Actress Kristin Bauer Van Straten has turned painter to create a special portrait of her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer to raise money for an anti-animal poaching charity.

The TV star has been using her fame to draw attention to the horrors of elephant and rhino ivory poaching in Africa and recently traveled to Kenya with her husband, South African musician Abri van Straten, to film a documentary about the controversy.

She has been doing all she can to boost funds for the Out of Africa charity and she recently picked up a paintbrush to show off her art skills, convincing her pal Moyer to pose in character as vampire Bill Compton for the piece of art.

Bauer van Straten shared a photo of the finished work with her Twitter and Facebook followers on Wednesday (05Dec12) and the painting is now set to be auctioned off on Saturday (08Dec12).

Moyer even signed the canvas and posed with the portrait in a picture on Facebook to help boost bids for the item.