If my character Gerty, who appears in so many of my drawings, were real, I’d want her to be my long-time next-door neighbor. She would become my friend and sometime confidante, reliable, but not stodgy. She’d elicit uncontrollable laughter with her drole sense of humor. Because she loves plant life and parks, speed walking, and cats—interests my husband and I share—we  would invite her to join our long walks along the lakeshore. The drawings attached here are from earlier times, before her likeness became consistent.

Ah, in those times, I drew Gerty a lot and often with her black cat who, like ours, would peek out from behind her legs or perch on some of her furniture. I suppose the cat in Gerty’s setting is a symbol of comfort and calm. Cat-lovers understand. Cat-detesters will scratch their heads.

Gerty’s cat is usually by her side.  Our cat, indoors always except for visits to the vet, behaved in the same way. There was no escaping his influence on our cat-centric home. A giant scratching post loomed over our fiberglass living room chairs, arranged around a glass-top coffee table. Under the table sat the cat’s favorite crumpled and ripped sheet of brown wrapping paper. He used to pounce on it, hide under it, and seemed to enjoy the paper’s crinkly objections to his antics. Throughout the house were pads, bowls, and nests for his daily naps, to which he added shelving, desks, chairs, and occasionally my husband’s computer keyboard.

Although my Gerty drawings are not self-portraits, they do sometimes externalize my feelings, reactions, and aspirations. Here are a few of my earliest sketches of Gerty with her feline friend. Two were drawn in the margins of a crossword puzzle book. Another shows Gerty in a softball game when her cat arrives at the worst moment.

Center Field

We have been cat-less for a while now and we miss the little guy. His last weeks were so sad. He refused to drink, to eat, to cuddle. He is gone but  we will not be filling the void soon. Life has taken a different turn. His antics, his affection, and the comfort he gave us endure as fond and often recalled memories.