Posts Tagged ‘oil painting’

My Cat Stubbie Was Ready to Move

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Several years ago we were getting ready to move, and had boxes everywhere. Anyone who has a cat knows how cats love themselves some boxes. Recently I found a photo of Stubbie staring back from a box and decided to do a painting from it for my rogues’ gallery of cat portraits.

I should say a few words about the late Stubbie, who sadly died in 2011 at the age of 16. His mother, Lily, had him and his brothers, Cowie and Speck, in our back yard one July 4th. Stubbie was the runt of the litter, and developed a loud whine to aid him in fighting for his place in the milking queue. He remained vocal his entire life, and never entered a room without saying something.

When he was maybe a year old, a Superball appeared in our house, and captivated him with its bounciness. Soon enough he was fetching the balls we’d toss across the house. He got so obsessed with chasing the balls that we learned that if we said the word “ball” he knew what was going on, and would give his characteristic whine. We had to spell out b-a-l-l in conversation so as not to rile him up.

Since Superballs had pretty much been removed from toy stores because they were small enough to choke small children, we had to work hard to keep a stock of them on hand for Stubbie – the rest had been long ago lost under furniture – and eventually we gave up the game, and Stubbie forgot about it all. When we moved, we found a trove of Superballs, but we never told him about them.

Tags: oil painting
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My late cat, Dexter, asked me, “My bag’s packed. When do we leave?”

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

This is the second painting in a series of three that will commemorate our cats, who sadly have all died after long and sweet lives.

Dexter was that kind of cat who would lie on top of anything that was out of place on any surface: a piece of paper; a hat; a glove. If that thing also happened to be comfy, awesome: the laundry basket; a suitcase, a jacket. If we needed that thing he was lying on to be removed, say to use it, we understood that we would have to replace that item with one of equal value and if possible, comfort.

While Zoe, who I last wrote about, was never all that interested in strangers, Dexter was thrilled when someone new was on the scene. He was such a sweetie-pie that his name modulated over the years to become Dextrose.

Tags: cat paintings, oil painting
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