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

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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.

A Stylish Award

Angel and 6 Garden Cottage Cats masthead

Several days ago we received a Stylish Blogger Award from Angel who’s blog 6 Garden Cottage Cats is one you should see, as it is filled with wonderful graphics and a lovely soundtrack in the background, making you want to stay and not leave. Thank you so very much for this award.

We understand the award comes with certain requirements and that we need to tell you seven things about us and then pass it along. Since we had established with our first award to cut the number of new recipients, we will do so again, thereby restoring value and honor to the award by limiting the nominees. We decided to keep it to three, like in the Olympics.

So we are bestowing this award to:

Animal Shelter Volunteer Life blog reflects so going on’s at PAWS, a privately funded, non-profit, no-kill shelter located in Norwalk, CT. The volunteers work very hard taking care of felines and trying to find forever homes. Please do drop in as they also have wonderful news to share today.

Our other winner is Cats of Wildcat Woods, who have a farmhouse in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina and when they moved in, they also inherited a number of feral cats. Since then they have been very involved with the community, reusing cats and helping them find forever homes.

We thought of presenting you, the reader with a blog that was a bit different, Chocolate and Marmalade Tea is just that. Now Michelle, the writer of the blog not only shares some stories of her cats Mocha and Emma—who are darlings and one cannot help but fall in love with them—but  she is an old fashioned girl trying to keep up with the modern world. Between blogging, creating some art and also going horseback riding, she keeps very busy baking and sharing those wonderful recipes with us and who cannot have enough recipes in their book, so do drop in and make friends.

Now the Stylish Blogger Award asks the receiver to share seven things with my followers, seven things they may not be aware of.

1: Miss Kitty’s name originally was Painted Lady, but family members called her simply kitty. So when this blog was created we agreed her name would be Miss Kitty van Dyck.

2: Though I get pampered by dad, I have scratched him a few times, now he wears several scars to remind him of me. When I did this, I was much younger.

3: While on the subject of age, I am seventeen years and ten months old. Because I was a very young feral, only a few weeks old we can only guess that it was either February or March that I was born, but I have been with the family since May of the same year.

4: I used to be a very good mouse catcher and when I ate my catch, I always left behind the liver. Do any of you felines do this?

5: Two years ago I was attacked by a dog and since then I no longer go outside alone. So whenever dad goes to work in the garden he takes me out and we keep each other company.

6: Here are two things about dad; he had an industrial accident in 2002, which took four and a half years to recover, has survived cancer in 2004 and open-heart triple by-pass surgery in 2006. Unfortunately one of the grafts failed eighteen months later and this has effected how much and what he can do in a day. Unfortunately he remains unemployed since 2003 and the economy is not helping.

7: Dad was a graphic designer and commercial advertising photographer and in 2000 decided it is time for a vacation, never having on in those twenty-seven years. So he decided to follow his childhood dream and start painting. 

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Before bringing this post to a close I wish to share this article I found on-line from NewsTeam, UK yesterday that was posted at NewsLite.TV that I wish to share with you. Instead of rewriting it, I am copying over the text as it appeared.

Pamela Cole with some of her collection (photo: L Looi/NewsTeam UK)

Feline fanatic collects thousands of ceramic cats

February 2, 2011 3:00 PM - News Team UK

A feline fanatic has spent the last 60 years amassing a bizarre collection of over 2,000 ceramic cats… and she won't stop until it's purr-fect.

Pamela Cole, 60, from Birmingham, England, has been collecting the cats since the late 1940s, after her mother gave her a replica of a beloved kitten. The collection, is thought to be worth over £50,000 ($68,000 US Dollar), contains ornaments worth anything from 10p to over £1,000 ($1,300) and she even has one cat dating back to 600BC. 

Pam, who now has a staggering 2,222 cats of varying shapes and sizes, says she keeps them in her spare bedroom and has stopped anyone sleeping in there. But despite already being short of space to display them, she said she can't wait to get her paws on more.

Speaking of her collection Pamela said: "I really do have them from all over the world, and I've bought them in china shops, toy shops, antiques shops, at craft fairs, antiques fairs and on eBay.  

"I try to get them as different as possible, and I have them from every continent."

Enjoy the weekend and

don’t forget the calendar bookmark photo contest is coming up.

The winners are . . .

Miss Kitty announces the winners . . .

with today’s posting for the first quarter of 2011 Calendar Bookmark Photo Contest, along with the three whom we have chosen to receive the ‘One lovely blog award.’

For those who are interested in the statistics, there were nine entrees with twenty-six images, of which nine made the final cut. 

Finalist poster

The decision was by no means easy and so a set of criteria was established and applied by which each photograph was judged. The ‘finalist’ images were imported into Photoshop and according to the photograph, may have had applied some retouching; burning and dodging; blurring of the background; and any other visual adjustments we felt would enhance the photograph.

After post production and cropping the photograph down to the required size, it was placed on the ‘finalist poster’ and then the judging began in earnest.

There were four photographs, that came very close to winning. Image two, of Susie was sent in by Kevin from Animal Shelter Volunteer Life — PAWS; KM provided several wonderful poses of George Clooney from Clooney’s Num-Num Fund, image four.

From Spain, photo five comes courtesy of Isabel Gutierrz’s feline Lili, an artist who also blogs about her cat at Espacio y Color; last but certainly not least, image nine was sent in by Victoria and features Lucy taking in her sun-puddles. Her blog is Lucy’s Christmas Lodge.

When we announce the competition open for the second quarter, we shall provide a guideline to help improve your odds for not only making the finals, but increasing your chances of winning. Of course that would make our job even harder, but Miss Kitty and I will be up to the task.

The Winners . . .     congratulations!

January, Noah by Alexandra from Switzerland

February, Tiny Johnson by Tricia at Katnip Lounge, USA

March, Mr Puddy by BN from Australia

Preview of the placements of the winning images

The final downloadable version will be made available on Christmas Eve with a link to the full size print at our Picasa album along with a couple of tidbits about each winner.

The Recipients for the ‘One lovely blog award’ are . . .

Christiane’s blog Ninifees DosiNews from Germany, was elected for her excellent blog and rich photographic images, including for having a huge heart, taking care of many strays and trying to find a very good home for them. Her blog has Google translator widget installed so you can read along.

Catrina’s blog Cat’s Cat from Canada, whom many of you know is another person with a gracious spirit and a huge heart. Her love is over flowing with kindness.

KM’s blog Clooney’s Num-Num Fund also from Canada. She recently brought home her second feline, named Neytiri, named after the main female character in last years blockbuster film Avatar. When you visit there, you cannot help but find humor by the truck load, so stop by for a visit.

Thought there were many more I could have passed this award along to, but as I stated in my previous post, by limiting the number of recipients, the meaning and value of this award is greatly increased.

Wow, this was one long posting. Time for another nap. Make that a very long nap. 

An exciting day it was

Each morning before getting out of bed, dad quickly checks his emails on the phone. There was a message in German from Alexandra in Switzerland, letting him know there was something for him at her blog.

In the meantime he had breakfast and I had my morning snack, which was followed by a visit to the garden since there was no frost outside like the last previous days. It was still rather cold but the morning’s golden light that came skittering across the hills ridge and rooftops was a little warming when it finally landed upon me.

For now the days will be few for going outside until winter reaches its zenith and then it will be still several more weeks before the temperatures begin to rise again.

Cory Cat Blog—Society of Feline Gardeners

When I came back in, dad was also finished with breakfast and together we went back upstairs to the computer. Dad was clueless because he did not check until now what it was Alexandra had in store for us.

With great excitement dad told me all about the award I had received. I quickly had to inspect the monitor and see for myself.

Thank you Alexandra

Since the award comes with a condition that it should be passed along, dad and I had a long discussion as to restoring value and honor to the award by following Alexandra’s example of limiting the nominees. We decided to keep it to three, like in the Olympics. Since there are a number of blogs we are considering, we will release the winners for the ‘One Lovely Blog Award’ with our next post.

Alexandra has a wonderful blog, she not only talks about her cat, but also of per passion for gardening and decorating the house for the holiday season. She also does volunteer work at the local animal shelter, taking exceptional photographs of the animals in need of a home. I enjoy visiting her site to see what she is up to and I am never disappointed.

a rose from Alexandra’s blog Gwundergarten

So please visit her blog Gwundergarten and you will be surprised on several levels. As I already mentioned, her blog is diverse with varied interests and you do not have to know German to read her posts since the blog is bilingual. 

Remember there is still some time left to participate in the

calendar bookmark photo contest.