'Grumpy Cat' Maud Lewis painting sells for $13K

It took just 24 hours for a painting by famed Nova Scotia folk artist Maud Lewis to sell at a gallery in Liverpool, N.S., this weekend.

Andrew Danylewich, owner of ADJA Studio and Gallery, said the unnamed artwork — which depicts a white cat with three butterflies overhead — sold for $13,000.

"It had a striking resemblance to Grumpy Cat," he said, referring to the American cat that became a social media sensation in 2012.

"Basically, all I did was put it on Instagram with some hashtags and a collector saw it and it was gone the next day."

Danylewich said he wasn't expecting it to sell quite so quickly.

"I was hoping it was going to stick around a little bit to act as a draw for people to come into the gallery and see the other work I have in here. But that didn't work out," he said.

The seller, who Danylewich said is from Nova Scotia, had previously had the painting authenticated.

The buyer is also from the province and came to view the painting on Sunday in person.

"He saw it and it was a done deal," Danylewich said, adding it's nice to see the piece stay in Nova Scotia. "It's our local culture, it's good to have that represented in province instead of just disappearing."

Lewis spent much of her adult life in the small community of Marshalltown, N.S., adorning her tiny house with paintings of flowers and wildlife. She died in 1970, but her paintings have since sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

Danylewich said this was his gallery's first Maud Lewis, but he has another one coming in the next few weeks from a friend of the seller.

"I'm going to use the same model since it worked the first time," he said with a chuckle.

But if the next painting doesn't sell as quickly, Danylewich said the upside is that people will be able to see it in his gallery.

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