Cats A-Z (Cover)

"Kitty, Cat" 
6" x 8" (paper) 4" x 4" (image) 
Available for purchase here. 

For the cover of my Cats A-Z book I definitely didn't want to have a cute cat. So thinking it through for a while, I came up with this image. The model for the cat peering up from behind the table is my own pet cat Horatio (also known by his nickname "Oshie.") He is named after Hamlet's foil, because Oshie was acquired to be a friend and amusing contrast to my older cat Aubrey. Perhaps the best-known scene in the play Hamlet is when Hamlet picks up the skull of Yorick, and says to Horatio:

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hathborne me on his back a thousand times; and now, howabhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims atit. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I knownot how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment,that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, lether paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.

In Memory of Sascha

Just over a year ago I made a small print in tribute to my friend's cat who passed away (view and read about it here.) That same friend has just lost her other cat, Sascha. This loss especially saddens me, partially because it was so close to the passing of Griffin, and partially because Sascha was the same age as my own black cat Aubrey, and so I'm reminded that his time grows more and more limited. Like my Aubrey, Sascha was full of attitude. She didn't like cuddling, and if you crossed her or even caught her in a bad mood, watch out for teeth and claws! If I came over to visit with my baby, Sascha had to be locked in a separate room. But who doesn't love a diva even if she is high maintenance. Sascha had unique and quirky tuxedo markings, including black whiskers above one eye and white above the other. I commemorate her with this image, and hope the expression does something to capture her distinct personality.

Linocut of Green Heron With Twelve-spotted Skimmer Dragonfly by Ken Januski

Image posted with the permission of the artist. Full information about this print and original copies of it and other works of art can be purchased at Ken Januski's Etsy Store.  More about the artist in general can be found on his artist's website and blog.

At first I only see the bird. Stout and sturdy frame, it stares across calm waters. Reading the title, I then seek the dragonfly. I soon find it in the heron's mouth, its wings still spread out. The poor bug is frozen in a final moment before being devoured. Now that I've found it, it sticks out like a sore thumb. "X" marks the spot over a pale leaf in the background. And then I notice other leaves, various shades of green, and shapes which echo that of the bird. Stems and stalks, too, jut this way and that, straight or just slightly curved like the bird's beak and skinny legs. Sharp angles, fat stripes, and hash-marks beat in all directions. The organic and geometric intertwine. The whole scene reverberates like Kente cloth.

The bird is still. The bug is doomed. Me, I want to dance!

"At Walberswick" by Sylvan Boxsius

The hardest part is going up hill, especially while carrying a heavy load. If I know that with every step I come closer to an apex and the relief of descent, it's easier to trudge along at a steady pace. Such luxury is only possible when I tread on already familiar paths.

It's a still and almost soundless day. The sun rays filtered through a blue-grey atmosphere has turned the landscape every shade of pastel. The water moves, but barely, and in a short, steady but slow rhythm.

The beams that hold up the bridge are like legs. Legs of some great beast about to walk off, inadvertently carrying me with him on his arched back. What would I do in the case of such unexpected adventure? Drop my buckets and cling fearfully to the side rail until the ride is over? Laugh with giddy relief and stamp my feet to prod the beast to giddy-up faster? Or maybe I'd just keep trudging forward, head down, and pretend that nothing out of the ordinary has happened, or ever will.

"Red and Orange Cows" by Alisha Houtchens

Image posted with the permission of the artist. Alisha Houtchens is a printmaker and student in Colorado. More of her work can be viewed and purchased on her Etsy store. I was most moved by this color piece, but she also has some gorgeous black and white prints. For those who enjoy black and white imagery of animals, definitely check out Serene Lion and African Grey.

In the waning sunlight, that time between day and night, swathes of color exhibit strange behavior. Patches of white fur in the foreground vanish and become windows to an eerily blue-green sky. Shadows and dark splotches recede even further, turning deep crimson. Clouds seem more like spills of paint, and where the clouds and sky end and the cows begin, I can no longer say. What's close might seem near, and vice versa. Scratches across the surface strengthen the form of the front plane of the closest cow's face - his is a face which comes forth clear from the chaos, the portion of the apparition that emerges distinctly from the ghostly mist for but a moment. The rest of the scratches serve to further collapse the near with the far. What's the big deal, you might ask? It's just cows. Cows in a pack. Cows looking out at the viewer. Curious? Anticipating? These cows are more than cows. They are a burning forest fire - and are those the antlers of a poor moose whose been caught in the flames? They are will-o'-the-wisps and cackling jack-o-lanterns, floating mustaches, and small strips of black and red yarn drifiting toward the ground.

"T is the Tiger" by Christopher Wormell

Since I finished the prints for my own alphabet book, I decided to write about a print from another artist's alphabet book. Christopher Wormell, a highly prolific English printmaker, published numerous books, several of which were made up of a series of small prints featuring animals. Such titles include The Alphabet of Animals, Teeth, Tails and Tentacles, and Mice, Morals, and Monkey Business.

Orange stripes slither out of the darkness like ribbons of ominous light. A honey-colored puddle wriggles under the steady pace of the tiger's steps. All that is lit is of a bright and cheerful hue, but that really only serves to heighten the drama of the darkness and all the possible danger hidden in those shadows. Danger, such as eyes focused on prey, and sharp teeth and claws, poised to emerge.

Cats A-Z: Z (Zombi)

"Zombi" 
Woodcut
6" x 6.5" (paper) 3.5" x 4" (image) 
Oil-based inks on white Subi paper 
Artist's Proof 
Available for purchase here. 

Zombi 

The Zombi's wide eyes glisten and look past the inanimate occupants of the cellar. His gaze is fixed on some horrible memory. The agonized scream he let out in the still dark hours of that fateful morning has long faded to silence. And yet, that scream was like a drop that plunged into the pool of his mind, making ripples that now encircle his entire sense of being. Before the incident, he enjoyed being a black cat, slinking from one shadow to the next as he stalked pigeons and rats. Now he cowers in the dark of his underground lair, afraid of the Beast. His form has lost substance. His black cloak is a bottle of ink being poured into the sea. 

The Zombi was the name of a cat owned by the English poet Richard Southey. He named the cat after the Chief of the Palmares. Southey wrote an elaborate letter about the Zombi to Grosvenor Bedford. In that letter he describes how he took in an all-black tom cat because it had become a nuisance to its previous owner (it killed birds in the pigeon house.) Southey hoped it would solve his rat problem. One night the Zombi let out a anguished scream, but was discovered alone and unharmed. Southey wrote to Bedford asking what he thought caused the scream, and suggests the cat saw and/or had been tormented by the devil.