The Animal Connection

Whether we like it or not, animals are an important part of our world - not just our table.  From time immemorial, people have watched animals and learned from their behaviors.  There are even martial arts forms based on animal fighting and defense methods.  And, oh, how we love the creatures!  A recent beer commercial focused on the joyful reunion between a man and a horse.

 

Rita Mae Brown has written a number of successful mysteries featuring animals who talk to each other, cooperate, and find the solution to mysteries faster than their humans do.  Animals will cooperate, given the right circumstances.  The internet is full of pictures of mother animals giving succor to babies of other species.  And the science fiction platform gives me space to explore human/animal relationships.

 

I chose giant talking cats as a bridge between the human and animal (and alien!) worlds.  Why?  I've lived with cats all my life and know them better than I know any other species.  One could almost say why not cats?  They and dogs are the species closest to the human heart, and we all know the value of their animal senses

 

Everybody knows animals can hear and smell much that we can't.  They can also get into spaces we can't and examine things more closely than we ever can.  If humans were ever forced to other worlds, we would certainly need the help of our animal companions to make sense of them! 

Embroidery on the No-Slip Hoop!

I honestly didn't believe a no-slip hoop existed!  They are made by Morgan Quality Products of Chanhassen, MN (www.nosliphoops.com) and cost more than the average hoop.  But are they ever worth it!  You will note the huge screw and nut apparatus on the side.  That, combined with cleverly molded smooth plastic, makes a hoop that is a joy to work with!

 

 

Here is Nubi performing the Cat Test - leaning his weight against the stretched fabric.  It stayed in place!  Hollywood sat on it for some minutes yesterday, but I was on the phone and couldn't get a picture.  You have to get used to this sort of thing with cats.

I designed the picture after Mucha's 'Le Reve', using one of the sack cloth tea towel blanks.  Then I became discouraged.  The hoop I had was old and wouldn't hold the fabric taut, and then there was another problem.  Who the deleted expletive wants a tea towel?  I finally decided to sew the thing together and stuff it as an accent pillow; people actually enjoy those.  A hobby is a lot more satisfying if somebody is likely to enjoy the results.

I've used a full variety of embroidery thread to make this project special - metallic, acrylic, satin (rayon), and cotton, including heavy, single strand pearl cotton.  I even used (ssh!) fine knitting wool.

When I was first learning about knitting threads, I had a chance to buy some baby alpaca.  I'd read about alpaca all my life, so I wanted to try some.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize that 'baby' meant a very thin, fine yarn, also known as 'fingering'.  Obviously, some people knit and crochet with it, but that tiny thread just turns into knots and snarls for me.  It does, however, embroider beautifully and provided me a nice leafy effect.

You can make art with cloth and thread - just make sure it's art somebody would want in their house.

Ophelia

Everybody likes a cat story, so here's one about my Ophelia, looking angry here because I flashed a light in her face while she was climbing into my lap.  You see, my time at the computer is Ophelia's petting time.  She absolutely hates the three boy cats she lives with (even though two are her half-brothers) and won't get on the bed or anywhere else they can challenge her.  I have to be in a one cat space to pet her.  She is a smart girl, though; when she hears the ping of my computer shutting down she jumps out of my lap.  You cat knows a lot more about you than you think it does.

Ophelia was originally one of my mother's cats, born on her property and brought in to be a house companion.  (Ophelia's wild mother objected to this; she thought her children should learn to hunt and run the risk of vehicular traffic just like she did.)   Anyway, Ophelia was one of Mama's bed cats who comforted her during her final illness.

The most serious charge I had from Mama as executor of her estate was to take care of her multiple cats.  I was glad she also secured me the services of the nice lady who'd been helping her clean up after them.  It was a zoo around here for a while, til the transplanted cats settled and the older ones went to their reward.

Meanwhile, I had a horrible problem with Ophelia and her half-brother Tiger.  I had to sell Mama's house, and nobody could catch those two.  My brother fed them herbal tranquilizers from Vitamin Shoppe for weeks, but it didn't seem to help.  Finally, I took desperate measures; I went to the liquor store.

We had grown up teetotal, so I still have almost no idea about the varieties of liquor or how they are served.  I started prowling the store's back aisles, where the small bottles were,  reading about their flavors and serving suggestions.  How could I tempt cats?  At last, I found a bottle of Kahlua.  It said "top up with milk".  That did it!  I bought a bottle and then got some milk from the grocery.

I took a day off from work and went to Mama's with my booty.  Carefully removing all other food and water dishes, I left each cat a saucer of milk with about a teaspoon of Kahlua in it.  I do know that liquor affects people according to their body weight, so I was sparing with my dosage.  Hopefully, Ophelia and Tiger would become sleepy and be easy to catch.

Things are never quite that simple.  The Kahlua simply affected their ability to maneuver.  I finally got a protesting Tiger while he was trying to climb up to his basement fastnesses.  Immediately I put him in a carrier and took him home.  Ophelia, I knew, would require more time.  She's that kind of cat.

After stopping for lunch, I did get Ophelia.  She wasn't in the least sleepy, but she was purring and trying to work her claws in the hardwood floor.  At last I got close enough to scoop her up!  Mission accomplished - no personnel lost.

Ophelia and Tiger are homebodies here now.  Tiger is a bit wilder than she is, since my folks were too old to socialize him properly.  He will come up and sit in my lap, and he loves his place on the bed, but he bites when he gets excited.  And, of course, he loves to chase Ophelia around and make her yell and spit.  After all, she's his half-sister. 

Why Paint Dressed-Up Cats?

The short answer is that I discovered early on I can't paint people.  My father was a self-taught artist who painted wonderful portraits.  When I tried to develop my own painting style, I came up with these cats.  The family always had cats, and of course I was familiar with cat artists like Kleban.  I really started with cat angels on Christmas cards for my friends in high school home economics; they really enjoyed them.

 One of my early loves was opera.  Strange places, strange customs, wonderful costumes, and plenty of opportunity to let it all hang out.  I collected opera pictures, especially Callas pictures, because, when she did it, opera looked and sounded real.  The picture above is based on a photo of her and Ruggerio Raimondi in Act I of Lucia di Lammermoor.

Gradually, I became interested in painting all sorts of scenes, especially with historic costume.  From my father I learned to "look for copy", and I made scrapbooks from Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogs, tracings from fashion books from the library, and similar things.  One of my favorite sources is magazines from the 1920s, saved by a relative.  Dover Publications is a wonderful source of inspiration.  (They also have books of free pictures you can use for painting or embroidery.

Everybody needs a touch of fantasy in their lives.  My whimsical cats amuse even non-cat lovers.  Many of my best customers are middle school girls, which is why I paint paper mache and wooden boxes to provide a little bit of fantasy at a reasonable price.