Art in Honor

It has been well over a month since I last made a post here. One primary reason for my absence is that my beloved 21-year-old cat fell ill, and after a two-week battle I ultimately had to say goodbye to her following a diagnosis of heart failure and widespread cancer.

I had previously shared some drawings I created of her, and here is one of them again:

Her name was Rosie. She was one tough cookie of a cat. She was a true trooper and went through a lot during her 21 years, including an emergency eye removal surgery just this past January.

I have always been a huge animal lover, and my sweet 21-year-old cat was a big influence on that trait of mine. I'll age myself here by divulging that my family acquired this cat of mine when she was just 8 weeks old and I was just 4 years old. I grew up with her. I miss her immensely.

In her honor, I have set up a memorial corner for her at my house. My memorial for her includes a beautiful red rose (a fake one, admittedly, so that it will last forever) and none other than a piece of mixed media art that I created especially for her:

A rose and artwork to honor my sweet cat Rosie.

Creating this piece of art for my Rosie was one of the main ways I coped immediately following her passing. Art in itself brings me a great deal of comfort, and so creating art in honor of my loyal companion of 21 years was very consoling to me during that difficult time.

I don't believe I had ever truly appreciated the full power of art until I created this piece for Rosie. It all came together for me in an artistically healing process, and creating it helped me to feel and stay close to Rosie. I chose the purple and pink color scheme for a reason - my favorite color is purple and so (as a result of my selections) many of Rosie's favorite blankets were purple, and I always loved the adorable pink color of her paw pads and nose. Even the Distress Ink I applied was in direct honor of Rosie - she was a beautiful calico cat, and so I used my Black Soot, Vintage Photo, and Antique Linen Distress Inks to imitate a calico color scheme with the border and background. What's more, the white ribbon I attached to the top of the art piece was one with which Rosie used to play often.

And, of course, I wrote a message upon Rosie's art piece that rings very true for me:

Cats leave paw prints on our hearts.

My Furry Family: Blue Steel

The sixth -- second to last! -- piece in my My Furry Family series is complete. This one is based on a young feline who is handsome and he knows it. He is brother to my little runt kitten but belongs to my parents, just like the Batman kitty I introduced to you a couple posts ago.

Without further ado, here is my rendition of this handsome fella:

I call this piece "Blue Steel", after the male model pose in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander.

My family has referred to this little guy as a male model since the day we met him. He likes to pose for us, and he likes to squint his eyes at cameras, making for some dashingly sultry shots. As mentioned above, this little kitty's classic pose is much like the squinty-eyed model pose called Blue Steel in the movie Zoolander. Therefore, in honor of this little guy's natural model skills, I call this piece "Blue Steel".

I have only one furry member of the family left to draw! I can't wait to work on this final piece and therefore more or less close out this fun series of drawings.

My Furry Family: Batman!

My newest My Furry Family installment is finished! This one is based on my little girl kitten's brother, although he belongs to my parents. This little guy's facial markings earned him the nickname Batman early on. I like to call him my little hero.

So, here's Batman (or, perhaps more appropriately, Catman):

I hope you like it! Only two more My Furry Family pieces to go!

My Furry Family: The Belly Roll

The fourth completed piece in my My Furry Family series is based on my little runt kitten. I adopted this adorable little girl after my grandmother found her and her three brothers abandoned. At the time the kittens were only about three weeks old, and this little runt girl of mine didn't even weigh half a pound.

Well, my little kitty is now 9 months old and 9.5 lbs. Not really a runt anymore, but still adorable.

My little kitty likes to do what I call The Belly Roll.

I have three more pieces to complete in this My Furry Family series. And those three pieces will be based on my little kitty's three brothers, because they also stayed in the family -- my parents kept two, and my sister kept the third. So stay tuned for more feline cuteness!

I hope you're enjoying My Furry Family so far!

A Family Feline WIP

Here's a quick WIP shot of my latest My Furry Family piece, this one based on my little runt kitten.

This little kitty's pose is called "The Belly Roll".

I'll share the completed piece as soon as I finish it. And then I'll have three more family felines to draw!

My Furry Family: The Cozy Canine

My next My Furry Family piece stars the sole canine in my family. She is a lab/shepherd/you-name-it mix, weighs 55 pounds, and is almost 2 years old. She is very active and very playful, and she is an ornery goofball. She is also very sweet and thankfully gets along with the multitude of cats in the family, usually. Also, she likes to take up as much room as she can on the couch, and she likes to sleep in some peculiar positions.

The cozy canine.

My Furry Family: Pet my belly. I dare you.

The second piece in my My Furry Family series is complete! This one is based on my almost 2-year-old orange tabby boy. He is a rescue, and he has quite a back story. The short version is that, at the age of roughly six weeks, he was dumped at the front door of the veterinary clinic where I used to work. Accompanying him was a note saying that he had been a barn cat, but a coyote had broken into the barn and killed his mother and litter mates. He survived the attack, but as a result of it he no longer has the use of his hind legs, and he developed scoliosis.

This special kitty of mine can be such a sweet boy, and he loves to cuddle and to be held. But, he can also be quite feisty when he wants to be. Petting his belly is risky business.

"Pet my belly. I dare you."

I'm trying to instill at least some of my four-legged furballs' unique characteristics into these drawings. For this one, I tried to capture one of my boy's typical adorably smug expressions, as well as his scoliosis and the usual posture of his paralyzed hind legs.

I've been wanting to create drawings of my animals for a long time now, so I'm glad to finally be getting around to it. I hope you like them!

My Furry Family: The Queen

I'm working on a new series of drawing that I'm calling My Furry Family. As the title suggests, this series of drawings will be an illustrated record of the four-legged furballs in my life. I love animals, as I'm sure you've gathered from the artwork I post on this blog. There are a number of animals in my life, so this series will not be a short one.

The first furry family member I've drawn is my oldest, dear cat. She is a beautiful calico, and she is 21 years old. I have had her since I was a very young child. She has earned the status of more or less royalty in this family, and she reigns over not only the other animals but us humans as well.

The Queen

I was compelled to create more than one version of my old girl, primarily because, due to a medical emergency, she recently underwent surgery and now has a different appearance.

The Pirate Queen

One-eyed and adorable.

Good night!