Today is the last day I have to paint before my husband's birthday weekend. I wanted to keep up with the 30 in 30 pace, so I planned on cranking out 3-5 small, simple, (maybe even abstracted) expressive watercolors. I had tons of ideas, and today was even National Wildlife Day.
So many animals are running around in my head waiting to be painted!
However, today also would have been my grandmother's 77th birthday.
I was sad for a bit at the beginning of the day.
I pondered our mortality, but that soon gave way to a shift in my painting plans. Much like a four year old, I delight in using my artistic talents to create gifts for those I love. I decided to paint my grandmother a birthday present, but there's only one animal that comes to mind when I think of my grandmother; cats.
Specifically, a Siamese cat named Baby. (There was Bubba, too, but it was Baby that was around most when I was a kid.) Baby was beautiful.
Baby loved my grandmother. Baby did not exactly love everyone else. In fact, that cat was downright hateful. She was prone to scratching and biting, and I'm pretty sure all of the grandchildren feared that cat more than we could ever let Gran know.
Now that I've had the experience of loving a pet that does not like many others (especially children) and would just as soon bite them as say hello, I understand why Gran loved that cat so much.
She lived alone.
When she sat outside on her porch shelling green beans, the cat was her companion.
When the grandkids couldn't visit, it was Baby the cat that laid in bed watching The Golden Girls with her.
That cat was her companion, and if somebody didn't like her hateful cat, so the hell what?!
I understand that, now. And now, I love that cat simply for loving my Gran.
Hear that, Gran? Your cat had an attitude, and your cat was awesome. Just like you.
Love you, Granny. Happy birthday. <3
