Fab Ferals – Drawings of Actual Feral Cats

"Oreo" Fab Feral Drawing #1
“Oreo” Fab Feral Drawing #1

T.S. Eliot wrote poems about a colony of cats that eventually were compiled into the book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Andrew Lloyd Weber adapted the poems into the musical Cats, which was the second longest-running show in Broadway history. I read once that the poems were inspired by an actual colony of feral cats that Eliot tended.

Much like the famous writer, I too am charmed and inspired by the antics and independent dignity of free roaming cats. Unlike pets that people keep in their homes, these animals live simply for the sake of being a cat.

So called feral cats are unsocialized to human contact, and they are often the offspring of abandoned and stray pets. Feral cats multiply much too quickly, though, and they become unwelcome pests in many areas.

As a volunteer with Peace for Pets, a nonprofit organization in Stark County, Ohio, I have been performing Trap Neuter Return (TNR) interventions with feral cats to reduce the overpopulation of free roaming cats in the area.

Mama Kitty - Fab Ferals Series #2
“Mama Kitty” – Fab Ferals Series #2

This summer, I have participated in TNR with several feral cats, and much as Eliot was inspired to write, I have been inspired to draw the cats in a new series of original drawings called “Fab Ferals”.

Each drawing is 5″ x 7″ and matted for framing in an 8″ x 10″ frame. I am selling the drawings in my Etsy Shop if you would like to purchase them. New drawings will be added daily, so visit often! 10% of the sales from the Fab Feral series will be donated to Peace for Pets.

Some of these cats have been named by the humans who feed them and manage their colonies. “Oreo” above is a male cat who has spawned many young kittens, but he is now neutered and will no longer contribute to the overpopulation of free roaming cats. “Mama Kitty”, a female cat who makes a pallet factory her home, will be a “mama” to no more kitties thanks to TNR.

You can learn more about the process of TNR at the Neighborhood Cats website. TNR is not only the most humane method for controlling feral cats, it is also the most effective method.

I hope that you enjoy the drawings, and I hope that you support TNR in your Community!

 

Tomato Worms and Other Crazy Stuff in the Life of an Artist

Tomato Worm
GODZILLA in the Garden

I am not a veteran gardener.  I am sort of a half-hearted one, to be truthful.  I have had lots of support from friends and from the great folks from Stark Fresh, however, so I took on a new adventure this year, seeing as though I have a yard for the first time in a long time.

I had no idea of all the different things you have to worry about when gardening. And I certainly had no idea that GODZILLA would show up in my small little group of container gardens!

I had a little bit of fun, posting about this critter, now identified as a Tomato Hornworm, on my Facebook page. I got lots of comments. Some folks admired the 4″ long creature, but most, like me, considered him a monster.

Lets face it. He devoured the better part of my pepper plant in less than 2 hours. And to beat all, he just left parts of peppers hanging, as if going through someone else’s box of chocolates and leaving a bunch half eaten.

pepper remnants tomato worm

He was too big to smush, so, on the advise of some of my more genteel Facebook friends, I relocated him to the abandoned house across the street. Good riddance GODZILLA.

One less genteel friend suggested that I tear him in two. Ugh! I did not want to touch the thing, nor did I want to take the chance that it would haunt me in another life.

Others jokingly suggested that I move. And that brings me to what this post is REALLY about.

It is not because of GODZILLA in the Garden. But I do have to move. AGAIN.

If you follow me in social media, or if you follow this blog, you know that I moved to my present home in March of this year because of a great opportunity offered to me in an Artist Residency. It remains a great opportunity. But my home, it turns out, was not the best house to move into.

I won’t say much, as there may be legalities involved. It is, however a matter of public record that my home has been deemed unsafe for human occupation due to lead hazards by the Canton City Health Department. I therefore, must move.

I am currently in an urgent search for a new home within the boundaries of the neighborhood designated for my Artist Residency. It is not an easy search, as there are few rentals in the boundaries. That is part of what makes it an attractive neighborhood for development, ironically.

I have not wanted to post about this. I wanted to wait until the situation was resolved. It is just taking longer than I would have liked.

And I am not good with accepting things that stay unresolved for an inordinate amount of time.

This situation has affected me deeply, and is part of why I have not posted much on this blog of late. It is really hard to keep a positive face to the world when things are crumbling in the most basic arena of your life – your home.

And if I can’t be positive, I don’t want to write.

There will be much to write about this later when I can look back on it and say it was just another one of my adventures. I look forward to that day.  In the meantime, I am going to try harder to find the humor in the struggle, as I was able to do today with my GODZILLA in the Garden.

Wherever I move to, though, GODZILLA in the Garden is NOT welcome to follow.

Stay tuned…