I have a Folk Art Cat

My cat looks like a folk art cat. I'm going to paint him in that style for my roommate. If it works out, I will post the painting here later. I'm using this photo (he posed by that book all by himself: it reminds me of an Olan Mills photo). The image above is from the American Radiance catalogue from the American Folk Art Musuem. I've been looking at so much folk art this semester, and I'm getting really into portraits and still lifes. I think some people find the portraits a little creepy (they can be) but there is something I love about them. The goal here is to keep Charlie from looking creepy in my painting, and to make the stylistic influence clear. I don't want people to think we are a couple of freaky cat ladies (maybe we are on our way now though?), but I feel like he's got to be painted.