The Spring Kitten

As I assemble the photos and sketches I’ve done this snowy month, it’s time to celebrate spring with one of my favorite little kitty block prints.

I once had a pure white long-haired kitty with pea green eyes and a pink nose named Sally. She was also completely deaf, and completely fearless; without distraction, she lived in her own little world, full of sleep and joy and play. She was the inspiration for many sketches, paintings and photos, and for this little piece as well.

Almost everywhere I’ve lived has been a quince bush, an old-fashioned favorite for its early bright pink flowers—so early, in fact, that the bush in my neighbor’s yard in the years when Sally was young bloomed every year during the January thaw, and then snow would fall on the bright pink blooms, nestling in the curve of the branches like Sally when she’d found a good cozy spot. I have it shown with a watercolor hand-tinting, but you can see other variations on it on my Marketplace blog, and in my online marketplace where you can order the prints framed or unframed and even plain black and white.

I’m just beginning to print these now, and it’s exciting to see them all lined up; in a day or two I’ll start hand-tinting them, then let them dry for another day or two before I put some in the frame. I have always found a wonderful satisfaction with block printing. You can see other block-printed items, such as tees on my Marketplace blog and lots of prints of kitties in my online marketplace.