Don't Touch My Cat

My painting, Don’t Touch My Cat, is the first painting I created in a new mini-series of mixed media works. In this series, I explored themes of girlhood and coming of age that lead to adulthood. I used a variety of symbols in my pieces, like floral patterns, cats, oranges, bright blushing pinks, and ultramarine blues. Although colorful, each of my paintings still displays a poisonous, contemplative feeling either in the forced stares of the characters or the psychedelic hue placements. In this piece specifically, the cat represents the girl's innocence, which she cradles and protects from anyone trying to take it away. The character is primarily painted in a firey magenta, a powerful color that, to me, represents a girl's passion and resilience. This is also a color that is painted as the underlayer, as seen on the edges of each painting, to set the mood. A key point is that it is a diptych. I wanted each canvas to be able to be a standalone piece, but when placed together, it creates a whole story. I also used the three-leafed poison ivy and orange sunburst flowers in the background, representing a warning. Don’t touch, she will bite.