When Emma was here, we rented a car and took a trip around Skaraborg, the area between the two lakes in Västra Gotaland. One town we visited was Hjo, a little lakeside town that is over 600 years old.
As we were walking around the harbour, we noticed a sailboat with a red flag on it. Curious, we took a closer look, and realised that the boat was from Singapore! so of course I had to put Izaak on board.
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?
I have been having fun in the Facebook group “This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED” lately. These are older ones I did; this kitten was on a scratching post, so I put him somewhere more exciting. Namely, the top of the Pru during the World Series.
This beautiful black smoke needed a stage.
This cat’s name is Sushi, so…yeah. Blah blah low-hanging-fishcakes blah.
Zion was posing in a box. I don’t know why, exactly, but it seemed like he needed to be inside Herbie on the beach. I have more that I have done for that group; come back next Friday for more!
Ever since I did a family portrait of Izaak and his brothers Paulo and Keiko, I have wanted to do another one of the three.
I really wanted to do an old-timey Victorian-era type portrait, but I couldn’t find any backgrounds I liked…until I found this old photo of the Brooklyn Bridge when it was new.
I added some texture and lighting effects…
…merged the layers, added a little more texture, and here we are: the brothers in Brooklyn.
Our friend Kinsey posted this photo to the “This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED” facebook group and asked to have Paulo wearing a mask.
Welp. That was easy. Then I had an idea.
LOL why not, right?
But then I got the idea to put my Singapura mask on Paulo.
Pretty cute, eh? Then…Kinsey asked for Paulo to be dressed up in a tux for prom.
Considering I already have the perfect cat-sized tuxedo bib and tie, top hat, and cuffs with cufflinks…not a hard ask.
The shadows are already perfect, too. This was fun.
Our friend Kinsey shared some professional photos that were taken of Izaak’s brothers, Paulo and Keiko. I instantly knew what had to be done.
A family portrait, of course! Since all three boys came from Poland, I chose a Polish flag as my background.
Then I decided to set the scene…literally.
Finally, every portrait needs a frame, right? Can you tell who is who?
Remember back in January when I took I took those awesome winter photos of Izaak? Well, I was inspired when we were outside the other day; it was such a gorgeous, perfect spring day that I got an idea to put Zak in his tree and take some spring photos, and then take some more in the height of summer and autumn and make a four seasons thing.
Just one problem. On that outing, I was using my long lens, and the blossoms and sky were washed out and not nearly as bright as they actually were. I knew it when I took the photos. After I looked at them, I told Zak, “No worries. We can fix that in post.”
Because this is how the sky and blossoms really looked. But it’s a super-easy fix. Just cut out the washed out sky…
…add in the good background…
…brighten it up a bit, add a little blur, and…perfect! Stay tuned for summer!
The other day in This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED, someone posted this picture of Froot Loop and asked if anyone could give him a throne to sit on.
I could not resist. It’s silly, and it’s not really one of my best…but it made me laugh so I thought I would share it.
Well…I’m back. And yes, I actually did test positive for Covid-19. As did Björn and Kalle. My symptoms, oddly, were mainly stomach and intestinal, not lung-related. Not really what I was expecting at all. Of course, I really wasn’t expecting to get the virus at all, since I was following the rules my adopted country wouldn’t…but here we are. And I am pretty angry about it, too. Nobody wears a bloody mask in this country except me and I still get sodding Covid. Don’t get me started.
But, you know…this is a happy blog, about kitties and happy things, not anger at the way a nation has mishandling a worldwide pandemic…so…
Here is Dashiell in the office of Spade and Archer in San Francisco.
And here it is again, with a little extra noir added for good measure.
(PS: Covid-19 is no joke. Seriously, you don’t want to experience it.)
So, since I posted last week, Björn is still in the hospital (he may get out tomorrow), and I have tested positive for Covid. Despite having asthma, my lungs and breathing are remarkably all right; my biggest reaction has been in my gut. Nausea, a metallic taste in my mouth, and zero appetite. Since the last time I weighed myself (the last time I weighed the cats), I have lost 5kg (11lbs). Hey, every cloud has a silver lining, right? Anyway, the other night at about 4am, I had this brilliant idea for a 1950’s-style weight-loss ad…it doesn’t include a cat, but it’s a pretty decent Photoshop if I do say so myself.
2021 seems to be defining itself as the Year of the Meme. First, we had Bernie Sanders and his mittens, and then, last week, we had , an enormous container carrier ship the size of the Empire State Building stuck in the Suez Canal, blocking all other carriers and stopping roughly 10% of global trade. So, of course, “Boaty McStuck-Face” launched a fleet of silly memes. Of course, I had to make one…and a cat sitting on top of a bunch of boxes with the ubiquitous “If I fits I sits” caption. I posted this in the Facebook group This Cat is PHOTOSHOPPED, and so far it’s had almost 2,000 (!) reactions.
And then, I did this. Because of course I did.
I added the cats to the Cheetas at Boräs Djurparken. Of course, Lorelai running in their enclosure was a no-brainer.
Of course, when we saw the Cheetahs, they weren’t running at all…they were mostly just lounging around. Which Alfred, in particular, excels at.
The origin of the Singapura breed is not without controversy. While some people say that the breed occurred naturally, on the island nation of Singapore, others believe the breed is a deliberate hybrid. And it creates a bit of a rift in the Singapura community; not unlike, say, mask-wearing, both factions can be rather…attached to their viewpoints.
Where do I land on the subject? I have been following Singapuras since I first learned about the breed in the early 1980’s. I even wrote a letter to Tommy Meadows, the founder of the breed when I was in high school (and which I wish I could find, because I’m sure I have it somewhere), even though I have only recently joined the Singa community, I have a lot of book knowledge about the breed. So, I lean towards the Burmese/Aby hybrid theory.
This is not without a lot of though, so let me explain: First point: Tommy Meadow’s cattery name, USAF, is attached to both Abys and Singas; she worked with both breeds. She also had Burmese (haven’t been able to figure out if she bred them, too). She imported some cats when she moved from Texas to Singapore, and these were listed as Burmese and “brown Abyssinians” on the import manifest.
Second point: Singapore is an island, and, like mosts cats native to islands (Japan, the Isle of Man), the majority of Singapore street cats have some sort of tail deformation. Singas occasionally have tail deformation, but no more so than appear in other breeds (Siamese, for example). Of course, some long tailed Singapore street cats may have been used in breeding programmes, but that’s quite a bit different from an actual native breed (In Japan, you see feral cats that look almost exactly like purebred Japanese Bobtails).
Third point: Singapore was a British possession colonized in the early 1800’s. Given the British interest in exotic cats from foreign lands (Siamese, Burmese, and particularly the Abyssinian, purported to have been brought back from soldiers after the Abyssinian Wars) and the increasing Victorian interest in creating purebred animals and the Fancy, if the Singapura really was a native breed running around Singapore, don’t you think the British would have jumped on them and exported them back to England they way they did with other cat breeds?
At the end of the day, this is just my opinion. I know there is a romance in the “party line,” but honestly, so what if they ARE a Burmese/Aby hybrid? What’s so awful about that? Ocicats are Aby/Siamese/American Shorthairs, and that’s okay. Pointed Persians (Once the Himalayan breed) are Persians bred with Siamese. Burmillas are Chinchilla Persians bred with European Burmese. That’s all okay. You believe the origin story you feel most comfortable with.
All of this backstory has a point: Last week, I got the newest issue of Kattliv, featuring the (European) Burmese. I was struck by how much some of the photos reminded me of Singas, and I got an idea. I took a photo of Jacoby, and a photo of Butters, the cream EuroBurm we met at a show in Groton.
First, I reduced opacity on Jake and softened some edges.
Then I did the same with Butters, and erased his eyes.
Then I superimposed the two layers, and added a Sepia (of course) photo filter. But the eyes still just weren’t quite right.
So, I made a layer with Izaak’s eyes, reduced their opacity, and added a green photo filter.
And…Voilà! Okay, so it doesn’t look exactly like a Singapura…but it looks like it could be a computer-generated witness-descibed wanted poster image of a Singa.
At cat shows, judges have complemented Izaak’s “perfect reindeer coat colour.”
The other day, I woke up with the idea to do this.
Apparently, posting about the big cats at Borås Djurparken inspires me with Photoshop ideas. I woke up this morning with this idea, based on the time Alfred climbed up a tree. Because of course Freddy would fight a Lynx for food.
I was working on more of the photos from Borås Djurparken today and had an idea…
I know it’s been a while, but I literally woke up with this idea in my head…and here it is.
There’s a famous photo of Socks Clinton sitting at the Resolute Desk. After four long years of no pets in the White House, the Bidens have brought their two dogs to live with them. They are also bringing Winston the cat.
Apparently, Winston hasn’t moved in yet, so I thought Alfred could keep his seat warm for him.
The best thing to come out of the Presidential Inauguration on Wednesday (apart from the obvious, of course), was this image of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in full-on New England winter gear, including mittens made from recycled materials by one of his constituents. The minute the cameras turned on Bernie, Twitter and the internet went berserk (in a good way).
When I saw Bernie, the first thing I thought of was Logan in his coat. I thought maybe Bernie just needed some company at the Inauguration.
But then I realised that the real meme is more about putting Bernie in places, including practically any place on Earth. So…Here’s Bernie sitting in my front yard, watching Jacoby and Olaf.
Bernie loves him some Social Democracy, but maybe Sweden’s a little too far away for him to commute from his day job. Better keep him in New England. He seems like he’d enjoy Rolling Bridge Park. And if you were wondering what Bernie’s reaction is to all this, Seth Myers asked him about that, and here’s what he had to say.
So, after the last two Wednesdays, there hasn’t been a whole lot to laugh about…but this meme resurrecting Smudge and the yelling woman, 2021-style, really did make me LOL. Just one thing bothered me about it…the crap Photoshopping. I knew I could do better.
Yep. I think that’s better. And, I learned a little bit more about painting realistic fur, touching up the “shaman’s” coyote-tail headdress.
The Daily Abyssinian...and Singapura 