The Grig Cats

Day 111: A few days ago, a friend mentioned having found some precious old family photos in an unexpected location which reminded me of my own discovery several years back of these cat caricatures. They came from a set of note cards, and I thought the designs were so cute that I had saved one of each. After repeated moves and being stored in multiple locations, they went missing and I presumed they were gone forever. My favourite was "The Growler" (top center), which I copied in oils in a much larger size, but that painting also disappeared in the various shuffles. When the internet became a thing, I thought I'd see if I could hunt down copies on eBay or elsewhere, but even though I had the artist's last name, nothing like them came up when I searched for "Grig cats." One day, I was out in my unheated, damp garage searching for something else, and dragged down a small box from a top shelf. Inside it, wrapped in newsprint, were the six original cats. Apparently, they had at some point fallen into my mother's possession. She had framed them, and when I moved her and all her belongings here in a rush due to her declining health, I did not open the box to see what was inside. Despite the less than ideal storage conditions, they were still in good shape: a little faded with time, but otherwise intact. I do not recall their titles, except for the delightful, grumpy Growler and the Schemer, who contemplates a goldfish dinner in the upper right.

Footnote: I just discovered the artist's real name: Girard Goodenow. The signature is "Gig," not "Grig" as I had thought it read, and copies of these and other sketches/paintings do occasionally crop up on Etsy and elsewhere.