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Headline: RAW VIDEO: I Knew You Were Trouble When You Pumpkin! Taylor Swift Gourd Wins Global Fans
Caption: Ohio artist Jeanette Paras has turned an enormous pumpkin into an incredible likeness of Taylor Swift. Jeanette has been decorating pumpkins for 35 years, having first started her unusual tradition by painting the gourds when Michael Dukakis ran against George H.W. Bush for the presidency in 1988. Explaining how she became a pumpkin painter, Jeanette says: “My husband was going to make a Jack o’ Lantern and I said no, stop. I think I am going to turn these into the presidential candidates.” This year, she decided to honour Taylor with her pumpkin art skills. As amid dreadful news, she thought it was best to bring some joy to the world with a popular star. Jeanette says: “I pumpkinise whoever is the hot topic, and what with her concert tour, and her dating life, she is dating a two time Super Bowl champion, Travis Kelcee. But she’s amazing in her own right. She’s her own economy.” In a nod to the American football star, Jeanette also turned a pumpkin into a ball - adorning it with Travis’ number - 87. The Ohio artist, who has decorated pumpkins as Donald Trump, Jay Leno, Kim Jong Un, and Prince Harry in the past, says Taylor was a particularly difficult subject to depict - as she is less bloated than her usual subjects. “It’s a defined shape, a pumpkin,” she explains. “But sometimes it does not fit the person’s chin. So I have to adjust, the facial features. We’re talking a 400 pound pumpkin here. So what was challenging with this Swiftkin is that the face is concave, but this has got to be my favourite display how it turned out.” This Taylor Swift pumpkin features meticulously arranged wigs that replicate the singer's hairline, and large painted sweet potatoes serve as her ears. Not to be overlooked, the giant gourd also sports oversized, dangling earrings that mirror Swift's appearance at the 2023 Grammy Awards, serving as Paras's muse. Jeanette’s pumpkin painting has gone viral, and she hopes Taylor sees her work and celebrates it. “If she acknowledges this in any way, you are going to hear me from Ohio, all the way to Great Britain. My small mind will literally explode,” she explains. As for her favourite Taylor songs, she adds: “I can’t say I’m much of a Swiftie, but I really like Shake It Off and Look What You Made Me Do.” The ‘Swiftkin’ has even become a bit of a tourist attraction in Jeanette’s hometown of Dublin, Ohio. “We’re getting all ages here. From teenagers to people in their 70s and 80s,” she explains. “People have seen my Swiftkin from Florida and Los Angeles and I don’t know if you are familiar with the geography but they came here to see family, but wanted to see my Swiftkin after seeing it on the news.” Although she partakes in her unusual Halloween tradition “for fun” she now hopes her work can raise funds for a serious cause - as Jeanette is a two time breast cancer survivor. Typically, her painted gourds grace the exterior of her house. Yet this year a local radio station has offered to drop the ‘Swiftkin’ from a great height to smash it up in honour of her fight against cancer. Her ‘Paras Pumpkins’ tradition now raises funds for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC). You can donate at www.give.osu.edu/ParasPumpkins.
Keywords: pumpkin,taylor swift,music,halloween,offbeat,fun,photo,video,art,design
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