YardGirl Creations

This post is dedicated to Lo, our cat. Lo passed away January 7, 2016. He was allowed to occasionally go outside and the last time he went out he was attacked by something. We are not sure if it was another cat, or a dog, or something else. He had terrible injuries but was still determined to return home, where he expired. This was very hard on us because we recently had a dog, named Chico, die of old age.  Lo was young and had a mischievous but kind spirit. Every morning at five in the morning he would jump on the bed, look out the window for a while, and then meow to wake me up. Sometimes he would even lick my nose. Then he would go in the bathroom with me for what I called our morning meeting before I’d get in the shower. That’s when he’d go lay down with my son until it was time for him to wake up for school. Not long ago, I posted a picture of Lo sleeping with Chingy, our last remaining pet. He is a pug. They got along like brothers. Lo would wait in the corner to pounce on Chingy when he came by and then they would chase each other all over the house. They would tussle but never really try to hurt each other, then they’d lay down together afterwards. While Lo suffered, Chingy would lay down next to him, bring him his toys, and lay them down next to Lo whenever he had to leave his side.

Today I’d like to explore cats in art and how they inspire art. In my research for this post I found out that many famous artist had cats that they loved as well. Some of my favorite artist who posed with their cats are Frida Kahlo, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, and Salvador Dali who had a pet ocelot named Babou.

Cats have been loved and featured in art since Ancient Egypt. Bast a.k.a. Bastet, a.k.a. Ubasti, a.k.a. Pasht was the was the daughter of the sun god, Ra. She was known as the goddess of  protection and cats, and was depicted as a lion – the fiercest of cats. Her image has been re-imagined in various pieces of art from ancient Egypt.

Later in history cats are still relevant all over the world. In 1875 Renoir painted Woman With A Cat. Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai, painted many images of cats, Cat with Rat represents the adventurous nature of my Lo. A Swiss artist, Gottfried Mind (1768-1814) concentrated on cats in his art and became known as the “Raphael of Cats.” I love how his sketches show the softness of cats, especially his depiction of the fat cat. He also has a work called Cat and Mouse. I think I like these works because we initially got Lo to be a mouser. He did a great job.

Lo was small with a big spirit and a bigger personality. At the end he knew that he was loved and that’s what any of us would probably want at the end.

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