Vandals have left a single mother devastated for the second time after graffiti of explicit imagery was again sprayed on her art caravan in Broughty Ferry.
Andrea Douglas began running Art For All after her job as an art and design teacher at Dundee High School ended after 20 years.
As well as her teaching work, she ran her own jewellery business and art workshops.
As part of the business, Andrea bought a caravan for mobile events and began posting about its renovation on Instagram @TheWeePinkVan.
However, last week she awoke to find an explicit image spray-painted on the caravan after running her first art classes that weekend.
Wee Pink Van vandalised for second time
Then on Wednesday Andrea got up to find the caravan – which had just been fixed – covered in the same graffiti imagery.
She said: “My Wee Pink Van has been badly graffitied again.
“I can’t believe it. I’m devastated.
“Exactly the same thing has been spray-painted over the side
“I’m pretty resilient but this is horrific.
“It’s turning this nice residential street horrible.
“I’m fighting for an income here. This is ruining my livelihood.
“It’s just been fixed and then vandalised again. It’s a big cost.”
No evidence or CCTV
Although the police spoke to neighbours, there was no CCTV footage or evidence of who carried out the vandalism.
The vandalism has left Andrea considering paying for storage to prevent further damage.
She said: “I don’t want to give up my dream because of the silly person doing this.
“I won’t give up Art for All. It’s my passion to bring art to all ages, abilities and local communities.
“I’ve been seeing where the demand is all over Dundee.
“I spent 20 years at the high school and what I’m trying to do is not go straight back to the classroom.
“I’m trying to set up on my own as I feel like there’s a need for Art for All.
“In the future, I hope to offer bursaries and things like that for people that can’t afford art classes.”
The caravan was bought six months ago, at which point it was half-renovated.
Andrea finished it, painting, spraying and designing it to be pink inside and out.
The entrepreneur is keen to host afternoon teas, corporate events, prosecco nights, meetings, hen nights and other events.
She plans to deliver art classes to people across Dundee, as well as home-schooled children and people with dementia.
Her daughter, Aila, set up Cute Bracelets – which runs under her business – during the pandemic.
Aila donates her profits to charitable causes, such as Ukrainian refugees and the Turkey Syria Appeal. She attends markets with the help of her mother and was hoping to use the caravan for craft events too.
Conversation