1st place in Derby #248: Art Nouveau, with 726 votes!

It was just under the poster for Gismonda where the little sooty kitten tumbled out of an alley, eyes still closed, and called out for someone to save it. I had been across the street, running my fingernail through the tempera powder in hopes I could steal enough to finish my latest work. The sound of a little voice in the face of a world designed only to destroy it… well, what could I do? What could any artist do? I crossed the street and put it in my pocket and took it home.

In the days to come, I painted, and the kitten grew. He ate very little at first and only what I could spare, but I suppose he found scraps in the alley outside. When the summer came and I opened the shutters he crawled into the window box and sat proudly beside the single weed providing me some color. This cat had no fear of the city. He had won. Life had won. Life had found a way.

And so I painted not what was, but what I could see.

Wear this shirt: until you spill something on it nine times.

Don’t wear this shirt: to a dog-and-pony show.

This shirt tells the world: “You should have killed me when you had a chance.”

We call this color: Grass Through A Pavement

Back to top