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La Siesta Primavera del Gato II

detail of 16x20 oil

SOLD

This painting is featured and demonstrated in my book BRILLIANT COLOR.

This kitty is NOT Chloe – but I guess it could be Chloe…

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A FREDERICA & CHLOE PICTURE BOOK MYSTERY – PART 6

A series of short-short stories featuring Frederika/Freddie and Chloe/Sweetie, Freddie’s cat

© Julie Gilbert Pollard

Freddie and Wendy are having twin nervous breakdowns –

Scruff & Chloe exemplify being a dog & a cat…

My brain is exploding. The last time we spoke, “sinister event” number – what? Oh god, I can’t even keep track. And what’s the point? They just keep adding up.

I’ve lived a good (more or less), kind (I think), productive (one hopes) life so far, but kind of boring, really. At least when compared with the last – I don’t know – how long has it been since I was peacefully and happily painting on the riverbank?

I can’t remember. I can’t think straight. I am totally unprepared for what is happening.

That, of course, makes it doubly scary to know that I’m also totally unprepared for what might be coming - what is coming. Because I’m pretty sure it won’t stop here.

And what is it that is happening, anyway?

My scrambled brain just wants to take a nice long nap.

So, let’s take stock. I’m scared, I’m puzzled, I’m aghast. And – I’m embarrassed to admit - part of me might even be just a tiny bit - excited? Please don’t judge – I’ve been through a lot lately.

But I can’t help but STILL see all these events in an abstract way. The fact that they are real doesn’t quite compute.

I mean – a body in my house – a living body, but still…

A body not known by me - but known - and disliked - by my current best friend and roomie.

What has always helped me in times of stress?

My easel calls!

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Well, at least I’m already here in my studio-cum-living-quarters. No excuses. Can’t do laundry – laundry room is in the house. Can’t do housework – that would also have to take place in the house.

I could do paperwork as my office is in the studio. But, well, that task is easy to discount as an option – especially for the greater good of my mental health.

So – finally – for medicinal purposes - here I am, facing a painting-in-progress on the easel.

And I stare at it for a while. Decide I would rather start something new. I make a half-assed attempt at that and then sit and stare at that for a while.

My eye finally strays to a quotation I have thumbtacked to my vision board. “NIKE says, JUST DO IT”. My own personal favorite adaptation of that phrase is “just – blank (feel free to fill in your own favorite adverb here) - do it!” I take this to heart and feel ashamed of being such a painting wuss.

And so, I do - do it.

Oh, my goodness, painting feels so good – even when I’m working on a super-challenging passage – even when I realize I’ve made a huge paint mess on my paper or canvas – it still feels good!

As I tell my students, “Those who paint thrive on challenge.” It’s true. While simply putting paint on paper is easy, getting all those colors, paint strokes, marks and images to come together in a way that “works” is NOT easy. Partially quoting Art Linkletter, “…not for sissies!”

And it usually has nothing to do with being able to draw a straight line…

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I lose track of time. My painting is coming along brilliantly!

Now, the realistic and objective side of my brain that is hovering in the background knows that this perception is not necessarily correct. When I assess the painting in a day or two, I will likely see problem passages that I don’t see now - while I’m so close to it. Close in terms of actual distance, yes – more importantly, “close” as in mentally and emotionally close.

Right now, I’m in love with it and can’t see its flaws. It’s always a “forest and trees” situation.

Even though I’ve been painting professionally for quite a few years now, I still go through that “precious” stage in a painting where the painter falls in love with the painting. A seasoned artist knows that this feeling is not to be trusted. For an artist to NOT realize this is dangerous. Dangerous for the painting at hand – and dangerous for our future works.

Dangerous for our artistic growth.

I also must point out here that it is also not productive to have an automatic opposite negative reaction to one’s work. This can kill our soul!

OBJECTIVITY.

To be professional, we must advance to the point of being able to be OBJECTIVE about our art. This is a skill that needs to be honed. This skill is every bit as important - and difficult - as learning how to mix color, say, or any of the myriad other skills that must be developed!

BUT - right now, I am loving this painting. And this perception – flawed or not – is serving my state of mind. Elevating my mood. Giving me purpose. I may not be solving the world’s problems, but painting is my job, I’m attempting to do it well, and this brings me a measure of harmony within.

But, my oh my, I do digress…

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Earlier, Wendy got online and found a hotel nearby. It is not dog-friendly, so Scruff stays here. She would also like to have gotten a hotel suite with a kitchen, but that is a bit beyond her budget. And I don’t have access to my kitchen right now. So, we make plans to go through drive-throughs and meet up at a park. We would have chosen a restaurant but that would have meant leaving Chloe and Scruff at home.

It may seem overly protective - but not really unreasonable - to fear that they might be in danger if left home alone, given the recent goings-on.

They are a cat and a dog, and they are our respective family.

I put Chloe’s “Thunder Shirt” on her which miraculously calms her for traveling – and harness and leash to go with. She might not be as content as she is at home, but she’s relatively okay with this outing.

Scruff, on the other hand, seems to have regressed to puppyhood in this park. No fences, no leash, no boundaries. He’s usually so inactive that Wendy doesn’t leash him as you are actually supposed to do.

I’ve never seen him so animated. He actually romps! Chloe remains aloof.

He’s a dog – she’s a cat.

Now, if I were watching this story unfold on TV, I would expect one of the animals to be kidnapped or poisoned or some such awful thing - at the park – or on the way home – etc.

This does not happen.

This is not to say that this does not ALMOST happen.

Wendy and I are sitting at the park bench conversing idly – including a lot of speculation about Connie (remember “Connie, the body”?) - and watching Scruff cavort. Surely, he doesn’t have it in him to continue on in this manner for much longer…

In other words, we are not watching Chloe who is sitting quite passively somewhere behind us in her Thunder Shirt.

I don’t even know how long we sat there, finishing our sandwiches with a little vino – just a taste of course as we’re both driving.

Suddenly we hear a feline yowl, followed by a human scream - and cursing - coming from behind. We swivel around, already halfway to our feet. A bulky figure stumbles backward, catches himself – herself? - turns and runs – sprints – away, apparently as fast as his legs can carry him, leaving a trail of red splatters on the ground.

Chloe is standing with arched back, fur on end, fangs exposed – wild and outraged – in other words, a pissed-off cat.

Her Thunder Shirt - somehow having gotten entangled with her harness and leash - has come undone during the attempted kidnapping - and she is no longer docile.

The Thunder Shirt works. The cat burglar did not know this. Unfortunate for him – fortunate for Chloe and me. I still have my normally sweet-tempered beloved kitty in my “possession”. I just have to get her back into that shirt.

This is not going to be fun.

Green Eyes

8x8 oil on cradled board

This also is definitely NOT Chloe – not even close. And absolutely not the same personality.

Not sure I would want the task of putting this cat into a Thunder Shirt…

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Dear Reader – Freddie is falling behind with her book. In the last episode she included a short chapter about painting “man’s best friend”. So, her follow-up chapter was to be on painting cats. Alas, Freddie does not have that chapter ready. But we have something for you to peruse, nevertheless.

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PLEASE NOTE ONCE AGAIN: the mini art chapters following a story segment are written and illustrated – not by Freddie –

but by Julie Gilbert Pollard - who has kindly allowed Freddie to borrow them for her blog. :)

The STORIES are fictional - the CHAPTERS for “Freddie’s” book

are non-fiction and quite valid!

Would you like to see a chapter showing how I paint watercolor on canvas? This PDF was used by North Light to advertise my book Watercolor Unleashed when it came out. Here is the Dropbox link to the PDF document:

JGPollard_Watercolor Unleashed_Chuparosa-at-Lost-Dutchman_watercolor-on-canvas_for story 6.pdf