I’m a cat lover, which doesn’t mean anything but it’s a nice excuse to share kitty pics with you. The Smilodon skull above is a fabulous museum quality cast of a fossil, purchased from the Museum of Osteology’s gift shop. Ant Man gave it to me as a token of love, and nothing says love like an extinct mega predator with six inch canines. It goes nicely with last year’s allosaurus, and bison skull.
Last spring I wrote a feature for Oklahoma Today Magazine on a Clydesdale team in Yukon, Oklahoma. The barn cats there were super happy- they could sleep high up on the backs of huge, sweet-smelling, hoofed, heated sofas. I sketched a friendly beast named Prince, who used his big yellow teeth like a row of piano keys to fondly gnaw the head of a purring tabby.
Christmas in Nebraska, where Ant Man’s people are from, is a regular tradition. A new cat joined the cast this year; she’s a friendly long-haired tabby with a bullseye on her flank. A nice poser, too. Heidi’s her name. We got along well.
I think this painting might be life-sized. Remember my day at the Tulsa Zoo? I got this nice sketch of a jaguar just before it scared the pampers off a little girl who smacked her hands adorably against the glass as her doting mother smiled. Still warms my heart to remember it. The zoo sketch is now on its way to being an oil painting.
And did you know that there’s a spot on the corner of your wrist that, if a cat bites it slightly, your whole hand goes numb? Gizmo taught me that. She’s so adorable, curled adorably on my lap this very moment. I’m trying not to wake her, since she has an occasional hair-trigger reaction when you bang on the glass, so to speak. Did I mention she used to be a barn cat? If I were a giant Clydesdale horse, she might enjoy a tooth massage, too. I have a great deal of respect for cats, all of them. They’re cute and captivating. And terribly sharp.
Happy Friday.
Drawing The Motmot 
Yeah I found a fellow artist who loves bones and skulls… My friends lovingly tease me about that obsession. What an awesome gift! Also, I ride horses and the barn cats interacting with the horses are amazing… Love that painting!
I hardly know any artists who don’t love bones. They’re nature’s sculptures. Wish I rode horses, though. What a great gift to have that skill. Thanks!
I had to look at that photo of the skull 3 times before I could recognize the scale. It looks 5 feet tall!!! HA! Really nice. I am very jealous!
Where the heck is the Like button here?
That Skull is absolutely awesome. Great post!
Well what can one say about a man who buys his significant other a skull for Christmas! Whatever floats your boat. And the jaguar painting is going to be absolutely awesome!
I would love to see the picture of kitties sleeping on the Clydesdales. Is your article in Oklahoma Today forthcoming? I couldn’t find it.
Stefanie- it appeared in the September/October Cowboy issue. No drawings of sleeping on horseback kitties, but there’s one of a nice dalmation named Hitch and another Prince portrait. I write/illustrate a regular column for them now- thanks for asking!
Your watercolor of Clydesdale and kitten friendship is delightful, and very true.
An old horseman.
Lovely Post – the pictures are fabulous.