Je Suis Le Chat

Where's Elmo?

I have wandered, with Pixie and Max, over to Her Blog, here.

Big Cats

Some time ago She made a book about Snow Leopards. Snow Leopards are big cats that live wild and free. Watch this film, learn more, and then get your people to vote for The Snow Leopard Trust





And here is Her reading of Her book, The Snow Leopard. If you buy it through The Snow Leopard Trust they get more money to help look after the big cats.

 

A little help with book signing

She went to Solva Woollen Mill to sign some books and we sent word to the hard working mill cats. The message was to Heddle and the message was, 'do give the Poor Dear a little helping paw'. At first Heddle just watched, from a box, curled. Eventualy she decided to take things in paw.

A visit from the Silver Witch

Sometimes people come to stay in our house. This week it was Hannah Willow. She makes beautiful shining things. 

Sometimes hares, sometimes bears, always silver and always they hold a magic. And so does she. And, if we may say, she has perfect hair! She is also, it would seem, a slave to many cats and one of The Sisterhood of Ruralists, along with Tamsin Abbott, Catherine Hyde and Her. And what do they all have in common, apart from their habit of scribbling, in glass, on paper, with paint and with silver? They all are owned by feline creatures!

A measure of life in cats

Comfrey was the first, just days old when his mother was killed by a tractor, raised on a bottle, he grew to be big. He liked to go for walks.
When Comfrey died, Arthur and Martha, brought home in a cardboard box, small ginger bundles. Arthur went to live with my neighbour but would always come back to visit.
Max next. When he was young Hannah carried him everywhere in a basket. Now he spends his days in the wood pile and always greets when we get home.
Bird found us. Small black cat, he always loved Bella.
Then Pixie and Maurice. And I can say nothing about Maurice without raising tears. I loved him so.
And Kiffer, who had already used some of his nine lives before he came to live with us and then borrowed some from Maurice.
And Elmo.

Soon...........

....it will be finished. She has only some writing to do and a small piece of colouring in and a deciding on what the puma should be called. She thinks it should be a cougar.

Progress; or "Needs Whiskers".

Only those who know Her well will understand how hard it is for Her to paint this cover. It is turning into a small hymn of praise for Maurice.

At last!

Well, it has taken Her years but it looks like She is finally beginning to get the idea of how to paint cats. We have been so patient with Her. We thought there would be trouble when She said She was working on a cat book. We have been helping, sitting still in warm places, watching, walking in paint. These two are for front and back endpapers, and have cat paw prints to go with them thanks to Pixie.

I love my cat

Calendar

She is doing a calendar.You can find out more about it on Her blog.  We think it looks ok, but there are not enough cats in it.
Soon she will be making things with cats for cafe press, but until then She distracts Herself from our cat book, I am Cat, with all this calendar nonsense.
And She says that the calendar is a limited edition one, and selling fast, which surprises us given the lack of cats, but it takes all kinds we suppose.
There are special dates on the calendar like International Peace Day which is when all humans stop fighting each other for a whole day before taking up arms again ( oh the irony, what a foolish species) and also t he phases of the new and full moon.

 

On Her blog......

.......is a picture, a competition and a prize.
And part of the prize is a signed copy of Her new book, doodled and scrawled in.

A short walk and a new shop

The morning was cloudy and light rain was falling as She set off up the hill with the dogs and I ran after them. Rain will not stop me walking. The lane to the hill top was wet so I sent the dogs on ahead and walked through the tunnel of long grass and campion. The light was emerald. 

At the top of the hill the dogs were soaked, She was soaked and I? Well, I was dry as a thirst cat and warm as sunshine. "How?" she asked. " How can you walk through so much water and still be dry at the top?"

"Easy." I replied. " I am Cat."

And She has been busy, working on 'I am Cat', the book ( wonder where She got that title from!) and opening a gift shop at The House of Golden Dreams ( a place where we often go to curl and dream in our ammonite beauty). The shop has bags and mouse mats ( which every good cat needs when crunching on fragile bones) and covers for iThings. She will add more. And She says we can open out own shop too some time soon but that we are not to spend all our money on gambling and playing cat poker.

You can visit the Gift Shop for The House of Golden Dreams, anytime. It is always open.

Elmo and the herb garden

Elmo visits the ghost cats

Walking the big cat

To say that we are slightly worried by Her latest painting would be an understatement.

Intimate moments with Pixie and Bella

Kisses are in season when gorse is in bloom

Last night the moon rose red into the sky. Deep red fading to copper gold as she lifted. And when she was deep red the shadow thief stole all the moonshadows.
This morning we walked into the bright day.
On the high hill top the dogs ran wild after a red fox. He was wild and fleet fox footed and She watched as he twisted around and tricked the dogs, then up over the hill, fast on narrow paths through low thorn trees. Rosie picked up his scent and away they went again.

 

On top of the hill the air was still. A raven watched, a buzzard too. We rested a while in the gorse scented air and then back down again, through the rich green of the fields to the songs of skylarks.

A short message from Hannah

She was a little shocked earlier this year when Hannah announced that she wanted to go to Peru for four weeks this summer with a company called World Challenge.We, however, thought it was a brilliant idea as the girl child will be away for four weeks, giving Her more time to concentrate on us!  
Hannah researched the trip and has been applying here and there for funding, has been saving all her money from her part time job, is plundering her savings. We have provided her with the odd mouse, but she just seemed disinterested. She says that 'mice are not money!' Ungrateful child.
This weekend they went to Derbeyshire where Hannah had a chance to meet some of the team she will be going with. Leaving us on our own with Tom ( who is not very fond of cats!)
Amazing.

As part of her fund raising she is doing a beach clean. It seemed a good way to benefit all round, and also something different. We have seen, from the cliff tops, some of the rubbish that washes ashore. The tideline is always dotted with tiny pearls of coloured plastic. 
To help, as she did not want our mice, we said she could put something on our blog, so, over to Hannah:

Hey Bloggers!

 As you may know, my mother is one Jackie Morris  and I am an AS student at Ysgol Dewi Sant, studying Art, English, History and religious Studies. This summer I am embarking on a World Challenge Expedition to Peru- Andes and Amazon.

    This expedition will not only be culturally enriching but will also develop skills in team work, co-operation and money management, and will be an invaluable educational experience as it will not only provide 70 UCAS points as it is ASDAN recognised, but will be the primary stimulus and inspiration for my A level art project.

    This project will entail trekking through the Andes and Amazon but more importantly beneficial community work in the community of Lima.

    As I fundraising activity, I am going to be doing a beach clean on the less accessible coastal beaches that you will have seen on mum’s blog, as every year much debris is washed up on them and never really gets cleared away. As most of them can only be accessed by boat. This will not only benefit the wildlife and local community, but I will also be donating half of the funds raised to Save The Children, who carry out projects globally, and of particular interest to me in Peru. Any support would be gratefully received.

  Thanks

Hannah

 In order to gain access to the beaches, which are inaccessible from the land Voyages of Discovery are loaning Hannah a skipper and a boat. Ffion, the skipper, is loaning her a dry suit and she will have to jump overboard and swim ashore then bag up as much rubbish as she can and swim it back to the boat. With luck she will be able to clear much of the plastic, and most importantly the bits of netting and wires that tangle the seal pups that will be born on the beaches later in the year.

If you would like to sponsor Hannah please send cheques, made out to Hannah Stowe, to c/o Chris and Julie at The Moshulu Shoe Shop, New Street, Paris House, St Davids, SA62 6SN.

Thanks. 

The Ghost Cat

Tonight, by the light of the quarter moon we walk. The wind is rising. Pixie and Max are sheltering, warm in the kitchen. Only Elmo follows. The moon is almost bright enough to pick out his flame coat and he looks well, sleek. He watches over Her as they walk, and talks to himself, to Her, singing a cat song to the moonshadow cat who keeps pace beside him. Starlight. 

Starbright. 

The ground is shattered and splintered beneath the trees, shadow and moonlight, silver and dark.

I call, on the edge of the wind, on the edge of memory, a feint cat cry in the wind. And I walk with them too, ghost cat, watchful, shadow and moonlight.

Elmo and the Puddle Cat

Elmo's Adventures Part 2, The Shadow Cat

The adventures of Elmo, Part 1, How to climb trees.

Cat watching cat.

Bijou in USA watching Elmo's technique on tree climbing in Wales.

a short and raw film of an evening walk

21st Century Tiger Auction no 2.

The auction of Her work has gone live on eBay. The painting is of big ginger cats, tigers and all the money raised from the sale will go to 21st Century Tiger, so we ask, please blog, tweet, facebook about the auction. We want as many people as possible to join the 21st Century Tiger Facebook Page, to follow heir work, donate money if possible. 

The reserve price is £500, and the painting is the original from Lord of the Forest, written by Caroline Pitcher and illustrated by me, published by Frances Lincoln. The page that reads:

"Tiger played and fought with his brothers. He swam in the cool water.

He told his mother, "I can hear the creep of crabs in the pool and the flip of the fish as they leap  in the cool, the croak and the splash of jumping frogs and the slither of watersnake down from the logs."

His mother said, " When you don't hear them, when silence burns and time stands still, then, my son, be ready. The Lord of the Forest is here!"

Cat Power

She has signed and wrapped a hardback first edition of Lord of the Forest to go with the painting auction at 21st Century Tiger, so please sign up to the Facebook page to keep an eye on the work of the organisation, the tigers and the auction. Cat power!

Meanwhile She and I have been testing the youtube channel!

What She is doing, by Her.

 Last year I went to London Zoo and fed tigers. To be in the presence of tigers is to be granted an incredible gift. I have  a friend who travels a great deal, Wendy Cooling. I still remember listening to her as she spoke of a safari into the forests in India on elephant back. She was lucky enough to have been given the gift of watching a tiger in the wild. She told me that she cried, the creature was so beautiful. So very very beautiful. Even as she was telling me her eyes filled.

I wanted to do something for these animals that have walked through my dreams and when I was at the zoo I was told about 21st Century Tiger. All I could do was to give them a painting which they could use as they wished, to raise money and to raise awareness for their work. Below is the press release. The auction goes live next week.

Sign up to their facebook page to keep an eye on the auction and please spread the word. The painting comes with a hardback copy of the book signed by Caroline Pitcher and myself. This is a first edition hardback, rare in itself as the book is only in print in paperback now.
I think the reserve price is £500, and given that many of my illustrations are now £4000 this could be a chance to pick up a bargain.

Famous watercolour auctioned for tiger conservation

Acclaimed artist Jackie Morris is donating a watercolour to be auctioned on eBay in aid of 21^st Century Tiger.

The original watercolour from the book Lord of the Forest written by Caroline Pitcher will be auctioned on eBay from 21 March 2011.

One hundred years ago there were 100,000 wild tigers.  Now there are less than 3200 tigers left in the wild.

In the last century Asia’s wild tiger range has shrunk to a mere 7 per cent of its original habitat, shockingly 40 per cent of that decline has happened in the past ten years.

Jackie Morris “Even though in my lifetime I may never ever see a tiger in the wild my world is a richer place for knowing that these wonderful creatures are there. 21^st Century Tiger is a rare organisation working to protect the habitat of the tigers in harmony with the people who live alongside them, and also rare in that 100% of all money given to them goes towards their projects rather than being eaten up by admin costs. It is my hope that when I have grandchildren tigers will still walk through their dreams and through the forests of the world as living creatures and not something from history, creatures of myth”.

21^st Century Tiger is a unique fundraising partnership between the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Global Tiger Patrol that gives 100 per cent of all they raise to carefully chosen conservation projects throughout Asia.

21^st Century Tiger currently funds the work of both international and local conservation organisations with a range of projects from education in China, ranger training in Thailand and anti-poaching, to monitoring of the tiger populations in Sumatra and Russia.

These important projects address the pressures the tiger faces in today’s world of trade, exploding human popu­lation and vanishing forests.

The auction will be held on eBay over ten days, ending on 30^th March 2011. More information can be found at www.21stCenturyTiger.org.

 

ps. thanks cats, for letting me post this. How I love my small tigers.

Films and bags and libraries

Max has decided that he needs to lend his support to the campaign to save libraries, because the bags are very comfortable to sleep in.

Meanwhile, She keeps distracting Herself from getting on with I am Cat. Now She has a Youtube channel. But She does promise some time to put on films of us cats, sleeping, walking, sleeping, thinking, sleeping.........