be cut down to fit the various curves. It was going to take longer than anticipated, so a call out to volunteers brought in friends and other mosaic artists to assist.”
“Many of the volunteers made a mouse using contact adhesive and mounting adhesive film as the transfer method.”
The mosaic was fixed with PU adhesive and grouted in BAL Micromax2 Pecan and Jade mixed with BAL Admix GT1 donated by Topps Tiles in Perth.
The stunning project took more than 260 hours over 30 days to complete, with a further 120 hours by volunteers.
Alex Underwood, Head of Marketing at BAL, said:
“This is a fantastic project which took phenomenal skill and patience to complete. We are delighted that our versatile grout was a key part of this installation.”
Nick Harvey, SCAA’s director of Fundraising and Communication, commenting on the auction said,
“We’re really heartened and grateful to companies, groups and organisations everywhere for supporting our aeromedical retrieval service.”
“Working with Crieff Succeeds to help fund vital emergency response care for those most in need across the whole of Scotland has been a fantastic and rewarding partnership.”
“SCAA is the people’s helicopter, and having the support of so many is humbling, we can’t thank the community enough for their unwavering support of this life-saving service.”