Grand-daddy's cat and 2 paintings for family members

 It has been 6 weeks since my last post.  I have been busy with lots of projects in that time period and am finally getting around to a new blog post.  

Here is the story of those projects which is that of  Grand-daddy's cat:  

For as long as we can remember Roger's parents had this cat sitting on the floor of wherever they lived at the time.  We are not sure when or where they got it but I'm guessing it could be at least 60 or more years old. They may have lived in West Virginia when they got it or maybe when they moved to Ohio in the late 1940's 

 Our kids called Roger's father Grand-daddy. When he passed away at age 80 in 1999 our son Brian asked if he could have something to keep in memory of Grand-daddy.  He was given this cat. Brian was in the Air Force at the time so the cat became very well traveled.  I know for sure that he lived in Arizona, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, Ohio, and it was in his last home in New Mexico that the accident happened.

Shortly after Brian & Sarah moved to New Mexico, when they were out of town, their house had a water pipe burst and if flooded the whole house.  Everything they owned was damaged but the cat was still okay, that was, until the workers came into the house.  The workers had to rip out all the drywall and took all of Brain and Sarah's possessions and threw them in a pile in the middle of the house and covered them with a tarp.  The cat did not survive the rough treatment.  This is what happened to him.

Brian was heart-broken when he discovered the shattered cat.  When he told us what had happened he mentioned that he thought he would to an online search to see if he could find someone who could repair the cat.  That is when I reminded him that when I lived in AZ I had repaired some statues and other broken items for some friends and that I would like to give it a try.  He boxed up all the broken pieces and sent them to me. The above photo is what I found when I opened the box.  I immediately said a prayer and then got to work.  

I started with the largest pieces which were the back end and tail which were in two pieces and the paws which were also in two pieces.  As I put pieces together I had to let them set over night to dry and fuse together.  Each day I put a few more pieces together until I got top part done. 

The next step was to get the bottom together.  It was in quite a few pieces but, with Roger's help using his glass grinder, I was able to get the final pieces together.

The last step was the cosmetic part which included filling in the small holes where the pieces were shattered beyond repair and then painting over all the patch lines.  Here is the finished results.

I was blessed in the fact that I remembered I had taken a photo of the cat when Brian lived in San Antonio. It was like doing a puzzle, having a picture of what it looked like before was a big help. Lastly, I put in in a basket with a nice cozy lining.  I also gave him a collar and bow.

I will instruct Brian and Sarah to keep him in his basket and to put him in a safe place to prevent any future accidents.  I think he has used up the last of his 9 lives!

The other projects I did were for each of my daughters-in-law.  Sarah commissioned me to do a patchwork painting in shades of grey.  That is what I titled this painting, "Shades of Grey." I know this looks like a black & white photo but it is what the actual painting looks like.

Leslie had two panels in her family room coffee-table that she removed and requested I paint my "Beautiful Bird and Blooms" pattern on them.  Here is what the finished product looks like.

I have also completed a number of other paintings in the past weeks which I will be taking to the Owl and Rabbit Gallery soon.  I will do a blog post featuring them soon.