Some cats are born models. Others not so much.

Princey is a very beautiful cat, but he always knows when he's being sketched or painted, and tries to help by lying down on the paper, as if to add verisimilitude.

This is why most paintings I make of Princey are minimalist--I load a brush with paint and paint him all in one gesture, before he has a chance to come lie down. Someday I will get an easel, and then he won't know what to do with himself.

Cricket, our pewter cat, is fully aware that she is beautiful, and knows when she is being painted, but she considers it a silly thing to paint her when I could be holding and petting her instead, and always makes this very clear.

Jingles, who looks like a Kliban cat come to life, hasn't outgrown her need to drink the paint water and wrestle the paintbrushes out of my hand.

The only true model in the house, is Akane, our little tuxedo cat. All the cats know a painting of a cat when they see it, but only Akane really understands the significance. Like Yum Yum, she is not shy. She firmly believes that she is the most beautiful creature on earth, and that it is very important that her image be preserved for posterity. She will pose for photos, sketches, paintings, all with great professionalism and aplomb.

She lets me know when it's time to paint her. Jealous of a painting I was doing tonight of some baby foxes, Akane began to pose for me until I had to set aside the other painting and begin one of her.

She was very patient with me. She stayed absolutely still until I had got the curves of her stance down, looking over her shoulder at the paper to watch me trace the fur of her back. Her little back muscles rippled slightly, as if being petted, but she held her pose. She watched me sketch in her face and the position of her head. Tired then, she crouched, still keeping her face at the same angle. She supervised my drawing of her face, and my sketching in where to put the lights and darks.

She did all this with the expression of someone who demanded perfection and would brook no carelessness. At last satisfied that her likeness would be produced exactly according to her instructions, she came over, sniffed the paper, noted her corrections, and then curled up for a well-deserved nap.

It never ceases to amaze me that the cats always recognize their own portraits. They also recognize one another's pictures. I was doing Akane from a photo once, and Princey looked from the picture to Akane, back and forth, as if trying to figure out how it was that Akane could be flat and inside the paper, and also sitting across the room.

When he watches Akane pose, he usually tries to pose, too. I think he gets a bit jealous. But he would never dream of lying down on a picture of HER.

Akane rules the house with an inspired madness somewhere in the midway between Queen Victoria and Granny Clampett, and there will simply be no nonsense from boys like Princey while she is in charge.

Akane treated this portrait with special interest and attention. It was as if she had some particular idea in mind for it. I believe she intends it as a gift to my husband, who is her oldest and biggest fan. The others, she informs me, were never quite up to snuff, but this one will do nicely.

*PS. Akane would like it known that she only drank the paint water afterwards for very important artistic reasons, and not because of the squid ink. Posing under those hot lights is very thirsty work.

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Edited by titannia at 01/13/2007 6:06 AM