Bert Swartz spent 40 to 45 hours hand-painting a guitar inspired by Dolly Parton's 1971 song "Coat of Many Colors," then persuaded the country singer's team to get it signed. The finished piece sold at auction for $2,500, with proceeds benefiting a Hudson nonprofit that houses adults with developmental disabilities.

Swartz, a retired Pasco County Libraries employee who lives in Land O' Lakes, has painted about a dozen guitars over the years for The Angelus, a nonprofit that provides lifelong housing and individualized care for non-ambulatory adults with developmental disabilities. The Tampa Bay Beacons first reported on the project in a profile published Sept. 7.

The Parton guitar began with the singer's face, rendered in acrylic paint over an airbrushed background. Swartz told the Beacons that the portrait is always her starting point.

"The face is … that's the money shot," she said. "I start with the face because if I mess that up, I can't go on to the rest."

Getting Parton's autograph proved harder than the painting. Swartz said she sent letters and made calls that went nowhere. A break came when she heard Jeff Conyers, president of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, on NPR. She wrote Conyers a letter about the project and included a photo of herself with foam characters she had built for children's library displays during her years with Pasco County Libraries.

Conyers connected Swartz with his assistant, Kathy Brown, who coordinated the signing. Swartz shipped the guitar. Then she and her husband drove to Tennessee to pick it up. Inside the case, the couple had packed letters, cards and coloring-book pages that Angelus residents had made for Parton. Brown told them Parton had gone through every one, according to the Beacons.

When Brown handed back the guitar case in Tennessee, she told Swartz that Parton had read every letter and coloring-book page the Angelus residents tucked inside.

The signed guitar reached Julien's Auctions in November 2024. Swartz said the buyer paid $2,500, with proceeds benefiting The Angelus.

Swartz's connection to the nonprofit stretches back to around 2006, when she designed T-shirts for a Charlie Daniels fundraising event. She was then asked to decorate guitars for auction and tested a colored pencil on a paint stir stick before tackling the unfamiliar surface. Since then she has completed about a dozen guitars, including one featuring Taylor Swift that carries a signed pick guard.

Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80 after what her representatives described as a brief battle with cancer, NPR reported. Swartz told the Beacons the loss was hard to accept but said the guitar project gave The Angelus a lasting tie to the singer.