Our grandsons attempted to adopt a black, female kitten. They already had Fezzik, named after a pirate, so in keeping with the theme, they named this tiny kitten after a pirate ship. Fezzik would not tolerate her presence in the house, however. So my daughter found another family to adopt Black Pearl.
The painting is acrylic on 20″ x 20″ stretched canvas.
Price: $100 plus postage
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Sometimes my cat, Skittles, dreams. I can tell, because his paws are moving in order as if he were running. All cats have some things in common. It seems, all cats, even lions, tigers panthers, and jaguars, will squeeze themselves into any cardboard box that they can find. I imagine that when Skittles is dreaming, he visualizes himself to be a huge lion hunting with his pride!
Lions used to be wide ranging and plentiful in Africa, Asia, and India. Now, they are endangered, with possibly only 400 left in “the wild”. August 10 is set aside as International Lion Day.
This painting was painted with acrylic on coarse canvas, hand-stretched on 30″ x 30″ bars. I primed it, then painted it bright yellow. The only obviously yellow on the painting is on the inscription and the edges, however tiny specks show through, due to the roughness of the canvas, giving it a “sub-conscious” brightness or happiness.
For Valentine’s Day, this year, I painted on 6″ x 6″ stretched canvasses for each of our five grandchildren. It was not planned this way, but as it turned out, they all have purple or lavender in them. They say purple is the most provocative of colors. I think it is fun. These paintings have been well received on Facebook. Here goes!
Asters, etc.
“Asters, etc.” is for Brigitta, age 9. She loves green and is a very good, abstract artist in her own right (better than me). In art, anyway, I find it hard to break free from physical reality. This is a freestyle interpretation of asters, with a couple of undefined, red weed flowers blooming, above the jumble of mixed foliage below.
Goldfinch with pulple coneflowers
“Goldfinch” is for Elijah, age 9. He loves it! It is based on a photograph I had taken through the front door window of our house on Front Street. It was the same goldfinch who had serenaded me at arm’s length while I paused on my morning walk just after my open heart surgery.
Lavender Sunflower
My painting for Isabella is of a sunflower, but with lavender petals. When she saw it, she said, “Poppop, you are a genius!” I surmise she likes it.
Bizaro Skittles
Jacob’s 11th birthday is next week. He wants a cat. His dad does not want any more animals in addition to his three sons in the house. So I painted him “Bizaro Skittles.” It is a portrait of my cat, mirrored, in purple and pale green.
yes!
“yes!” is for our 12-year-old grandson Aidan. I wrote around the sides: “Even when the answer is No, it says YES! I love you. 2 Corinthians 1:19”
It came to me that he is of the age and temperament that he needs to hear this. When his parents or other adults tell him no, it is not because they don’t want him to have fun, it is because they love him and want him to have a long and happy life. I explained this to him when I gave him the painting. He gave me a huge, tight, long hug-of-war hug.
I painted Rupert for our son-in-law Vincent’s 30 somethingth birthday this month. Sadly, as it turns out, Rupert is slowly dying. He has been a wonderful cat, friendly and affectionate. He has lived longer than we expected, what with his taste for toxic chemicals and his talent for escaping outdoors. Even though he hasn’t eaten for days, the sweetheart still roused himself to stand up to greet me when I visited yesterday.
The painting is acrylic on 10″ x 10″ stretched canvas.
It seems I need to paint all of the family’s pets. It was Oreo’s turn for her portrait to be painted. She is Skittles’ litter mate and playmate. They have very different temperaments. Skittles will lay, purring on my chest for hours. He will come when I call and let me pick him up and snuggle him. He just settles in and enjoys it. Oreo comes if she smells chicken or hears her food bowl hit the counter. She surprises us when she jumps up on us and jumps down just as suddenly. She likes to sleep in Bethann’s clothing drawers under the bed.
Both of them like to race back and forth in the middle of the night.
Of course, I have painted Skittles and Oreo a few times before in CUDDLE!, SNUGGLE!, and SPOON!
The painting is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ stretched canvas.
Price: $70 plus postage.
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I saw an image of fierce-looking tiger eyes composed like this. I decided that I needed to portray my cat Skittles’ inner tiger. This is part of my Perkasie Fun-A-Day 2019 home decor project.
The painting is acrylic on 24″ x 12″ stretched canvas.
Price: $200 plus postage.
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These are Oreo and Skittles sitting on the window sill looking out for birds and rabbits, bees and butterflies. They may also notice some of the human activity on our corner. I call the piece Weltanschauung because it is my view of the world. We rent a 500 square foot house. The house we owned was foreclosed on and auctioned after I had several hospitalizations and my business failed, and Social Security (falsely so called) took three years to get me disability, and then did not pay my retroactive back pay for another two years, until after I finally happened upon a sympathetic Social Security employee who risked her job to fix the problem for me. While that was happening, I found out that the illness I had before had damaged my aortic valve. So I had it replaced with a pig valve last June. I had three rounds of infection in my chest incision after that. The week we moved into this tiny house, last September, I was weak with pain and had to spend time chasing down a rare antibiotic that is now the ninth on the list of those I am allergic to.
Of course, Weltanschauung means far more than just one’s view of the world out of a window. Surely you can see how the experience of the last several years has shaped and reformed my worldview. While this may look like an idyllic picture of country life, it is actually facing a very busy street in the middle of town.
The painting is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ stretched canvas.
Price: $150 plus postage
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Comrades Skittles and Oreo are ordering us to take our positive affection opposition to fascism up another notch with this one. First, there was “CUDDLE!” Then it was “SNUGGLE!” Now it’s: “SPOON!”
Couldn’t you just see it; a couple hundred thousand couples spooning on the mall in DC, gently asking for no more imperialist wars, an end to subsidies to petroleum, full conversion to solar power, conversion to cradle-to-cradle production cycles eliminating landfills, … ? Cats can dream, can’t they?
Painting is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on stretched canvas.
Price: $200 plus postage
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Cuddling was phase one. I realize we need to work on that. Some may be asking what the difference is between cuddling and snuggling. C’mon, comrades! Are we serious about making progress and spreading love and joy? Well, then, the difference should be obvious. Snuggling involves more motion. It can be done in larger groups. Think mosh pits, only embracing. Now put that on the road to Mar-a-Lago to block one of the so-called president’s golf vacations he said he was never going to take. The international press would have fun with that, so would all of us snugglers.
“Make New Friends, Not New Refugees!”
This just came out from my fellow Minneapolitan. It expresses the sentiment of the movement:
The original is for sale now, but within a week, hopefully, I will have posters, postcards and lawn signs.
Painting is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on stretched canvas.
Price: $200 plus postage
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I have been searching for ways to use my art to positively respond to the current horror that we face in American governmental breakdown. Each day, there is a new attack; a new round of newspeak. One day it is a congresswoman proudly proclaiming that her vote giving permission to internet service providers to sell all of our browsing histories to whomever wants to buy them “protects your privacy.” The next day, Sean Spicer is giving a grimacing Park Service employee a huge, game-show, donation check for $78,000 (supposedly Trump’s 3 months’ net salary), two days after Trump’s budget cut the Park Service budget by over $1.5 billion. Fact checkers have determined that 69.1% of Trump’s statements are false. One White House reporter said in frustration, “It is hard to know what to think when you can’t tell what Trump means when he uses words.”
Yesterday, I started to paint this portrait of my cat, with a Che Guevara beret. Skittles helps keep me sane. He climbs up onto my left side and cuddles. If things get too intense, he lies on my keyboard. We have matching heart murmurs. He will get in my face and command me to “CUDDLE!” It struck me that this is what America and much of the world needs right now. I can see it now, massive cuddle-ins in front of defense contractors and fracking stations; cuddlers blocking access to United Airlines offices; cuddlers circling the Pentagon; cuddlers on the mall in DC asking for an end to military expansion and for universal healthcare.
“Make Love, not Human Services Cuts!”
HUG O’ WAR
I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles.
And everyone wins.
– Shel Silverstein
Painting is 16″ x 20″ acrylic on stretched canvas.
Fezzik is a little cat ironically named after the character played by André the Giant in The Princess Bride. I painted it for a present for our grandson Jacob’s 13th birthday. The cat was a stray that adopted his family and now lives indoors.
This painting represents my first headlong plunge into abstract art, with a whimsical, primitive twist. I decided to name it “Catnip”. Whether you want to think of the cat’s mind being altered or the viewer’s is up to you.
The painting is acrylic on 24″ x 12″ stretched canvas.
Price: $40 plus postage
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This is a painting of our youngest grandson with my cat. It is based on a photo from several years ago, when Elijah was just a little boy and Skittles was just a kitten.
Original painting is acrylic on 12″ x 12″ stretched canvas.
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