Stories, events and life in general from Miss Kitty's point of view


Tuesday

A painting, an award—life is good





It seems we have disappeared once again and it is not al his fault. With the weather being so cold and because we have had also a lot of rain, I have been hibernating like some bear in a cave up in the high Sierra’s, only my cave is a fur house. It has not only been keeping warm, it has me sleeping in their at time for more than ten hours at a time, only coming out for some nibbles of food and you know, sandbox business. 


Are you aware that I am turning eighteen this month and as we get older, we are no longer into playing games or much of any other activities, so I cannot blame dad, even though he too contributed to our absence.


Some of you may know that dad is an artist and because last year most of his time was spent in cardiovascular rehabilitation, he has not painted, that is for almost two years. For him art is his life, it is what he lives for and though things are still a daily struggle, he had a surge of creativity that just needed to be harnessed.



Canvas size: 36x48” inches


So here you see dad is painting in the kitchen that is his make-shift studio. He is applying a gesso ground to the surface of the canvas, so that it can receive various white and buff colored acrylic paint, which was then followed with oil paints. 



White on White


You may be wondering what it is to represent or what the materials are. Dad has been working on a photographic series since 2005, in which he photographed telephone poles in the city of Berkeley, California. Poles that were covered with thick layers of fliers and staples, which had been torn off before new ones were being added, a process that has taken years. Dad’s last two posts at his other blog, The Artist Within Us, shows images from the series he has named “Typography Graveyard.” 


As for the materials, well to recreate on a large scale these torn little pieces of paper, dad used grocery paper shopping bags. Their stronger construction made it an ideal choice and once several layers of medium gel had been applied to both sides and then painted, the forms took on a more solid state of form. Dad’s been happy with the results, especially with the soft variations of whites.




Recently we were the recipients of an award from Mumsy, Chancy and Co. and earlier this evening we wrote our apologies to Mumsy for having taken so long to acknowledge their gracious gift. We hope you can forgive us.


Now Mumsy, Chancy and Co. became followers of our blog this year and though one might say we are new friends, a visit to their blog will have you feeling very quickly like old comfortable friends one has known for years. So won’t you drop in on them if and make a new friend.


Now the award comes with two request, to share seven things you may not know about me, Miss Kitty that is and to pass the award along to fifteen others. Now by now you know that dad restricts new recipients to three, so that there is some elevation of pride with the award. So here is our list to whom we wish to bestow the ward to:


  • Katnip Lounge and their baker dozen of felines in their cabana. Many of you already know Tricia and her many adoring feline companies who live a life of luxury. Her photographs are just wonderful and earlier this year, one of her cats graced our calendar bookmarks.


  • Clooney’s Num-Num Fund is another sight that one just cannot get enough of. Her writings are hilarious and the accompanying pictures a riot. You have got to stop on by.


  • Gwundergarten, Alexandra’s bilingual blog, so you have no excuse not to visit. Her cat Noah makes several appearance but also shares the site for other very interesting things and right now Alexandra is showing some beautiful photographs of flowers while Noah (who also appeared on out bookmark calendars) is supervising her.


Seven things you may not know about me. Let see now, what can I share that is not embarrassing or a sworn secrete.
  • I have my birthday is coming up this month, even though we do not know the exact date, we all settled on the 15th
  • I am patient but persistent, especially when I am hungry and it is not dinner time
  • When big sister is away at USC, I really miss her and cannot wait for her return
  • Getting use to strangers, especially when they are friends of big brother and sister
  • When it comes to food, I am very picky
  • In the morning, while I lay on the bed and dad gives me belly rubs, I am in heaven
  • Watching television while being on dad’s lap is being the center of attention

    ———

    It is that time of year again



    As we bring this post to a close, a quick reminder that there is still some time left to enter our calendar bookmark photo competition and if you can help spread the word among your friends that would be great—just keep in mind the guidelines & requirements. We greatly appreciate the assistance.






    36 comments:

    Mr Puddy said...

    Congratulation for your awards !
    I'm stay tune for your birthday : )
    Thanks for sharing your 7 things.

    Cat said...

    That is a beautiful picture of Miss Kitty; such depth and richness to the colours of her fur!

    How wonderful that the desire to paint has seized you once again. Thank you for sharing your artistic process with us :-)

    Miss Kitty said...

    Hi Mr. Puddy,

    So good to see you and we will do our best to get a BD photo.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K and Egmont

    Miss Kitty said...

    Guten tag Finchen, Ayla und Kerstin,

    Vielen Dank für euren Besuch. Papa ist wirklich glücklich, wenn er einen Pinsel hält und schafft ein Gemälde.

    Wir werden unser Bestes tun, dass Geburtstag Bild zu bekommen.

    Alles gute von einem kalten Kalifornia,
    Miss Kitty und Egmont

    ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

    Miss Kitty
    It is ever so wonderful to see you in all of your glory. What a lovely contrast of colors in the furs of you in your recent picture. You are as wise as your years, staying all snuggled in your fur house.
    Your Dad's painting is wonderful!
    What an eye he has!
    purrin
    xoxox

    Alex aus dem Gwundergarten said...

    Hallo Ihr beiden!
    Schön wieder von Euch zu lesen! Mensch, Kitty, Dein Dad ist ja wieder kreativ! Tolle Bild!
    Vielen, vielen, viiiiiielen Dank für den Award... Noah und ich haben uns riesig gefreut und ich glaube, ich weiss auch schon, an wen er weiter verliehen wird.
    Betreffend dem Kalender werde ich gerne meinen Kolleginnen den Tipp geben, denn Noah hatte ja bereits die Ehre.
    Miss Kitty, der Frühling kommt, jetzt aber nix wie raus aus der Höhle! Die Sonne wartet auf Dich!
    Liebe Grüsse
    Alex

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Catrina,

    Thank you for the visit and kind words about my colours. Dad likes that you appreciate his painting.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K and E

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings Abby,

    So nice to see you have stopped by to see what we have been up to and thank you for the kind words about my fur colours and dad's painting.

    We hope you will participate in our photo contest.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K & E

    Avalon's Garden and Mewsings of Garden Cottage Cats said...

    Concatulationz on your Awesomeness Miss Kitty ~
    And how Wonderful 18,,,,Many Purrz & Kissez to you^..^

    How Great your Dad iz Creating again,,,The Mom sayz Creating makez you feelz Alive..... ??????

    Purrz & Kissez to you Both ~

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Alexandra and Noah,

    We are so excited simple by your excitement and thank you for your assistance in spreading the word as we would love to see more felines from other parts of the world participate.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K & E

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings Angel and Cottage Cats,

    Thank you for your visit and comment. I wish we all could just meet down the street at a nice comfy tea shop and share a piece of cake and ice cream.

    Dad started another painting to keep the momentum going.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K & E

    Anonymous said...

    What a beautiful picture of you, the colors look so rich and pretty. We accept your apology but there was no need to apologize. We really like your dad's painting, it is very nice. We enjoyed reading your 7 things. Thank you for the nice things you said about us. Hugs and nose kisses

    Sparkle said...

    My human just went over and looked at your human's blog and she thinks his artwork is great! And concatulations on the well-deserved award!

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings dear Mumsy, Chancy and Co.,

    Thank you for stopping by and a special thanks, were glad you understand.

    Hugs and kisses from us too,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Miss Kitty said...

    Hi Sparkle,

    Thank you for your visit as well as looking in on dad's other blogs and seeing his art.

    This last Saturday he has started another even larger painting and when it is finished he will share the results.

    Warmest regards,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Cat and DOG Chat With Caren said...

    I used to be an art major in college so I found the steps you explained in your painting to be most interesting....my Dad was an editorial cartoonist (Ray Osrin) so I have a deep love of the creative process.

    Concats on your award!
    We follow Mumsy too and you are right, the second you meet her you feel as if you have known her forever!!

    Katnip Lounge said...

    ConCatulations on your award, and thank you for passing it on to us! We will blog about it soon.

    Your Dad creates wondrous things...our Daddy loves to make things also and we love to watch him create, esp. if it is something for US!

    How wonderful to see 18 years, Miss Kitty. No wonder you are so wise.

    Clooney said...

    Oh Miss Kitty, thank you for passing the award to us! That is just "Awesome"! That is a beautiful picture of you and you look extremely cozy. We are glad your Dad is painting and creating again and doing what he loves.

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings dear Katnip Lounge,

    Thank you for checkin in on us.

    According to your masthead we can see that dad is real handy having build all those neat things for all the felines.

    Wishing you all the best,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings dear Cloony

    Thanks for stopping by and especially for the nice words about dad's art work. He is real happy when he paints.

    Wishing you all the best,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Luzia said...

    Liebe Miss Kitty, ich kann gut verstehen, dass Du schlafend in Deiner Luxushöhle liegst bei diesem kalten Wetter. Ganz ehrlich sage ich Dir, dass ich das auch am liebsten machen würde. Aber das können wir Menschen leider nicht machen. Obwohl, wenn wir so alt werden würden wie Du, könnten wir uns das schon erlauben;-)) Du weist ja, dass ich Dich wegen Deines phantastischen Aussehens in diesem Alter sehr bewundere!!! Ich hoffe, dass Daddy (wenn er nicht zu sehr mit seiner Kunst beschäftigt ist) Dir zum Geburtstag eine ordentliche Katzentorte backen wird?! Lass Dich verwöhnen von A bis Z und genieße Deinen Festtag! Sag Daddy, dass ich ihm bald auf seine letzten mail antworten werde. Heute schaffe ich es nicht mehr, denn ich bin nun zu müde und werde Deinen Ratschlag in Sachen "Schönheitsschlaf" nun beherzigen;-)) Ich wünsche Euch einen schönen Tag und sende allerliebste Grüße an die ganze Familie von Luzia.

    Wendy said...

    Oh, congratulations, Miss Kitty for your award, we're purring for you and we wish we could celebrate your birthday with you. You are a true goddess! Our mom is behind a LOT in her emails, but she told us to tell your human dad that she loved receiving his email and will email him soon...And they say "cats are lazy?" Hmmmpfff...
    Big hugs and purrrs to you,
    Miss Bella and Sele

    The Year of the Cats

    Stacy Hurt said...

    Congratulations on your well deserved award!

    I must say I really loved the photo of your piece while you were applying the gesso! The dual color was fun!

    Very nice eye!

    xoxo
    Ms. Stella O'Houligan
    & That Woman

    weaverpat said...

    Dear Miss Kitty,
    We hope the weather is improving so you don't have to spend so much time indoors. You do look adorable all snuggled in your fur house!
    We wish to congratulate you on your blog award. No one deserves it more!
    Our Mom is happy to hear your Dad continues to paint. She likes the technique he used on the 'White on White'. We're looking forward to seeing the next canvas that he creates.

    Happy Birthday to you!!! We hope Dad has some special surprises planned for you!

    Best wishes, Deiter and the Gang (and Pat)

    meowmeowmans said...

    Hi Miss Kitty and Dad Egmont,

    Congratulations on your great - and well-deserved - award! We, too. Think you are awesome. :)

    Miss Kitty, we completely understand about laying low when the weather is colder. Hopefully by your birthday, it will be warmer so you can get some birthday sunbeams.

    Egmont, it's so nice to see you creating again. We likethe focus of your new pieces. And what a neat choice of mediums, too.

    Finally, we are sorry we have not been by sooner, but our sweet ladycat Maggie had to go to the bridge this past weekend. We are just now beginning to feel up to visisting and being social.

    Thanks for being such good friends. We appreciate you.

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Luzia,

    Welcome back from your trip and we hope that you had a great time and managed to fill your sketchbook from which to draw upon for other works of art.

    Please do not rush to answer our earlier letter as dad is planning to write another one soon.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K and E

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Wendy,

    Thank you for your visit and comment. We fully understand that life's other duties consumes us and correspondence always takes longer we ourselves are still trying to balance everything.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms Kand E

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings Stacy,

    Thank you for visiting and commenting on dad's painting. It has been way too long that he has been painting and with the success of "White on White", he has started another one.

    Warmest regards,
    Ms K and E

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Pat and company,

    Dad wanted me to tell you that he had collected a couple of links for you and now of course he cannot find them. It dealt with weaving and we thought they would be of interest to you.

    We are expecting another rain front moving in by the afternoon and we are wondering how you are doing back east with the storm front traveling through your area. We hope you are all dry and warm.

    Warmest regards,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear meowmeowmans,

    I am so very sorry to hear this. The loss of Maggie is especially difficult, under the circumstances of having to aid in her crossing. As Miss Kitty is getting older, less active, I cannot help myself but fear the day when she too will cross over the rainbow bridge and it makes me hold her even closer, spending just a little more time with her.

    We are sending you belated hugs and purrs to help ease your pain.

    Warmest regards,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont

    Jans Funny Farm said...

    How exciting to be turning 18 this month. Even if you celebrate quietly and sleep through much of it, it's still a milestone.

    It must be hard on your dad to have had to curtail his art. We hope he is doing better and able to get back to it, even if slowly and occasionally.

    Contemporary Cloth Inc. said...

    Dear Ms. Kitty,
    I absolutely love you and your blog. You are stunning! Thank you for sharing your stories.
    And, Egmont..."White on White" is fabulous, just wonderful. Would love to see it in person.
    Ms. Kitty, wishing you and your family the best...
    Sondra

    Miss Kitty said...

    Greetings Jan's Funny Farm,

    Thank you for visiting.
    It is truly a big thing for turning 18, since I think that most of my brothers and sisters are mostly no longer around. As for dad, he is beginning to pick up where he left off sometime ago.

    Warmest regards,
    MIss Kitty and Egmont

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Sondra,

    I saw dad having a big smile when he saw who had stopped by and was delighted you loved his painting. If you are ever in the Bay Area, we would hope you would let us know so we can have you visit us.

    Wishing you a great start to the week,
    Miss KItty and Egmont

    Michelle said...

    Such beautiful art!! I can't wait to see the telephone pole artwork. We cannot believe Miss Kitty is going to be 18 this month! Wow.....Miss Kitty still looks like a young kitten. :) Daddy must take very good care. I completely understand about disappearing and the weather. We tend to do that as well when the weather is dreary. Hoping that Spring is around the corner. Lots of love from Michelle, Mocha, Quincy and Emma! xoxo

    Miss Kitty said...

    Dear Michelle, Mocha, Quincy and Emma,

    Thank you for dropping in and staying a while with us.

    Dad is real happy with the results of the painting and where in hangs, the light is soft and changes with the time of the day.

    Daddy does take good care of me, especially since am a picky eater.

    Warmest regards,
    Miss Kitty and Egmont