"Chessie"

"Chessie"
4" x 4" (block)
Woodcut

A long, metal Goliath sliced through the flat stillness of the horizon. The zooming barrier suddenly separated the cloudless blue sky and the dull green field. The children watched with ears perked to the growing, rumbling hum. He thought of waking her up to see the train speed by, but noticing how she slept with a gentle smile on her face, decided against it. Being irretrievable, good dreams are too precious to waste. 

Chessie the Railroad Kitten was a highly popular corporate mascot for the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railroad. Art depicting Chessie debuted in 1933 and was most popular throughout the 30's, eventually expanding to include a whole family of cute cats. The original image of Chessie came from an etching by Guido Grunewald. It was in an ad for a passenger train and showed Chessie sleeping peacefully juxtaposed with the slogan "Sleep like a kitten and arrive fresh as a daisy!" While Chessie hasn't appeared in advertising in recent decades, she is technically still the mascot of what is now the CSX Corporation.

This print of Chessie with her mate "Peake" and their two kittens is a sort of addendum to the series of woodcuts I made for Cats A-Z back in 2013, and published as part of the launch of Words On Woodcuts Press in 2015. This print was a request from a collector who is fond of my cat prints. Reading about and looking art artwork of Chessie was a delight, and I was happy to learn about the character and create this image.