Two cats together

One on my knee, one on the arm of the chair. My two boy cats sitting almost nose to nose. They are quite tolerant of each other, and this is the closest they have ever sat together. It asted half an hour, both snug and warm. This is not photoshopped they were about three inches apart. So pleased we got the outside cat to join the household especially at this cold time of year.

Cat carving

I know there are better carvings, but I really enjoyed creating this. We didn’t have posh carving tools, just a few knives. I’ve seen pumpkins where just the outer rind is carved away so you get a shallow relief effect. I like it but I guess you would have to use clay modelling tools?

Apparently wild animals can eat the remains of the pumpkin once its been use for decoration. I don’t think hedgehogs like them though? I’m not sure feild mice would like one carved like a cat? Anyway it was fun to do. And it works as a ginger cat, X

Cat, shut the door!

It’s cold, there’s a draft from the back door. I could shut the door, but the cats come and go. A paw to pull the door open, or a nose to nudge it from the other side. Result? The door is open about 8 inches and the cold draft gets in. But we are told we need better ventilation because of covid19 so I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I wonder how difficult it would be to put a cat flap in an internal door??

Cats are very clever, but they don’t know ‘how to put the wood in the hole’ (a way of saying shut the door). I guess they have fur coats and can curl up with their nose tucked under their paws or tails. I just wish they could shut the door. Maybe I could put a magnet on a collar and get some sort of mechanism to make it shut, who knows? I’ll just get up and push it too again…

Other handed

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was using your other hand to draw. As I have injured my right hand I was happy to try and draw with my left hand

This is one of our cats. Drawn left handed. I could manage the outlinesbut the shading is a bit rough and ready. I used a dark blue ink brush to go over the black shading. I have some nice metallic pens which are useful to create related colours

Black and white filter

One of the problems with taking photos in artificial light with a smart phone is that you cannot always get a good exposure. My solution after trying to alter the contrast and exposures of these two photos was to use a black and white filter. Once I posted them on my Instagram account I used the filter on there which bought out more details in the photos.

Maybe I should have used a fill flash or changed the setting to manual but I don’t know if that would have helped.

Carving pumpkins

I went to an Art lunch today with fellow artists. We had a spicy pumpkin soup and different varieties of cake plus extra treats that pebought along.

The lunch was held at the warehouse building at Etruria Industrial museum, Etruria, Stoke on Trent.

We were asked to carve pumpkins for an event this weekend at the museum where they will be steaming the Etruria Flint Mill beam engine between 11am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday this coming weekend.

The photos shown are my four carvings. A cat, a dragon, an abstract pattern and a sunflower shape. It was the most fun I’ve had for several weeks!

Every day…

The cat jumps up and lies on a cushion between mine and my hubby’s chair, sometimes you can hear him purring or snoring. It’s a sign of how he trusts us. But EVERY day hubby, at some stage, will decide to stroke the cat ‘because he loves it’. The cats tail starts to twitch. He is disturbed by the attention. He wakes up and jumps down and goes out.

I have TRIED to explain the cat wants to rest and sleep. The attempt to stroke him really irritates him. I have said leave him alone and let him be. But the temptation is always there. Stop it! Leave it alone. The trouble is that it doesn’t work. Hopefully he will learn.

Cat presents…

Cat presents, not so much presents as lovingly presented remains of mice. Ooooh no! I get up in the morning, and there on the doorstep, something not very nice. Is there a deterrent? I feed my cats well, I give them toys, and yet they try and show love in the only way they can…. Yuk! I’m glad it only happens occasionally.