A Lifetime of Cats (A Work in progress)

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.