Cats, Mice, Birds and Me

For APR this week the prompt is ‘what do you overlook!’  I adore my three cats, but there is a feature of their makeup that sends shivers down my spine.  They have an inherent cruelness when it comes to bird’s mice, butterflies, in fact, anything that has wings and that is smaller than them. 

   

Several weeks ago I did a series of drawings about my cat Bro, two of them are suitable for today – Bro in bird hunting mode!

Bro and Lucy are hunters and take every opportunity to hunt, they know I don’t like it and have stopped bringing the live birds inside.  You see they don’t kill them, they play with them.  If the bird dies of shock Lucy will play with the body for hours, Bro starts to pluck them of their feathers!  I have only just realized that he is expecting me to roast it for him. The other day I was putting a chicken in the oven for roasting and he materialized out of nowhere as cats do.  He gave his little squawk that he makes when he has a bird in his clutches.  He loves chicken and will sit in the kitchen till it is cooked and given some choice morsels! 

Zena on the other hand prefers to hunt mice, birds bore her, and she will yawn when Lucy and Bro are playing with a bird.  But a mouse sends her into frenzy.  Unfortunately, she is a lousy huntress, unlike her namesake, and has to rely on Lucy and Bro to bring them to her for games.  

One thing I am pleased about is that they finally have realized that hunting native birds is a definite no no.  I suspect that it because they realize that is the birds run rings around them, the wax eyes dart about just out of reach and the fantails tease them by flying very close and then hover just above them, laughing I suspect!  

The picture below is a picture I did in honour of the games that my cats play, the thing I I have to overlook as I love them to pieces.

Linking to The Artist’s Play Room

Special Moments

The prompt for this month at Art – Journal Journey is Special Moments.  I initially was going to do something around special moments with family and friends.  However over the last week or so I have had a rather a lot on my plate, and time and time again it was a much needed cup of tea that got me through!  It set me thinking, there are a lot of special moments involving a cuppa!  That moment when you have been working hard and have a much needed break and that first sip tastes heavenly; that moment when you get home after a day out and a loved one says put the kettle on; that first sip of your first cup for the day.  It goes on and on.

From time to time I like to get my lovely elegant fine china out and have a full blown old fashioned tea time.  There is something special about having tea with fine china; it makes you feel special and pampered.  It doesn’t really matter what flavour the tea is, or the accompanying morsels are, it’s the feel of the delicate china on your lips, the light showing through the china, the clink of the teacup as you put it down on the saucer, pouring the tea out from the pot is a pleasure as well.  It takes me back to  a by-gone era, when things were not so rushed.

Doing this journal page took me back to the time when I first started blogging.  I used to visit Tea Time Tuesdays link up at Sandi’s blog at Rose  Chintz Cottage.  I would savour all the lovely china and settings the participants posted. So show my appreciation of that time I did a watercolour of my favourite china mug and teapot setting and link up this post with them as well.  Thank you ladies I love all that beautiful china and tea times.

 Linking to Art-Journal Journey

 

Tea Time Tuesdays

Digital Honey Harvest

For my digital playtime this week I am playing around with a photo of a couple of apples from my one year old apple tree – the variety is Fuji and while it is not the most colourful of apples it fruit tastes of nectar!

 To be honest I can’t quite remember how I got to the variation below, I know I inverted and then changed the colour with hues and saturation.  At some stage I used some artistic filters and the sharpen mask and texturizer.  My photo manipulation much of the time actually consists of random fiddling!

A version full of colour.

An abstract version of the apples

duotone version

 Here I inverted the first version again, fiddled and went into duotone.  For the one below I put a mask and a frame from photoscape in the antique filters.  This last one is my favourite as to me it represents the taste of the apple.  I am thinking of trying the techniques from this one on some old family photos or a still life.

So this is my entry for Mandarin Orange Monday, it always amazes me you can do with a simple photo.

Linking to Mandarin Orange Monday

and Creative Every Day