Tag: Cats

Experimenting.

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I’m experimenting with different ideas. I have gone a bit more abstract. The small green man has already gone to a new home, and I’m trying to make paintings with a slight Celtic influence, like the cat. The horse is taken from an illustration I saw, I think the original had a rider. I just like the strong shapes in it.

Further ideas are more industrial and town landscapes, more celtic/abstract designs, more animals. I might try and do slightly surrealistic pictures, where the perspective is altered. I painted some like that a few years ago. I’m exploring my mind as well as art…

I intend to try and do some ceramics over glass later in the year.

I guess it’s because of doing some mono prints yesterday. I suddenly feel more liberated. I’m not sure if I will ever stick to one style or idea…..

Monoprints

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I had fun today doing some mono printing, which means one print. Basically you rolling onto a clean flat surface, then you can use objects to scratch through it, or add different colours. You can do one print then add a different colour and as long as you line the paper up in the same place you can get different effects.

I chose to draw a cat into the rolled ink. Then you gently lay the paper on top, press down with your hands, not to heavily, then carefully pull the paper off. Of course the image is reversed from what you drew, so if you add text it needs writing in reverse.

The ink we used was really thick, so I actually managed to get 3 or 4 pictures from each ink drawing. I added some black pen drawing I top of a couple of them, I don’t have photos of them as they are not finished yet. Thanks to another member of Etruria Artists for these photos.

Noises

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I live in an old house, which creaks and groans like old houses do. Normal, everyday squeaks….

But when we had new windows fitted we got a couple of added moaning noises. For some reason if the wind is in the south the kitchen window moans quite loudly, and if it is in the north the front window whistles. Still this is better than the road traffic noise we used to suffer from.

I am aware of other sounds, like birds thudding heavily as they land on the kitchen roof. The patter of their feet while you are in the bathroom. Water collects on the roof, so they often come down for a drink.

The loudest noise comes from the fridge. When the pump kicks in you can hear it groaning and whimpering into life, like a sad puppy…..it gradually settles down, but in the middle of the night when I’m making myself a coffee it can be quite disconcerting.

Other noises include the mad scrambling clatter of cats paws as they chase each other up and down stairs. One cat has a bell on his collar and it rattles as he moves. Little purring noises as they gather speed.

But the loudest noise of all…. when someone keeps talking when I’m trying to write!

Cats and boxes

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Apologies for my lack of skill in rhyming…..But here is just something I had to write when I saw these two! I am trying not to use plastic bags, so sometimes get shopping in cardboard boxes.  My tom cat has decided  one is his. So what happens when you bring in a new one? A confusion  of cats….

Maybe cats and cupboards?

A confusion of cats,

Sits in a box,

Shrodinger puzzle….

Which box to choose?

 

Cat on a cupboard ,

Cat sitting up high.

One cat – both boxes,

The other has none.

Share or not share?

 

Cats have ideas,

Sure of their wills,

always delightful,

and bonkers

Still!

Black and White cats

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Two tiers of cats, one tries to get higher than the other. Both sleep, then a tail flickers or a whisker twitches, and they wake, wash, then chase each other round the room, upstairs, into the front bedroom, thundering paws shaking the floorboards.

Hot cats sleep more in this weather, try to find cool places. The newly refurbished kitchen is ideal at night. Apparently there is a lack of insulation in the roof so it gets cooler in the evening. I walk in there and one cat is curled up in the fruit bowl and the other is lying on top of the cooker cover.

One morning this week the male cat was asleep in a box. Why would an animal covered in thick fur decide to take a nap in something that would make it warmer?

Black and White photos of black and white cats appeal to me. You can see more of the patterns on their coats. The background colours are not there to distract your vision and the gradation of greys makes for a more interesting picture.

Sometimes one cat is easier to take a picture of than the other. Our female cat is very friendly when she wants a fuss but more often than not she will find somewhere quiet under a cupboard to sleep. She also runs off when I try and photograph her.

They are a brother and sister…..but the male is twice as large as the female. I like it when they move in synchronisation or lie down in mirror image positions.

I love my cats, and I think they love me back.

X

 

Missing Cat

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Seamus our boy cat has gone missing. We think he sneaked out while the builder had the bathroom window open.

I know its a long shot, but for anyone living in Stoke or Penkhull who is not on Facebook please can you let me know if you find him. He has a dark blue collar with diamond sparkly bits. He has a name tag with his address and our landline number. He has been microchipped .

He is timid and is probably hiding somewhere.  He does not like cars.  If he went to the front door and a car drove past he would run away from the noise of it. Unfortunately there are a lot of quiet roads and gardens behind us so he could have got a long way by now.

He has odd pupils to his eyes, one is slightly higher than the other so it looks like he is looking in slightly different directions. He has a heart murmer and may be affected by the heat.

Please let me know if you see or hear him. ..

He is now home having a wash lying on my foot! I whistled and shouted for two hours outside the back door. He always comes to me in the house when I whistle… also left his cat litter outside….

Poppies

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There is a whole cluster of poppies in poor soil round the corner from where I live.

These are tall oriental ones. But we also have Welsh poppies which are yellow and orange. We have grown ladybird poppies which are red and black and we once grew a Himalayan poppy, (mecanopsis?) which is bright blue.

So inevitably they get into my photos and paintings…..

Poppy, poppy, I see you flutter, blue sky, red headed beauty

Poppy, poppy, mediaeval sleep enhancer, narcotic, danger.

Poppies, poppy, seeds for flavour, thriving on old building sites.

Poppies, poppies, memories of war, petals fluttering down upon our heads.

Papaver, poppy , horticultural star. Giver of colour and Sun.

Kittens

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India and Bandit…

India and Bandit were kittens, born in January 2017. They were two of four born to their mother.

I had taken in two rescue cats and one if them turned out to be pregnant.  They were cute as kittens are, bouncing round the house, climbing up the curtains, spinning round chasing their tails….

They have new names now, are fully grown I guess. I saw some of their photos and they looked lovely. I haven’t seen pictures of them recently so I hope they are doing well.

I have tried to write a poem about a kitten….

Kitten runs around the house,               Up and down the stairs.   Jumps from ground…                                             to curtain top.    Leaps across the bed.

Kitten rolls and plays with toys,                   into everything….      chases tail for hours and hours….             pounces on my nose,   falls asleep and purrs.

Kitten grows into a cat….                         lythe and soft and fast    still she chases all her toys                             never seems to stop      waits for belly rubs.

Cat grows old                                                        now she snores      she is old and grey.              Now she creeps but never leaps        one day she will be gone.