A portrait of dual Brownlow medallist and Carlton champion Chris Judd will be auctioned at a special Virtually Forgotten Legends (VFL) lunch on Grand Final Eve at Docklands.
Since 2008 The VFL Club has been raising money for the Royal Women’s Hospital Newborn Intensive and Special Care unit in memory of Sam Carmichael. Sam, born a tiny 440 grams and 14 weeks early, spent his three short weeks in the care of the Women’s NISC team. The family has now helped raise in excess $160,000 for the NISC unit.
Last year Sam’s mother Kylie Carmichael, who is the daughter of VFL board member and ex -Melbourne/Carlton player Greg Wells, ran the Melbourne Marathon to help contribute to this fund. An employee of their family-owned business, Bentleigh Sign Group, who works in design and who is also an artist, saw an article published in the Herald Sun telling her story and was inspired as he, too, used running to help him through a difficult period in his life.
The portrait is by talented artist J Michael Allery as he is known in the art world. He is a self-taught artist who started painting seriously in the 1990s, concentrating on pastels and oil. He has completed many amazing works. From time to time J Michael Allery has commissioned works for charities, kindly donating many hours of his time. One such portrait was of former Socceroos Captain Johnny Warren - which sold for over $10,000.
After reading Kylie’s story, J Michael Allery contacted her and volunteered to do a portrait of a sporting personality, which could then be sold and all monies raised donated to the Women’s NISC unit.
He expected that it would take over 100 hours to do, and wanted nothing in return. Kylie she said was very appreciative of such a generous offer and got straight to work to find a marketable sporting celebrity.
She said without any hesitation AFL champion and all round nice guy Chris Judd happily agreed to be the subject for the portrait. Adam Haddrick of Adam Haddrick Photography was quickly commissioned to set up a photo shoot with Chris, and in the age of digital technology, photos were delivered to Queensland-based J Michael Allery so he could to get started on his work of art.
“We are really thankful to Chris and Adam and particularly to our special artist J Michael Allery for this very kind act,” Kylie said.
It is a fantastic portrait of Chris Judd and the plan is to auction it at the VFL’s annual Grand Final function to be held at the Docklands on Friday 26th September. Fans can make a bid for the portrait prior to the auction by emailing details through to Foundation@thewomens.org.au Bids to this email address will close by Wednesday 24th September.
Funds raised from the event will also go towards purchasing a specialist neonatal ultrasound machine for the Women’s.