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Lazy Cats
by Nancy Park on 9/2/2009 2:01:07 AM
4 Comments
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Cats, among other things
Cats do not believe in work, whether you are doing it, or futilely trying to get them to do some. One thing they excel at is sleeping, sometimes at full alert. It's necessary for them to be at full alert because you might start to use the fact that you are trapped as the cat's bed to actually do something like sketch them.
They never sleep quite as long anyplace else as on a lap. Trying to turn this to advantage, I used some of my "down" time in August to sketch two of them, shown herewith. The first is Nova, or as we sometimes call cats here, a meatloaf.
This one below is my tortoise-shell cat, Twinkle. We call this sketch "Lapwarmer."
 What these critters do is eat and sleep, which is why their little white tummies puff out when they lie down. I think they call that fat. We try to encourage them to exercise, but you can't really put them on a leash and walk them around the block. You're reduced to running around the house with various cat toys, which actually has them up and interested for about 5 minutes, after which they start giving you that cat-look that says, "Why is this human acting like an utter idiot?" Later, sometime around two a.m., they start racing around the place and chasing each other as if they'll never get another chance to run. I think people like cats because, possibly, they are the only creature stranger than humans, and they're definitely from another planet.
Links to other Artists
I'm putting some new links up on my Links category, and I would love to share these other artists and their talented writing and artistry with you. Many of them give helpful tips on their blogs, which is really terrific, because I'm always needing help. As a matter of handiness, I'll give them to you right here, because they're not up yet.
http://marsharobinett.com/blog Marsha is the most incredibly talented pencil artists I've ever seen. Her black and white renderings are as dramatic as most paintings. She also has some lovely watercolors on the site.
http://ktanabefineart.com/blog My old friend in San Diego loved this link, as Keiko Tanabe does many of her paintings in the San Diego area. Her paintings are exquisite and her blog is very open and practical.
http://woodwardsimons.com/blog Lori Woodward Simons is a well-known writer for several media, including Watercolor Magazine, and she gives wonderful advice to artists. She has taught workshops and is currently writes regularly on marketing your artwork on her blog and for Fine Arts Views. Confucius said a painting is worth a thousand pieces of gold (I know people always quote that wrong, but a painting is worth a lot more than a thousand words! Don't take my word for it; look up the quote.) and Ms. Simons' advice is worth real gold in your pocket.
Cheers,
Nancy
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