Right now, my mind is somewhat preoccupied with moving house. I should in fact have been spending this evening with a bottle of chenin blanc in my new home, but the seller has delayed and I'm sick with stress and not knowing when things will happen.
Painting is a great form of relaxation and I've been turning to it a lot over the past month. I am somewhat regretting having already packed my coloured pencils, but my gouache and acrylic is still out and I've been cracking on with illustrating A Lifetime of Cats.
Henry, is the most recent portrait that I have completed. He was given to me, along with his partner, Molly, by a friend of a friend who could no longer care for them, when he was 3 years old. He was initially so vicious and would lash out every time we tried to approach him. Gradually, we established a three-stroke rule and later he mellowed into a rather grumpy and unpredictable lap cat, with a love of gardening programmes.
I have another six cats yet to paint and six more stories to tell before the book is complete. In the meantime, I invite you to download a sample chapter from 4shared. This tells the story of Arthur, who battled skin cancer but still lived an incredible 27 years - and was climbing trees and mousing right up to the end. I hope you enjoy it.
