From the Archives: Little Ones, Already Inspiring, 2008
Here, at nine months old, already inspiring with their shapes and habits, exploring the bathroom windowsill for all it had to offer. They were still fosters and intended for adoption later that year, after they’d reached a year old and kind of cleared the major chances of developing FIP. I’d fostered and adopted so many kittens by then I was just having my good time with them until they went on to a wonderful home. And then they did things like this, and those silhouettes stayed with me. Obviously, they still do.
Above, Giuseppe and Jelly Bean intently eye something on the deck roof, and below, Mr. Sunshine turns to look out the “old” bathroom window, from this date in 2008. They were no longer required to “stay” in the bathroom, but still loved the place like their little playroom. I remember how they felt when they were this age, still kitten-slender and lithe while they grew tall and long but beginning to fill out their muscles, solid, warm, full of life.
But there was a change with these photos. Just about all the photos I’d taken to this date were “kitten” photos. This was about the time they really caught my eye as art subjects, and the photographs increased. Capturing their silhouettes, studying their shapes watching them interact became a total joy, and obsession.
This old casement window had decidedly seen better days but it had character. Each of the six panes was filled with a different pattern of tempered glass for privacy and the metal frames were lumpy with rust and paint and caulking from decades of being soaked by showers; by this time I could only get the window to open a few inches. It would be replaced the next January with the familiar window you see in photos today.
I think I’ve been looking at their silhouettes for so long that I know exactly who they are, even at this age, nine years ago. Some features about them have never changed since this time, like their profiles, Mr. Sunshine’s long hind legs and Giuseppe’s round button nose, Jelly Bean’s compact, chunky shape, even when he was a scrawny kitten, and he was just a little bit of a thing back then. What would my portfolio look like now if they hand’t come along when they did? I know I’d be photographing any cat who came along, but in part it was the way these four grouped together for activities that inspired me to photograph even more than I already did.
For another few images including this window, see “From the Archives: Autumn Sun” and “I Love Being Spayed”.
Photos pulled “From the Archives” were taken by one or another digital camera of mine between 2002 and, well, yesterday, but usually they are older than that, and I had never had the chance to feature them. Vintage Photos are from my film archives back to 1983 when I purchased my Pentax K-1000 camera. They’re a fun way to “introduce” other members of my feline family who came and went before I began blogging, and to illustrate my feline family in general from days gone by.
Browse some rescued cats and kittens!
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item. Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter. © 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski Weekly schedule of features: Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters Tuesday: Rescue Stories Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork Thursday: New Merchandise Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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I could hardly pass up the mood and the composition, chose six of all the photos I’d taken, decided they’d look best in black and white and set them up as a photo short story on The Creative Cat in Of the Rain and Giuseppe. Giuseppe often gazes out “the big north window” dreaming in eloquent and sometimes lyrical terms of his precious French-Canadian Mlle. Daisy Emerald Marguerite who lives up the hill in faraway Canada, and who in real life is kept safe and loved by a friend in Hamilton. She and I enjoy composing messages back and forth in very purple Victorian prose, I enjoy the exercises in writing in a different style and subject matter, and we all have a great laugh, except Giuseppe who is a little insecure. This photo is available framed or unframed, on canvas or on paper or as a greeting card on Portraits of Animals. You can purchase it below or find this photo in my gallery of Feline Photos.
[ss_product id=’d3e4d0ee-eee3-11e5-98a8-0cc47a075d76′ ]Photo, “Of the Rain and Giuseppe”[/ss_product]
© 2017 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
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Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
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I love this! This is frame-worthy.
Thank you, Annie! I’ve been considering framing one or two but I really wasn’t sure if anyone was as charmed by my old bathroom window as I am.
Love the silhouettes! Some beautiful artwork here!!
Thanks for visiting, Cleo! And for the compliments! We had tortie sisters at one time and we loved them. We hope you’re enjoying your new purrch too.
Love the silhouettes. Black cats are made for this 😉
At what are were the cats when you knew you would keep them all?
I know I would probably not be able to give up a black kitten 😉
Well, maybe when I am really old. (I am getting closer to that too :o)Hahahaha
Nancy and the kitties
Technically they were up for adoption on their first birthday and I still saw them as fosters. I knew I’d want to adopt one or two but just couldn’t figure out who! That was July and the middle of kitten season so I knew I’d wait until October at the earliest before they could go to WPHS to go up for adoption. It was that autumn when they were about 15 months old that I realized I’d miss the group of silhouettes, and the four personalities weren’t complete without each other, so I quit looking for homes for them, and Mimi. I think Mimi knew they were all staying all along. Mimi knows everything. 🙂