Squirrelgator in San Francisco with his new owner
It has been a long adventure for the pen and ink drawing of “Squirrelgator” to travel to its destination. The drawing of Squirrelgator is a larger piece of art that was based on the concept art of “Squirrelgator” for an upcoming project. Squirrelgator is a fierce forest creature that is part squirrel and part alligator. His favorite foods are acorns and people. Squirrelgator has 25 hit points. The canvas size is 20 inches by 24 inches. It was originally created in Orange County, California and needed to get to its new home in San Francisco. The problem was transport. I didn’t want to damage the piece but I also wanted to bring it with me as I traveled to San Francisco so that way it would get there in time for Mr. Henry Yuan’s house warming party. It would have taken too long to ship the painting. So I took it on the airplane. One thing my father said was, “Security is not going to let you take a scary monster like, Squirrelgator on the airplane. You won’t even make it past the TSA!”
Squirrelgator on the plane
I thought to myself, “Why would anyone be afraid of a Squirrelgator? He only has 25 hit points!” My main concern was that the staples connecting the canvas to the frame would set off the metal detectors. Another concern was that if I put the painting through the conveyor-belt detector, that it would get dirty and damaged by the rubber and greasy technology. When it finally was my turn to go through security I talked briefly with a TSA agent and told her about Squirrelgator and she said that Squirrelgator definitely needed to be scanned, but that she would provide him with a protective piece of Tupperware-like container that would make sure he didn’t get dirty. The painting went through security and then while I was putting on my boots another female TSA agent started laughing. I looked at her and took my piece of art and then she said, “Is that a Squirrelgator?” And I said, “Yes, this is indeed a Squirrelgator.” And she said, “Oh that’s cute.”
Squirrelgator after construction
Once on the plane I wanted to sit with the piece in order to make sure it stayed safe. But the flight attendant told me that I needed to put it in the overhead bin. So I reluctantly put Squirrelgator in the bin and a gentleman was nice enough to stuff his jacket underneath the canvas to give it some extra padding and protective cushioning in the stow away area. I also had a jacket so I took it off and did the same thing. I was very worried about Squirrelgator during the flight and a girl slammed something into the overhead bin at one point and I thought, “Oh, there we go. She just ruined it.” So the entire flight was excruciating because I wanted to know if the painting had gotten ripped or torn. But to my surprise, when I opened the bin, Squirrelgator was undamaged. So I got picked up and the new owner of Squirrelgator and myself found the perfect place for him to stay on the wall and he definitely was a hit at the party. It was a long and perilous journey, but it was well worth it.
-Tyler