Celebrating 10 Years With My Muse ;)

Cat lovers often joke about a mysterious “cat distribution system” that delivers felines to you at precisely the right moment…but I am convinced that clever felines have, in fact, invented just that. Ten years ago this week, my husband and I were having dinner out on the screened porch. A sleek black cat crossed our backyard, walked across the terrace and announced that he was home (and hungry!).

Several cans of Friskies (and isolation from our other kitty until the vet visit), we discovered he was a perfectly healthy about-one-year-old cat. Clearly he had been well-cared for…but…it appeared that his first human’s performance had not been up to par and so he took it upon himself to find more suitable staff.

I knew that I would fall madly in love with Jackson, as we named him…but I never anticipated how much art he would inspire! Black cats indeed rule in this regard – without distraction of tabby striping, they become near-silhouettes in photos. (Oh, SO many photos…)

And so my obsession began: a piece depicting him that first day, photogenically posing in the creeping myrtle as shown above. He then began to show up, well, everywhere:

“On Chalburn Road,” 2016 (no, he did not really go on that walk with me ;))

“Cafe du Jacques,” 2017 (homage to vintage poster art)

“Saves the World Entire,” 2019 (tribute to vets and vet techs everywhere)

“On Chalburn Road,” 2021 (a re-imagining of the pond surrounding Edward Steichen’s home in our former hometown of Redding, CT)

“Theo et Vincent,” 2022 (the first in a 6 piece – so far! – series of cats in art history)

“Space Kitty,” 2022 (a celebration of some of the first images from the James Webb Telescope)

And…an ongoing series of Jackson’s House Quilts (14″ whimsical studies) 😉

Jackson was an awesome younger brother to sweet Jesse, and is an devoted older brother to our current orange cat Loki (for every play-fight there are hours snuggling together in one small cat bed) and a fearless playmate for our enthusiastic German Shepherd Dog Ziva.

Jackson, thank you for choosing US as your humans…for sleeping on my chest as I sleep at night…for being an awesome studio cat who is always near but never in the way (can you teach Loki?)…for your self-assured greeting of new friends. Your purr may be very quiet but your presence in my heart sings very loudly – I love you!