My art show to benefit area Feral Cat Spay-Neuter groups
Many of you have seen this digital painting of mine before - some of you may even own greeting cards or a wall art version of it. It is a huge favorite of mine and I'm hoping that it will draw attention (and funds?) to three local organizations that trap, neuter and return feral cats.
It was only when I started living on the family ranch full time that I realized just how many feral cats live here and what a large problem their reproduction causes.
We feed them daily, not only out of kindness, but because they provide a real service: protecting the barns, yard and house from undesirable critters. Early one morning this winter they made a circle around a rattlesnake, enabling our ranch worker to eliminate him! Along with snakes I know that mice, rats, raccoons and many others would be happy to have access to the barn's feed room. So the cats carry their own weight.
A few of them are ambitious to be treated as pets, others will run away at the sound of a footstep. But they all gather around at feeding time. sometimes as many as 40 of them.
One pet wannabe had kittens shortly after we arrived. Four survived to adulthood. She had kittens again. Only one survived. Pregnancy after pregnancy sapped her health until she was just a shadow of herself, so we got her fixed.
With the help of cousins who are active in Austin Spay & Neuter, we (OK Doyle did a lot more of the work than I did!) then started trapping and fixing all the cats we could catch. Fredericksburg's PAWS organization helped with some of the vet costs.
We have not fixed all the cats because the wildest ones have caught on to the meaning of a cage with food in it. But the flow of kittens has finally slowed, the health of the whole group has improved and (to me, best of all:) Tomas, the great big mean old alpha-male tomcat is no longer mean to the other cats.
All of this is to say that when it was my turn to plan a showing of my art at the Fredericksburg Art Guild, I decided to use the opportunity to promote and benefit the two organizations already mentioned plus The Big Fix out of Kerrville.
If you will be in the area, please come to the opening of "Barns, Cats and Barn Cats" Friday 7/3 from 4:00-8:00 pm and see my large new collection of digital paintings, watercolors and acrylics - all barn cat related. Or drop in any Thurs-Monday 10-4 during July. A total of 20% of sales (which is about 50% of the artist's share) for the month-long show will be donated to the 3 organizations.
If you are not in the area, you can take a peek at the cats on my facebook or instagram feed. Or you can wait until August, when the new digital pieces and the best of the show leftovers will start moving to the website.
Any online sales, starting today, from this cat collection will be attributed to the show promotion and become part of the donation calculation. So let me know if you see something that you want!
Nan
PS you can also choose to donate directly to the three organizations through their websites:
