Black Cat Art

Saturday 3/7/09 time 12:17 PM - Juli Ryan

     How could I forget my kitties as inspiration in my art?  Though they are usually not the main subject, they are always there!  Like in real life, they are always there for you! 

     I grew up on a farm in Northwestern Indiana, and we had tons of cats and kittens!  They would follow me like a parade from our house to the barn where I would feed them!  They were a great joy for me as a kid!

     I now have two black cats, Francis and Lord Infamous.  Fran was a stray my daughter, Ashley,  brought home from the pet hospital she worked for.  He came to us with a scatched up nose and eyes as wide as I've ever seen.  Googly-eyed, my husband would say!  But he has grown on me like no other cat I have owned!  I think it's because he is so much a part of my life!  I eat, he's there. I sleep, he's there chewing on my hair.  I paint, and he's there wanting me to throw q-tips at him (I use them to wipe off small mistakes).  I shower and I step out and there he is! 

      Lord  Infamous was also a stray.  My daughter's boyfriend, Blake, found an abandoned litter of kittens and took them in and cared for them.  Of course we ended up with one!  Ash named her and thought Lordie was a boy.  We thought we should change her name, but after knowing her, it kind of fit.  She can be sweet and gentle when she wants to be, but cross her and you are dead!  So we kept her name and call her Lordie!

      So after looking through old paintings I have done, I realized I had left out my little friends as inspirations!  So Kudos to them for adding that special touch to my paintings!  And to my life!  What's more magical than a black cat??

      Tell me your pet stories!  I love animals!

Juli