What's new at Sleepy Cat Studio

The Women in Art show at the Eiteljorg Museum was a wonderful experience! I met several people who had been at the Winter Market and also folks who have seen my art elsewhere. I really love this museum, it’s a beautiful place and each time I’ve been there the people have been super nice. Hopefully I’ll be part of this year’s Winter Market, I'm looking forward to it.

With several shows coming up this year, I've been working on lots of new paintings. I’ve done some more Brown County landscapes, a favorite subject I keep going back to. And I’ve explored some new things, like the rowboat at Yellowwood—the last one in the water at the end of the fall season.

I’m doing more still lifes too, though they are more of a challenge to me and take more time and concentration. Of course more cat pictures too. Soon I’ll have some new pieces to take to ArtWorks in Martinsville and some different things for Gallery by the Green in Nashville.

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Spring is my favorite season. This winter has been particularly dreary,wet and grey. So with each hint of spring I cheer up a bit—the arrival of the robins and red wing blackbirds, the green grass and daffodils. Yesterday we finally had some sunshine and warmer temps. I was torn between painting and getting outside to work in the garden. I’ve been working on a series of Brown County landscapes, plus some more challenging still lifes—with several shows coming up I really need to keep my nose to the grindstone so to speak.

But it was actually sunny outside, not a cloud in sight and it was in the 50’s. I've been reading “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver and my head was filled with visions of fresh broccoli, peas, onions and tomatoes. So the lure of open spaces won out and I ditched the easel for the garden. I worked on clearing the flower beds and hauled off a few wheelbarrow-fulls of compost material. I dug up two of the raised beds and had developed a back ache and a blister by the time I moved on to the third raised bed. And that was when I dug up the nest of baby bunnies.

I felt horrified! It was like a Twilight Zone episode—one minute every thing’s wonderful, the next it’s spun out of control with little bodies every where! They were tiny—their eyes weren’t open and their ears were small. None of them appeared to actually be injured so I carefully put them back in the small depression where their nest had been and covered them with the nesting material. Apologizing to them, to their mom, to God and Mother Nature, I gave up on gardening for the day and headed back to the house—taking care to shut the gate behind me to keep out curious chickens and ducks.

Today it’s back to being grey and chilly. It’s as if Mother Nature said “I give you a beautiful day and what do you do? Sheesh!” So today the easel is back out. The garden can wait a bit. But this weekend I think I will go to a garden show—surely there’s no harm in that?

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April brings us spring, which I always see as a time of new possibilities, of new beginnings. So it’s fitting that Rosie is the Cat of the Month for April, as she has been given the chance of a new beginning.

Rosie is a small black short haired cat with big, luminous eyes. She has an elegantly shaped face, reminiscent of Egyptian feline sculptures. I discovered Rosie several years ago as an adult cat—emaciated, nearly dead with flies already buzzing around her. She barely weighed four pounds. Her outlook was bleak—I thought “Things don't look too rosy for you, girl.” And in defiance of that thought I named her Rosie. With care and lots of food she did recover, and it wasn't till some time later that we learned she is mostly blind and deaf.

Recently Rosie again dramatically lost weight and I feared she might have kidney failure. A visit to the vet's revealed good news and bad. The good news is that her kidneys appear to be fine—it turns out she has hyperthyroidism, which is treatable. The bad news is that the most effective treatment for this is horribly expensive—over $1200. This treatment involves a one time injection of radioactive iodine. The other options are surgery which often doesn’'t work, or medication every day for the rest of her life. I really felt like I had to give Rosie the best chance that I could—she’s overcome so much so far. So hopefully I’ll sell a few paintings this month and the bill won't be so painful!

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