Hawks, Eagles, Foxes and Ravens, Oh My! ~ SOLD!

Foxy One

5.5" x 7.5" original watercolor on Yupo paper, matted to 8" x 10" - $85.

mats- (acid-free - white core) with foam core backing in an acetate sleeve

ready to fit into a standard 8" x 10" frame.

• SOLD

My friend, extraordinary photographer, Sally Vennel, just sent me 20 of her fabulous fox photos to use as reference! Guess what my next series will be? (Don't worry, not 30!) It felt so good to paint an animal today! Although my last series was exhilarating, I am ready to paint something other than trees. This fox painting was done on Yupo paper today. I may attempt the same pose tomorrow on regular 140 lb. Arches cold press cotton rag paper.

Ms. Cooper visited our bird feeders on Saturday. She dined for about 40 minutes on a pork chop that Jerry had thrown out there. I'd much rather have her eating that than our song birds! This was the best shot I got while shooting from my kitchen window. Jerry said he saw her out there again tonight.

We have had a large bald eagle flying around our place lately! I spotted her in a one of our big bull pines Sunday morning. I called Jerry and we got the binoculars and saw her up real close when she flew directly over my studio window before circling over the house. She is spectacular and huge! What a sight! It gave me goosebumps! The problem was that we hadn't seen our beautiful, little, feral, Maine Coon, Eva, since Saturday. We were both pretty sad all day, thinking Ms. Eagle may have carried our little Eva away. Jerry searched everywhere for her. Then around 3:00 pm, Ms. Eva showed up! We were very happy to see her and she seemed happy to be home. We have a couple of stray males that just showed up here and they chase her. Perhaps they chased her into the woods and she got lost or she could have spent 24 hours up in a tree. Poor baby. I wish I could keep an eye on her, but she is a feral, very independent and not crazy about people. She is coming into the screened porch at night and sleeping in her cooler/ home now that it's cold. At least she's safe then. 

Opie was very interested in the Super Bowl yesterday. We actually couldn't tear him away from the game! He spent a good part of the game sitting in front of the TV, watching the action between the Ravens and the Forty Niners. A lot of the time, he was sitting up on his haunches like a mercat. What a guy!

Good news for me, I completed the shooting of the high resolution images of my 30 Paintings in 30 Days series today. Yay! Now I can sign them, spray them, mat, frame and ship the ones that are sold! Looking into several online vendors for producing books, I found this site, Blurb, the most attractive. I am asking if anyone has any thoughts about the "Tree Paintings Inspired by Quotes" book as far as hard cover/ soft cover, size, price, etc. If I go with the smallest book (6" x 9"), with shipping, they will cost me about $20. ea. I would like to see it in a little larger format (8" x 10"), so that the images won't be tiny, but they would probably cost me $25 - $30 ea. I will sell them at my cost, but would have to add on $5.00 for ea. pkg. (1 or more) shipping. I would like to know if anyone is still interested and what your thoughts are on the above. Thanks for your time and feedback! I really and truly am thankful!

X ♥  O

Insulated Outdoor Cat Shelter for Feral Cats

This is Eva. She got dumped off here last spring.

Although she is somewhat feral, with patience and kindness,

she is starting to come around.

She has taken to sleeping in a little bed outside of my studio on the covered porch.
With cold weather upon us, I started looking online for instructions on building an insulated house for her.

I came across this step by step YouTube video with detailed instructions on how to make an insulated outdoor shelter out of a cooler! Jerry immediately whipped up two of them out of a couple he had on hand.

Eva took to it right away. Now she will be safe, cozy and warm all winter long.

We put the other one in the barn and think that Ja Ja is already using it too.

We will continue to try to get her to come inside at night, but until she is ready, she has this wonderful new house. It's a marvelously simple and economical way to provide shelter for your outdoor kitties.

Evie definitely gives it her seal of approval.

♥

and Eva

Howdy Hoo From Cat Man Do!

Sophie - sweet resident barn/shop cat

I said I'd fill you in the cat happenings here at "Cat Man Do", so here I go. It's complicated. Eva, the one year old recent drop off and fred's last fling has been vetted, treated, spayed and contained in a large cage in Jerry's shop since last Tuesday. She's been in the same room as Sophie and Ginger, our outside/inside, barn/shop cats. Sophie is a real doll, but Ginger is a an insecure, neurotic pterodactyl. (Wow, how do you like the spelling of that word?) The three cats seem to be accepting each other and I think we'll open Eva's door to the room with the two girls on Wednesday. I hope her and Sophie hit it off, because Ginger really annoys the Soph with her constant clinginess.

Ginger - Sweet, skittish and fat with various issues

The love triangle - Eva,  Ja Ja and Fred 

Eva -  tiny newbie 4.5 lbs.

Eva seems very docile and tame. Jerry's been sticking his hand in the cage and petting her, which she likes very much.

Ja Ja - teenage mother, 6 mo. old

As per my previous post, we caught Ja Ja,

only to find she was nursing kittens,

so brought her back untouched except for a rabies shot.

She loves the trap and we have caught her several times since. 

Freddie the Free Loader - Still at large

Fred's just too smart and continues to be an outlaw. We set the trap. He sniffs it, sprays it and walks away. He's been around the block a few too many times and we're afraid he is going to be a difficult one to catch.

Princess has her good days and bad. She's 17 now and often seems grouchy. She has been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. We have her on transdermal medication which is helping her have more good days. She now has a better appetite and is starting to put some weight on. 

Tigger is our big, lovable guy. He is spending more and more time with me in the studio, much to Princess' dismay. He's usually very good and tolerant of her and her space, but every once in a while he has to be a bad boy and get right in her face. This of course sets her off and gets her all riled up. He's young and playful and does it just for the fun of it and because it really annoys her.

Lately, Tigger's been taking all of the big soft balls out of his toy basket. Then, he walks around with them in his mouth. He carries it like it was a kitten, all the time crying in a loud, pitiful way until he finds a good spot to lay it down. Then he goes and gets another one and repeats the process. Saturday morning, we woke to find all four of them arranged in a neat, evenly spaced row. He continued observing and guarding them throughout the day until later that evening, when he started adding smaller sparkly balls to his arrangement. Then he seemed to loose interest. I think he wants to be an artist.

Leah - resident outside feral

Ziggy and Leah seem to be staying to themselves, mostly hanging out on the shed roof during the day where they occupy the penthouse suite.

Ziggy - Tigger's brother, resident outside feral

Snowflake  - spring 2011

They are not alone up there in their roof top abode anymore though. For the past couple of weeks, a raccoon has been coming out of their apartment and joining them for their evening meal. We don't think it's Snowflake, because it's shy and runs when it see's Jerry, but it could be one of the babies from last year. Anyway, they all seem to be getting along at the moment. Most likely, Ziggy and Leah don't have a choice and are just trying to hang on to their prime real estate. 

"Psychologists now recognize that the need in some people to have a dozen cats is really a sublimated desire to have two dozen cats."  ~ Robert Brault