Aby-a-Day – 31 Juli: Emma Hellqvist is in the house! (Swedish Sunday)

Björn’s daughter Emma is visiting us this weekend! She’s here for her birthday, which was last Friday, but as Björn’s holiday started today, here’s here from today until Wednesday morning.

Tonight, we had options for dinner, and Emma chose ribs.

So, we had ribs.

And when we had finished, we let the cats gnaw the meat of said ribs.

Emma doesn’t have a cat at home in Stockholm, so she was quite amused to watch the feeding frenzy that ensued.

After the cats had their ribs, Emma had her cake.

She also mentioned that she didn’t like wearing a mask, so I gave her my two cat-face masks. I mean, if you don’t like wearing a mask, it’s easier to wear a fun one, amirite?

Aby-a-Day – 30 Juli: Memories of Logan and Alfred together (Friday Flashback)

Facebook reminded me yesterday of Logan and Alfred, my brothers from another mother.

I had kind of forgotten what scamps they were! They used to get into everything when they were kittens.

Like Logan “helping” me in the laundry room.

And he put himself in that drawer-basket himself.

I’m not sure who the instigator of this little foray to the top of the bookshelf.

It was probably Freddy, although Logan was no slouch when it came to getting up and down from high places. Much better than Izaak ever was.

Then one day, I went into the bathroom and found…Freddy in one of our storage baskets.

Still not sure how he managed to get up there without knocking off any of my Catzillas!

He definitely looks very proud of himself.

Aby-a-Day – 29 Juli: “And what is a foam after all, but a big collection of bubbles?” (Thursday Things)

Björn is working on a project, and he needed a piece of foam. He’s working on the project in the living room, and he set the foam down on his laptop and books.

Of course, Izaak had to investigate this new and fascinating object in his territory.

He tried to walk on it or sit on it, but it was unstable and kept teeter-tottering. I admit, it: I laughed at him a little.

“What?”

“I would greatly appreciate you not judging me.”

Zak then spent a great deal of time examining the situation. He seemed determined to conquer the foam.

Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain. Zak ended up settling for sitting next to the piece of foam.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Aby-a-Day – 28 Juli: Wordless Wednesday (Sometimes, Izaak just stares at me for no reason)

Aby-a-Day – 27 Juli: Marlin’s BBQ completed (Cartoon Tuesday)

Last week, I posted my latest NEMO art project, Marlin eating a fabulous spread of BBQ. Last week, I had gotten as far as the sketch. This week, I finished it, starting, of course, with the ink.

Then, underneath the ink, I laid down the undercolour.

Over the ink, I painted the fur.

Here are the undercolour and fur layers together.

And here’s the completed Marlin.

That was as far as I could get in Procreate. But I almo needed to create a pattern for the bib. I found an image of a New England-style lobster/clam bake bib. It had anchors on it, but I replaced them with Nemo fish. I know, subtle, and I was probably overthinking it, but it’s the little details that make good art.

Then, also in Photoshop, I added details to Marlin’s eyes, silverware, whiskers, and the creases on his bib. You can see them in this close-up.

And here’s the completed Marlin! I am pretty pleased about how it turned out…even though it’s probably going to be printed in greyscale on the catalog cover.

Of course, I also save the video of the inking and colouring in Procreate. Click the image to watch it in a separate windo on Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 26 Juli: A lucky find at the second-hand store (Miniature Monday Memory)

Facebook reminded me that five years ago today, I found a perfect Lisa Larson cat at the second-hand store. It was a great score; I paid 350kr (about $40 USD now…so probably even less five years ago)…and someone on Etsy is asking 1475kr (about $170 USD)!

I was particularly thrilled because this was the one vintage cat from the Lilla Zoo collection I didn’t have. I had the others; the tall sitting cat that Björn sent me when I lived in Boston.

I also had the little curled up cat…times three! So, five years ago today was an excellent day; thank you Facebook for this memory.

Aby-a-Day – 25 Juli: Lunch with the movers (Swedish Sunday)

Five years ago this week, the movers brought my things from Boston.

Swedes take their lunch breaks very seriously. Right at noon, they all stopped and sat down to eat their lunches at our table. Of course, Jacoby had to join them – always the gracious host.

The movers were bemused, but charmed, by Jake’s curious and friendly manner. That’s the thing I remember most about that day.

Aby-a-Day – 24 Juli: Alfred is NOT a morning feline (Swedish Saturday)

Do you hate mornings?

Alfred is definitely not a fan.

I caught him NOT getting out of bed the other morning.

Freddy’s face is a whole mood. I get it, Freddy.

Aby-a-Day – 23 Juli: Still even more fun with PHOTOSHOPPED cats (Photoshop Friday)

I have been having more fun in the Facebook group This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED. This cat, Oreo*s, human wanted Oreo in a scary situation, I can’t think of anything scarier than this.

Poor Oreo is SHOOK.

This cat’s name is Blaarg, but I channeled his inner Karen.

Arnie was shocked by what he saw on the laptop; I just gave him something to REALLY be stunned about.

These two were either yelling or singing. I chose singing. Too bad these cats’ human is a Yankee fan (sorry, not sorry).

Then we have Atilla as Tim the Enchanter from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. So, here we are.

Finally, these cats’ human wanted then in a more interesting bed…what’s more interesting than Monica’s race car bed?

Aby-a-Day – 22 Juli: I think Angel secretly likes him (Thursday Things)

This is starting to be a regular thing.

Angel’s napping in a bed…

…and Izaak decides he just has to be there, too.

But look at Angel’s body language.

She seems totes okay with his intrusion!

It’s kind of funny, because she’s never really been much of a social cuddler. She did sleep with Jacoby when he was young, but that stopped as he matured. Of course Singapuras never take no for an answer, so maybe she’s just given up. Himbs doin a heckin assimilate. No resistance. So much futile.

Aby-a-Day – 21 Juli: Wordless Wednesday (I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I feel like I’m intruding)

Aby-a-Day – 20 Juli: Another NEMO project (Cartoon Tuesday)

Yesterday, Iris asked me for a Marlin drawing for the cover of the catalog for our show next year. I didn’t want to do yet another version of Marlin grilling; I wanted to do something new.

I thought about it a little bit, and, because the big theme this year is the outdoor barbecue dinner on Saturday night. So, I got the idea to do a sort of 1950’s-style guy eating at a table laden with barbecued meat, holding up a knife and fork with a napkin ties around his neck-

This is Marlin with the table of meat I found; it’s from an early 60’s Andy Griffith’s BBQ Sauce ad. I modified it in Photoshop and I may do more with it. Marlin’s feet won’t be in the final drawing; it will cut off at the bottom edge of the table, but I wanted to draw a complete Marlin in case I want to use some of the layers in another project later on. I also have a really fun idea of something to put on the bib. Stay tuned.

Here’s the video of my preliminary sketches in Procreate; click on the image to watch it in a new tab on Flickr.

Aby-a-Day – 19 Juli: Another trip to the veternarian (Medical Hipstamatic Monday)

Today, Angel had a follow-up visit to the vet to check on her eye

This is Angel at the bus stop. It’s a two-bus, half hour trip to the vet…sigh. If I was still in Boston, my vet would be on the first floor. But I digress.

Angel’s a pretty good traveler, except she tends to yell a lot.

When we got to the exam room. Angel was not sure she wanted to leave her carrier.

Angel had some spicy commentary about having to be at the vet at all.

Still, overall, Angel was pretty calm. Until Dr. Brigetta came in. Then stuff got real.

First, Angel got some eyedrops.

Angel had had ENOUGH long before Dr. Brigitta was finished examining her. Angel got several eyetests, including one that measured how many tears she produced in a measured time period. That one was actually pretty cool.

She still has vascularisation in her eye and will need another course of eyedrops. Awesome. Wow.

When the examination was finished, Angel got treatos.

Angel got all the treatos.

Then, we were homeward bound.

This is on the bus ride home.

Angel walked part of the way home, but she kept wanting to go into the bushes.

I am glad she was on a leash…Extracting cats from bushes is a pain.

At the end of the day, Angel was more than ready to go home. And yes, she also knows where she lives.

Aby-a-Day – 18 Juli: My sweet summer child (Swedish Singapura Sunday)

You may recall, I have been working on a Four Seasons of Izaak project and a couple of weeks ago I took some Summer photos.

I wasn’t completely happy with them compared to the Winter and Spring photos.

Also, the tree looks more “summery” now than it did last month because now, the cherries are ripening.

So, when we went outside yesterday, I put Zak up in his tree and took some more photos.

Just like last time, he climbed up the branch, used it like a scratching post, and tried to eat the lichen.

Zak is pretty good at moving around up in the branches.

I think he really enjoys his tree time.

In the end, this shot is the one I’ll use as Summer in the project. And, like the Spring photo, I may have touched it up a teensy bit in Photoshop…but only three layers, no big deal.

Aby-a-Day – 17 Juli: A curious series of events (Serious Saturday)

Okay. Today was…weird. Strange. Mysterious. And not a little bit scary. It has many layers to it. It starts earlier this week, when I bought a used tricycle.

Since Covid, my balance is a bit off and my Dutch bike is getting harder to ride, especially when I am carrying things. But good tricycles are expensive, and cheap ones are…unpredictable. I’d been looking on a Swedish used item selling website, but there was nothing. Then, on Wednesday, I happened to check it again…and there was one listed, in Skövde, for only 2900 kr (about $300 USD – wicked cheap). The trike had been put up the day before, so it really was serendipity. He delivered it Thursday. It’s going to take a bit of practice to get the hand of riding it (bicycles and tricycles handle very differently) and it needs some lights and reflectors.

Another point: Björn is away on a weekend gaming trip, since everyone is vaccinated. Last night, I was on my own, so I ordered those lights and reflectors on Amazon.se. As part of this shopping, I went out twice after sunset to look at the trike to see what I needed and where I could mount things. When I went out, I got a lot of mosquito bites. I also ran into my upstairs neighbours, who told me they were going on a trip in the morning (this becomes important later). I fell asleep watching Hamilton, woke up at 4am, and went to bed. Woke up at 10, itching like crazy, and took some Benedryl. I was reading in the bedroom (it’s cooler there during the day than in the living room) and the Benedryl made me doze off. When I woke up, it was almost 4pm.

Which meant the cats’ breakfast was late. I immediately went to feed them. Izaak and Lorelai weren’t around, but that’s actually kind of normal for them; Zak has been hiding from me when I feed him, especially in the morning because he doesn’t want to be shut up in the bedroom, and Rory likes to hang out on the balcony and eats later.

But it was bothering me. Afternoons, Rory sleeps on the end of the sofa, and Zak eventually comes out of hiding. Kalle and I searched the house; I had started a load of laundry and thought they might be shut in there, but they weren’t. Now I was getting worried. I started thinking they might be outside, but how? They didn’t get out when I went outside last night, because they were here for dinner. Around 5:30pm, I went outside, both to look for them and also to see if I could put the tail light back on the trike. As soon as I got to the trike, Zak appeared, yelling a blue streak!

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? WHY WAS I OUTSIDE? WHERE WERE YOU!?” And I couldn’t answer that, because I have no idea. But that means Rory was probably outside, too. I put Zak back inside and Kalle and I scoured the område. Kalle suggested we check with the Anderssons, and I told him they’d gone on a trip this morning. We looked everywhere, but couldn’t find her…but it occurred to me that late afternoon is Rory’s nap time. WHen I messaged Björn about it, he thought she might be napping under some bushes in one of her favourite spots, like near the sandbox. So, we decided to wait for an hour and try again. Kalle mentioned that the door wasn’t locked when he went shopping; he had forgotten that until after we searched. Alfred, as you know, can open the front door if it’s not locked, and when the Anderssons load their car, they block the door open. Kalle and I started theorising: The door somehow was left unlocked (I don’t remember NOT locking it, but I don’t remember actually locking it, either) and Freddy opened it. Zak, Rory and Freddy go out in the hallway, and the front door is open because of the neighbours’ trip. The Anderssons see Freddy and put him inside, but they don’t see the other two. I also knew no one had found her; she’s pretty well known in the område and all the children know her by name. She has two ID tags and nobody had called or checked the Blanket ID site.

Kalle suggested taking Zak with us when we went out to look for Rory, and I had been thinking the same thing. So, Zak and I go out to find Rory and Kalle was still getting ready…but there Rory was, right at the door, waiting to be let in! I have no idea when they got out, how long they’d been out, where they went…nothing. Just our theory of events, at least until the Anderssons get home. But, this shows that taking them outside often and in all seasons is a VERY good thing, because they know where they live. A lot of indoor cats don’t learn that, so if they do escape, they are easily disoriented and don’t know how to get home.

Epilouge: The Anderssons didn’t see the cats this morning. I just messaged Oksana, and she didn’t see Freddy, Zak or Rory this morning. The mystery continues. So much for all that CSI I’ve watched in my life.

Aby-a-Day – 16 Juli: Yet more fun with PHOTOSHOPPED cats (Photoshop Friday)

Time for more of my Photoshopped cats. Above is Rocky, and I thought he looked a bit like a seal.

One look at Dwight, and Björn suggested I do this.

Bella was wearing goggles, and her human wanted her to look like Amelia Earhart. All righty then.

I don’t remember this guy’s name, but the first thing I thought of was the “I am king of the world!” scene from Titanic.

Some suggested that Batty should be running from Indiana Jones’ boulder. Happy to oblige.

Later on, I had another idea…please, think of the kittens!

Noodle like to sit like this, apparently. I thought he looked like a prince in need of a kiss.

Rosie is missing an eye, like Angel. So I gave her one of Angel’s googly eyes.

Fridays are “Free for all” species posting, and someone posted a nest of barn swallows. I immediately thought of this. Hey, I already had the “MINE?” speech bubbles!

This cat had a flour tortilla on her head. I could not resist.

Gilbert was leaning on a mirrored sliding closet door…so we have Octopussy!

And finally, another seal, this time with Sugar doin a heckin sploot. I like this one better than the first one.

Aby-a-Day – 15 Juli: Snuggly Freddy (Thursday Things)

I know some of these photos today are a bit blurry, but I wanted to share them anyway because this is so Alfred’s personality.

Freddy loves to cuddle between us when we’re sitting on the sofa watching television.

He especially likes to lay up against my bare legs when I’m wearing a skirt. It’s kind of sweet to see him next to Jacoby.

It’s not the most fun when it’s almost 30°C, but it is cute.

For some reason, he also likes to touch peets.

I am not sure what this is, however.

Aby-a-Day – 14 Juli: Wordless Wednesday (Beggers can’t be choosers)

Aby-a-Day – 13 Juli: Izaak as Baby Tuk Tuk (Cartoon Tuesday)

Two weeks ago, I posted my drawing of Lorelai as Sisu the last dragon. Well, there’s another creature, sort of an armadillio/pillbug/hedgehog mashup called Tuk Tuk. And in one of the early scenes where he’s a baby, he reacts to a cat in a way that really reminded me of Izaak. this is the first sketch; I liked it so much I was almost going to keep it as the outline, and skip the inking stage.

But I did the ink anyway, just to see how it looked. As it happens, it came out even better than the sketch did!

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Next, I filled in the base colours, underneath the ink.

Which looks like this when finished.

Then, over the ink, I did the shell and fur textures. This is just the textures…

…this is with ink…

…and finally, with the undercolour.

Add some whiskers and eyeshine, and we’re ready to go into Photoshop.

I added the hand and the background there, along with a bit more eye details. But there was one more thing I wanted to do.

Finally, I added some lighting effects. I really like the way this one turned out!

And here’s a video of the Procreate process, which you can watch in Flickr. There are a LOT of layers on this one – fifteen in total!

Aby-a-Day – 12 Juli: Don’t let the cat out of the bag (Hipstamatic Monday)

Yesterday, we took some recycling out to the bins, and of course the cats came with us. Which, of course, drew the kids in like a magnet.

This one little boy, who we’ve seen outside as long as we’ve been taking the cats out, loves the cats…

…but his love tends to involve happy shrieks and picking them up. Alfred and Izaak generally get enough love and prudently run away and hide in the bushes. But Lorelai on her leash is a captive audience for his attention.

It’s funny. This boy loves the cats, but is also a little afraid of them. I don’t know what he thinks is going to happen or what he thinks Rory is going to do.

Eventually Rory went into one of our recycling bags. This fascinated the boy.

It also brought a little girl to look at Rory in a bag.

They had a pretty good time playing with the bag, Rory and the kids. It was cute to watch.