It's (Eventually) a Hocus Pocus Hallowe'en!!

OOPS!

I missed it this year! I had AAAALL these big plans....which went the way that big plans tend to go! So here we are, more than a week behind the celebration schedule and no Hallowe'en kitty pic...is this one of the signs of a coming Apocalypse? Ha! No - I'm just fritzy still and things take their own sweet time...

Fear not, compadres, for a picture is finally here! I had SO many options spinning in my brain but I finally decided on a particularly witchy theme, prompted by the long awaited release of a cult classic follow up movie - guess which one!

 

For this I used my watercolours - Mijello Gold and Winsor & Newton with Artistro's metallic shimmers, Faber Castell Classic Colour pencils,  Dr P H Martin's Irridescent calligraphy ink (copper plate gold), Dr P H Martin's Bombay black India ink, and Tachikawa School G Pen nib pen for line work and detail. It turns out that Leonard's actually quite comfy in a frock. Roomy, he says. 

*  *  *  *  *

 I put a spell on you! Finally! 

Happy belated Hallowe'en!! - Shroo xxx

A Personal 'Thank You' to Her Majesty, Queen Ellizabeth II

 

 

 

    This last week has been a little surreal. The death of Queen Elizabeth II has been a shock to the system - more than I would have anticipated. I think times like these shake the bedrock of life and remind us of all the times when grief has been so overwhelming that the universe stood still and every second felt like trying to breathe underwater.

 

    Compartmentalising only works in the short term and the loss of an icon, whoever it may be, allows us to open up the proverbial box, break open the floodgates and let grief take hold in a way that may not have been possible at times where loss has been so close, so keenly felt, that the only way to find a path forward was to restrain, control and suppress.

 

 

    This week I have mourned the loss of my family, friends and beloved pets, fading memories of sunny days, and a child that might have been. It has been turbulent, overwhelming and ultimately cathartic.

In an earlier year I would have journaled extensively, written my mind and heart clear of tears, but I don't feel that call any more. So I came back to my happy place, my now, my life here and the peace it brings me, and I finally managed a piece of painty paper that sums things up for me. 

 

 

    The pain of loss and the hole that's left when a loved one departs this world is all consuming and it's easy to miss the love that's waiting to fill the void, and the simple moments of beauty that raise an involuntary smile. I am grateful that I have love in my life, friends who fill my heart with joy, and a home filled with happiness. In spite of all that has been, what is now is more than I could ever have hoped for, and I thank the universe for all those instants of beauty, those glorious helplessly funny moments where a smile or a laugh lights the darkness. I can heal and begin to unfold the tightly bound memories that have collected dust for so long and reconcile my past with my present - marked not by loss and pain, but by those bright unbidden dazzling moments.

 

    Thank you, Your Majesty, for this one last gift - this one just for me. Thank you for sharing some peace. I hope that your loved ones left behind can share some small moments of beauty and joy, together, and remember you as a mother, grandmother, friend. I hope that the sparkle that remains for them doesn't come from your jewels but rather from your smile. 

 

 

    We are all just people, moving between moments. May your moments be bright, bold and beautiful. Here's to smiling a memory to mark the day. Sparkle, you gorgeous beauties, for you are all a dazzling cascade of amazing moments. Go share some xxxx

 

Gusty Fluffs

 

     It's windy out!

    Looking back at the collection of kitty cartoons I'm seeing a bit of a pattern.... Every year we get the blustery, fur-ruffling windy-woos - if proof of the resulting bonkers devastation were needed then here it very much be! -

2019 -

2020 -

2021 -

2022 -

....told ya!
 

Maxxie Settles In....

 

    It's been a few days since our cultural exchange student arrived chez nous..... After some initial misunderstandings - Missy COMPLETELY misconstrued the "Hey, have you seen my didgeridoo?" question - things have begun to jog along in a fairly amicable way.

 

     While Sapphira's fascination with her new Antipodean visitor is apparently endless, Missy and Maxxie have bonded over a casual enjoyment of intoxicants. They also share some physical traits, notably a generous hind portion which presents each one something of a barrier when stumbling to bed in their allotted 'cat hotel' booths. The word the springs to mind would be "wedged".

 

     All will be jolly as long as there are no further language based euphemistic bafflements....

.......ah.....oh dear..... Maxxie's just asked Missy to show him her "most impressive billabong"......

 

 

 

I Believe in Mirrorballs...You Sexy Thing!

 

    Aaaaaaaha....Missy has been busy. Little Miss Fabulous has decided to impress and share her stunning fabulousness with the world by becoming a living mirrorball, the embodiment of shining glory. Sapphira's job is to shine the torch beam as she swings from creaking rafters, blinding the bedazzled eyeballs of admirers for miles around. 

 

    Those mirror pieces are going NOwhere any time soon, stuck fast with Sapphira's super spit, so she sashays along the garden path like a goddess on Earth, blinding badgers and builders alike with her reflective glory. 

 

     I'm not sure this will end well....At some point her overinflated ego will be met by her puffed up curvacious body and those shards of dazzling glass will ricochet far and wide, inevitably leaving a trail of beheaded rodents and feather-shaved sparrows. It'll be a Missy massacre!

 

 

A New Venture

 

    So....Christmas is over, and with the fresh flush of a brand new year slowly turning into a remembered routine, the cats have found that there's room to spare - a few beds vacant - and, although they enjoy a game of 'musical snooze pads' as much as the next fussy feline, the sheer exhaustion of having to schlepp from comfortable warm zone to other comfortable warm zone is just too much to bear.

 

     With this in mind, Missy has taken matters into her own paws and has begun yet another new - possibly highly dodgy - business endeavour: a hostel - a 'kitty YMCA' if you will - with the inaugural guest - Faticus Caticus Maximus Iridius (a mature exchange student of fluffsome proportions) -promptly arriving from a Land Down Under, baggage full of necessities (sandwiches), prepared for an exchange of cultures and all the excitement (and food) that such adventures bring. 

 

     Bedecked in traditional attire, our adventurer is eager to rest his magnificent behind and recoup some valuable calories, and aspects of his appearance have reminded his hostess that catering and liquid fortification are - as ever - a priority. Now they just have to make it past the Duty Free without an international incident..

 

     Welcome to England, Maxxie - and good luck!!!

 

 

 

Missy Karenina

    

    It's cold out. Frosty. The garden was a white crystaline palace this morning and the beauty of winter was breathtaking - almost literally in the icy air. Who could fail to be impressed by the frosted splendour? Who could gaze upon the landscape, luminous under a clear moonlit sky and be unmoved?

 

     Missy. Missy took one look, lit her first morning cigarette and hacked up a sneering response to nature's glory, the remnants of last night's sambuca and kebab rave party still resplendant in a cascade down her neon onesie. Using a chipped, painted claw to hook the spandex out of her ample buttocks, she blew her acrid smoke into our eyes and rasped, "Fak that," and waddled back to bed.

 

     This is Missy, in all her glory. She's our pretty-perfect-party-pop-princess and she knows it. In those seconds where she leaned casually on the doorframe, she pictured herself as the romantic and luscious fragile female icon of some great Russian literary classic. Reality was never really 'a thing' for Missy.... We left her asleep, drooling over her half-spent glowsticks. She's happy. 

 

    She's Missy.....bask in the allure....

 

A Fond Farewell, In Full Technicolour

 

     Losing a pet is a trauma equal to, sometimes greater than losing a human from your life's circle. People without pets will never comprehend the loss. We grieve more, I think, for animals because our relationships with them are so uncomplicated, so simple. Humans are so complex and we have to come to terms with so many negative emotions - anger, resentment, guilt, bitterness... None of those things are present when an animal dies, just the pain of the void that they leave in our lives - their unconditional love, loyalty, trust, comfort and the joy they bring. 

    To pay tribute is almost an impossible thing as nothing really seems fitting or equal to the task. The only way I know how to express my love and loss is through my art, and, in some way through my words. In drawing a picture to represent Gizmo's journey from this world to his eternal realm, I wanted to reflect the joy that he brought to all of us. Inside, I crumpled and felt only the pain of loss as I have before with other feline companions, but Gizmo was strong - they all have been - and deserved something equal to the value he held for myself and especially for my Husband, for whom he has been a constant friend these past eighteen years.

    This is a happy picture, although painful to draw and paint. There are aspects which reflect the sadness.... The two sisters, Missy and Sapphira comfort each other as their older brother leaves them behind, although the road to his happy hunting ground is closer for them than for their younger adopted brother, Leonard. He sits close by, a little on his own, bidding farewell to Gizmo whilst waving to Harvey, his brother and best friend, lost to us in 2019 who I know he misses dreadfully. They are all sat down, firmly rooted in our world, as he floats towards his ginger furred litter brother, and Harvey, the latecomer to the family, the other grumpy old man, he and Gizmo studiously ignoring each other even when curled up on the same small cushion...

    But Gizmo is pictured still close to his earthly family, still almost within our reach. He filled our lives every day - we are still seeing him in everything we do, hearing his demanding meows, feeling where his furry, purry body would snuggle. We hold on to him just for a while... Ahead of him he has candy floss clouds that catch the love we send, an endless supply of heavenly sausages and even Harvey is willing to share one of his snuggly wubbies with his curmudgeonly compatriot. Sadness, loss and joy, expressed in a way which, at a future date, even my husband may be able to enjoy. 

     For now, it stays inside a folder with other emotive pieces. The record is made, the catharsis has been processed, and the colour and joy that Gizmo gave us will be held as a record never to be forgotten.

Tricksy Treaters

    The kids went trick-or-treating this year. They were allowed to choose their own costumes, which is always a risk, but I think they did quite well - although I'm not sure where Gizmo was going with his selection... The last thing that old boy needed was a spectacularly voluminous set of flamboyant trousers....even his companion, the ubiquitous rubber chicken - eternal deflated champion of "humour" - was endeavouring desperate escape from the windy well of despair...the gaudy pantaloons of doom... 

    ...And NOTHING good was ever going to come of Leonard's balloon obsession.

     Missy's recollections of the whole event are fuzzy at best, thanks to her "special" home brew and Sapphira loved her little devil onesie so much she had to be forcibly peeled out of it three weeks later... 

    They managed to menace six catnip toys, a packet of jammy dodgers, three socks and an extremely worried hamster. 

    Not a bad haul considering....

 

Medication...That's What Ya Need...

    Tablets, injections, syringes, sprays, gels, oitments, more tablets....this house is like a largely disfunctional emergency department. Aside from Missy and her 'breaking bad' sideline, medications are NOT a welcome part of our daily activity. 

    The only one of the feline four who's happy to imbibe is the only one who has no current official medical requirement, even though she 'falls over' regularly in front of Daddy on the garden path...."Oh, look, Dad! I did fell over an' evryfin'! Oh no - now I duz needz sum medsin an' tablits an' shit. 'Elp it down wiv a sambuca an' a kebab Dad. Love ya Dad. Oh! I did fell over agen!Oh no!......"