Daily Photo: Favorite Nap Spot
Even in her sleep she is unusually cute. Those whiskers! antennae!
The stool where I showed Sophie on Sunday has become Mariposa’s favorite spot to hang out, sit and watch, nap, look out the door, all sorts of things. I had set it up that way last summer after the kitchen floor was done, but it’s easy to pile things on there when the kitchen isn’t finished and I don’t have storage places for a lot of things. Mariposa was on it right away before it was covered with my stuff. A few weeks ago I cleaned everything off of it and Mariposa was right back on it. Me too, I sit and watch them eat from there, otherwise I’ll pace around and do things and they just need some quiet while they eat.
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Featured Daily Sketch
Here’s an idea that’s been occurring to me lately as I watch the cats in the sun by the dining room window. I love the way the glass in a stained glass panel is shaded light toward the center of its shape, darker outside by the shadow from the lead between the shapes, and even the rippled quality of the color in many pieces of glass. I’d considered oil pastel for this but they weren’t handy when Jelly Bean, Mewsette and Giuseppe gathered in the late afternoon sun in the dining room window. The geranium leaves were aglow, shadows were deep and colorful, and each cat is its unique color. I followed the simplified shapes and colors I saw through squinted eyes.
I’ll definitely work on refining this, at least as long as the sun shines in the window like this. Below is the uncropped version of the sketch.
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I’m actually pretty excited that I’ll soon be doing a portrait of several cats in this style! Starting it some time in the summer of 2018.
NOTE: I did that portrait and it was awesome! Click here to see “Stained Glass Feline Family”.
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From the Back Yard and Beyond
Catbirds
I know, cats, right?
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From Portraits of Animals
A Rainy Violet Sunset on Main Street
From around this date in past years
Distracting Me With Sweetness While I’m Trying to Work, 2021
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I decided to sew as many tote bags as I could in the space of one day, Tuesday this week. Mariposa, Sienna and usually Hamlet sleep on my bed in the afternoons, and when I came in to start setting up to sew, they were ready for the action. I don’t spend time in my bedroom sewing as often as I spend time in other rooms, and many or even all of the cats will often join me in whichever space I’m working any given day, and me and 10 cats and my projects in a 10 x 12 room is quite a crowd. And so most of them did on this particular day, hanging out on the bed or on the floor, walking on the ironing board behind me because that was “new”, and inspecting my sewing machine which is typically folded up into the console table. You know it was all very exciting. Eventually, the sun came around to the window, welcome on an unusually cold day, and everyone settled down. Later we went downstairs for them to have dinner, then we came back up so I could sew until well after midnight. For a long day of fun but tedious and repetitious work, they did their best to distract me, sometimes distracting me so much that I got caught up in photographing them and playing with them, then had to get back to work. It was a great day, beautiful to look at, exciting to see my tote bags come to life, and a joy to spend with my cats, one of those days that I imagine when I think of working at home. And this is what they did.
Mariposa was fascinated by my sewing table and sewing machine because it’s typically all folded up with things on top of it. I’ve always found it’s best to let the cats explore the new things until they’re done, and then they leave it alone, and so she did. But first she had to check out the new kitty in the mirror
Of course, the ironing board was “new” too, and they had to explore it. I had it set up right behind my chair, and I watched them in the mirror above my sewing machine.
Sienna couldn’t resist the sunshine and settled down in her favorite place anywhere, ever, tucked in among her feline friends on the pillows.
Mimi thinks we should go back outside in the sun again, even though it’s cold. She wants to do this about every half hour or so. She watches me in the mirror. Something fascinates me about a cat looking into a mirror as if it’s reality and of course she sees me, whom she knows, but she would also be looking at the back of my head. I guess Mimi is okay with this.
Mariposa and Jelly Bean enjoy the sun for just long enough to start up a wrestling match, something they both love to do. Although sometimes Mariposa jumps up and runs off from one of these, it’s always a friendly thing and pretty comical to watch her white mittens flying around and landing a solid one, POW, right in the kisser. I have to completely stop what I’m doing and stand on the chair at my sewing machine to get a good angle at them.
I glance up at the mirror and Mimi is having a really good yawn.
After a while things quiet down, and everyone is asleep. That’s a bunch of cats, there.
Then even more asleep.
And much later, one of the piles of cats sleeping on the bed.
It was a good day.
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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.
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Sleeping beauty. 🙂 I like the stained glass.
Having a favorite napping spot is a good thing. You’re a cutie pie, too.
Thank you for joining the Happy Tuesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous day and week. ♥