Girl paints to take care of her cats

By ALMA J. BUELVA

HOW far would you take your love for your cats?

For Geneva David, the answer entails dipping paintbrushes into watercolors to painstakingly create elaborate art pieces that she hopes to sell to raise money to spend on her cats.

The 21-year-old graduate of Communication Arts from the University of Sto. Tomas has kept her talent in painting a little dormant all these years, until she became an instant parent to a stray tortoiseshell kitten last May. She called the kitten Arya, based on a popular character from the hit book and TV series Game of Thrones (GoT).

June came and Geneva adopted two more homeless cats from Cat Care Philippines, an online community with over 6,000 members dedicated to cat care. This expanded Geneva's “GoT cat cast” with the addition of Jon Snow and Ygritte.

Then reality sank in.

“I didn't have a job, so I painted. I have to buy them food, pay vet bills and soon they need to be vaccinated so I need the money,” Geneva told MetroPets.

GENEVA SHOWS OFF HER PAINTING SHE CALLED "CURIOUS CALICO CAT" WHICH SHE ALREADY SOLD. SHE SAYS THE MONEY SHE CAN RAISE WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARDS TAKING CARE OF HER CATS. (Photo by MetroPets)

The importance of having cash on hand for emergencies also dawned on her when Arya recently got sick and had to get a P200 injectable medicine once a day for four days.

“I spent P2,000 for her medicines plus the daily injections because she won't take medicines orally. But I have invested a lot of feelings on Arya already even in the short time that I got her so I cannot let something bad happen to her,” said Geneva.


(SELFIE AND A GROUP SHOT. Little Arya [left] and Geneva's cats [right]).

PAINTING CATS BY THE DOTS
To prepare for rainy days, Geneva picked up the brush and started painting cats. The pieces she finished so far feature dots of different sizes and hues to form the images on 13”x17” paper.

The dots, she explained, are inspired by the color blind tests that make use of small dots to form an image, usually a hidden number.

“I'm fascinated by the dots… and since cats are said to be color blind, I adopted the dots as my style,” Geneva said.

Painting her “dotty” art takes her about 1.5 hours to 2 hours each. “That's why I call them patience painting as it takes me hours to finish one,” she added.

FOLLOW THE DOTS! GENEVA METICULOUSLY PAINTS CATS MADE UP OF NUMEROUS DOTS SO SHE CAN SELL THEM AND RAISE MONEY FOR HER OWN CATS. (Photo by MetroPets)

Although her father introduced her to art when she was young, she felt the inclination to paint only after finishing college last year.

“My dad makes beautiful drawings and he used to bring me complete art materials when I was young. But I only realized that I want to paint after graduation. I was so into do-it-yourself stuff and Pinterest. I also watched YouTube videos to learn how to paint in watercolors.

She sells her paintings for P400 to P500 (plus shipping cost). Her immediate goal is to raise at least P3,000 by August to cover the three cats' vaccinations.

Judging from the positive feedback and show of support she has received online, she's on the right track. Geneva has sold some of her art already and she's inspired to paint more. She hopes more people would want to buy her cat art so she can give Arya, Jon Snow and Ygritte the best nine lives worthy of a GoT star.

If you want to buy one of Geneva's paintings, send her a private message in Facebook or call her at 09179348473.