Fall Photos with Skinny McGhee

No words needed....cuteness abounds :).

Always in your heart....

A dear friend of mine lost one of her beloved kitties last week very unexpectedly. I wanted to create a happy memorial to him illustrating that our precious pets always remain in our hearts. The joy and love they bring never dies.....

I. LOVE. CATS.

On Friday, I had to pick up a sick old tomcat, now named Mr. Ed, at one of the trailer parks where I TNR. The wonderful feral colony caretaker, Regina, found him huddled on her doorstep Wednesday night and brought him in. We were both very anxious and worried about him, but the good news is that he should be ok after some meds and TLC. And hopefully, we can get him neutered in two weeks once he is stronger. So, while I was there chatting outside with Regina, I looked up and saw what has to be the funniest thing EVER!!! Her voluptuous indoor cat, Maggie, had squished herself down between the back of the sofa and the window. I was crying laughing and hooting and hollering like a lunatic over this scene. Regina said that she does it all the time and sometimes falls asleep like that. Absolutely hilarious. It looks like she is levitating. And she just keep blinking at me as if to say, "what is wrong with you lady and why are you laughing at ME?" I can never say it enough. I. LOVE. CATS.

A Purrfect Trio

Here are 3 of my current foster babies helping me cook dinner. The adult tuxedo boy is Freddie Patterson. I bailed him out of animal control twice after a man trapped him while trying to trap raccoons in an area where I had TNRed in the spring. Needless to say, I am so glad he is safe now. Freddie is THE most awesome cat. The big black kitten is Pepe (le Pew). We trapped him at a trailer park where we were TNRing in June. He was sick and tiny and needed some TLC. Pepe is a lovebug and weighs 8 lbs now...whopper kitten!! And the little black and white girl is Minnie Mouse. She was dumped with some other kittens at a Wendy's :(. These cuties are full of purrsonality and joy and ready for adoption!

Smiling Cat Illustrations now in my shop!

Hip Hip Hooray! I just added 10 new original Smiling Cat illustrations to my Etsy shop! Hope you enjoy them....happy cats for everyone :).

World Spay Day

It's WORLD SPAY DAY today!!! Spay your cat, your dog, the strays you are feeding...any cat or dog you can get your hands on :). Or donate to a spay/neuter program at your local shelter. Just spay it forward if your pets are already snipped.

What is the best way to make a cat smile???

A few more smiling cats....

Just wanted to share a few more illustrations.... I think I am getting into a groove with this. More cat chat coming soon! We are hoping to TNR another feral cat colony this week. In the meantime, I'll be illlustrating as much as I can. This goal is to complete one a day. Better get crackin'!

Wishing you all.....

...a purrfectly Happy Valentine's Day!!!! xoxoxo

Princess Goldilocks

Yet another cat in need of a loving home. Goldilocks was abandoned into a feral colony at a Golden Corral right near the Kroger colony that I have been telling you about. She just cried and cried...sooo sad. My dear friend, Carla, was finally able to trap her and get her to safety. I went over to her house a few days ago to see her and take some photos so that we can start trying to find her a permanent home. Goldie is so sweet and friendly. She ran up to me as soon as I arrived and let me hug her and give her chin scratches. Carla says that she defintely wants to be the queen of her domain because she does not like other cats at all. Goldie wants a person all to herself. She has been spayed and vaccinated and is all ready for her next adventure.

Can you say fluffalicious?





This one cracks me up...she was OVER the photo shoot :).

It should be illegal to be this cute!

My Punkamunk in her favorite tummy washing position on the couch pillow....CUTE overload. Happy Thursday everyone!

Cat adventures in Atlanta and a little artistic inspiration....

Audrey, Charlene and I made it to Atlanta last week safe and sound. The drive down there always stresses me out a little bit because I worry about my precious cargo. But they did great....napped most of the way and settled in well at Good Mews. I visited with all of the GM kitties and caught up with one of the wonderful volunteers. As I've said many times before, I LOVE that place and wish that every city had a no kill shelter like Good Mews!!

Christopher...a totally adorable 3-legged Good Mews kitty.



Freddie...cutest boy ever and a GM volunteer favorite!



After I left there, I went to my dear friend's apartment to spend the night AND help her trap some feral cats she has been feeding since she moved in there in June. She has been a bit terrified of the whole trapping process, so I knew that I had to get her started and help ease her fears. We easily trapped one of the girls and two of the boys and got them all spayed/neutered and vaccinated the next day. She was very afraid that they would be mad at her, but I told her that once feral cats are back in familiar territory they are so happy and quickly forget about their "snipping" :)! Sure enough, one of the boys even escorted her back to her apartment the next day after feeding time and gave her extra leg rubs. She has 2 more females and 3 more males left to TNR, so paws crossed that she will get them all taken care of before spring arrives. (I totally forgot to take photos of her colony...darn!! Sorry!)

In between all of the cat transporting/trapping/transporting, etc., we did manage to hit a few fun Atlanta shops! I went craaaazy over the new Johnathan Adler store that has opened up in Midtown near my old loft apartment. (oh to think if we still lived there, I could walk there every day!!!) It was amaaaazing...so vibrant and whimsical...a jolt of decorating joy! And, of course, we had to check out the new Anthropologie as well. As always, I could spend hours in there. They had the coolest display that has put me on the hunt for clear plastic spoons (I want to try to find recycled ones).

This quote should be my mantra. LOVE it.



A very expensive lounge and ottoman that I will be dreaming about....



Endless wonderfully whimsical ceramics...



Fantastically fun kid's room...



Flower/snowflake pendants made from spoons at Anthro. I WILL be making a few of these to hang from our celing.

Uncle Cracker

Some of you are probably wondering if I am ever going to show you any artwork again. It may be awhile, but I promise it is on the horizon. I will explain later. In the meantime, thank you for checking in for the non-stop cat chat :).

It is time to introduce the beloved Uncle Cracker! I trapped this handsome boy at the Kroger parking lot back in late October for the TNR clinic. He went through the program and had already been neutered. In fact, the doctor said that he had been neutered so young that she thought he was a female. Uncle stayed with us for a few days and then we had to put him back out with the Kroger colony. I can't express how much I HATED to do that knowing how tame he was once he got indoors and felt safe. I cried my eyes out the whole way to Kroger that night. I just had zero adoption prospects at the time and Good Mews was not taking in any new cats.

We continued to feed him and the others, and then last week, when some changes occurred at the Kroger lot, I knew I had to get him out of there for good. People had been dumping trash...tires, mattresses, all kinds of mess...behind the empty Kroger and the owner of the property finally put an end to it by cleaning it up and posting "No Dumping" and "No Trespassing" signs along with surveillance cameras. They also threw away our covered feeding stations and bowls. I was extremely worried about Uncle, so we tried to trap him the following night with no luck. There wasn't a sign of him anywhere. When I returned the next day, a policeman was camped out behind the building. I snuck some food into an inconspicuous spot and decided to return the next day with a fellow cat rescuer/trapper friend of mine. Long story short, we managed to trap dear Uncle Cracker! He was meowing like crazy and seemed incredibly happy to be in the backseat of my car. When I got home, he practically leaped out of the trap and into my arms. He has been snoozing comfortably in our "foster" bathroom for the past few days.

I took him to the vet to be combo tested (negative, thank goodness!) and asked them to also check for a microchip since he had clearly been neutered at such a young age. I had the suspicion that he could have been adopted from Lexington Humane. Sure enough, he had a microchip. That has NEVER happened in my 6 years of rescuing cats. We have called the owner's number several times and left messages, but he hasn't returned our calls which honestly doesn't surprise me. The address of his owner's home is about 2.5 miles from the Kroger, so who knows how he ended up there. Doesn't matter now because he is safe and sound with me and hopefully we will find him a loving home soon or he can go to Good Mews in Atlanta eventually.

I am actually driving to Atlanta on Monday to take Audrey Hepburn and Charlene Gingerbean to Good Mews. As always, I am thrilled and incredibly grateful that GM is willing to take them in! I know they will get wonderful homes quickly once they are there. For those of you who are new to my blog, Good Mews is an AMAZING no kill, cage free cat shelter. I can't say enough good things about them. Check out their website if you get a chance. www.goodmews.org

So, here is the huggable and ever so loveable Uncle Cracker! Can you believe those eyes???? He may have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.

In memory of our precious Teeny....

I can't believe I haven't posted a thing since December 1!!! Yikes! Well, December was a rough month in many ways for us, so I wasn't quite myself. I promise to get back on track very soon. I have lots of cat stories to share and some great photos to brighten your days.

I just wanted to dedicate this post to our beloved Teeny girl. We adopted Teeny from the Atlanta Humane Society when she was 6 weeks old. That was almost 15 years ago. She was our very first kitty....the one who started all of this cat craziness. We loved her so very much. We found out right after Thanksgiving that she was dying of cancer. On December 20, we knew it was time to let her go. It was an extremely sad day, and we miss her terribly. Here are a few photos of her over the years....

Audrey Hepburn...a furry brunette beauty in need of a home!

Meet Audrey (as in Hepburn). She is a PRECIOUS girl who was living under some bushes in an empty Kroger parking lot. A friend of mine and I were feeding her and are still feeding several other sweet, stray cats there. We are DYING to get them all out of there and find homes for them!! Audrey finally hopped in my car last weekend and rode home on my lap making biscuits and purring the whole way. She is a purrfectly wonderful cat. She loves to sit right on your chest and sleep. PLEASE let me know if anyone can give her a good home!!!! I will drive many hours to get her to a truly loving place. She is approximately 5 years old and has already gotten basic vet care (physical exam, combo testing, deworming and flea treatment), and I will take care of her vaccinations and confirmation that she has been spayed soon. The doctor shaved her tummy and there appears to be a spay scar.

Audrey in her bed ON the bed in her own private suite :).


Here she is after exploring downstairs and meeting our other cats. She got in bed with my husband and crawled onto his chest to help him read research papers. What a loving AND intelligent girl!

Purring among the pumpkins....

Here is Chumbawumba aka the Rumba Ball enjoying the straw nest under the pumpkins in my antique wheelbarrow. Can you believe this precious girl survived on dumpster scraps for years while transporting kittens up and down the streets of our neighborhood? That is what one of my neighbors told me. When we moved in 3 years ago, we put food out on the front porch for her and her 2 little orange sons and the rest is history. We TNRed them all and now she spends lots of time in our bed though she still insists on going on outside adventures. I worry about her, but she refuses to be a full time indoor kitty. Who could resist a sunny, 70 degree fall day among the pumpkins???

Kitten and Cherries...

Yay!!! Just finished up the last one (for now). I'll be delivering these to Cradle Will Rock tomorrow...paws crossed that the owner likes them and that the customers like them even more :)!
This one is my personal favorite. Never would have guessed that the kitten one would be my top pick, right??!

Love that Tubbs

I was flipping through my photos of our Mr. Tubbs and realized that without a doubt, he provides us with the funniest photo opps. I think he is the main reason that people frequently drive by our house and point and laugh! Mr. Tubbs aka Grubbs aka Rub-a-Dub showed up here over a year ago. He was quite plump then and has retained his full figure.....lots of kitty to love! He is such a character....a real live Puss in Boots.

Me, "I love you so so much, Mr. Tubbs!" Mr Tubbs, "Put me down, you crazy lady!"



Airing out on a summer day....



With his girlfriend, Natasha and best buddy, Rudy...



A familiar scene in the evening....bathing after dinner on the front steps.



Not very modest....



And my favorite, "The Rubber Chicken"....

Getting back on track....

Shoowee! Haven't visited blogland in way too long! July was a bit busy for us with a family reunion in New York and a week at the beach in North Carolina. And I have had some cat "stuff" going on too. It seems like I haven't been able to get myself back to the art table for any significant amount of time for quite awhile. But I did just finish a fun mixed media children's painting, a very gleeful purple kitty! I am taking a teeny break from sculpting to work on more paintings. I also thought I'd share a few new home decorating projects. Check 'em out below!

I had been wanting to spruce up our staircase, so I finally decided to wallpaper the fronts of the steps. I really love how it turned out.



My friend, Jennifer Higgins, makes wonderful wooden swings. I have wanted one for awhile, but we don't have any large trees in our yard. Well, why not have one in the house? I wanted a polka dotted one with a circus-y feel and an inspirational word lettered on it. "Curiouser" from Alice in Wonderland seemed like the perfect word for our house :). I LOVE it!! If you'd like to see more of Jennifer's work, check out her Etsy shop: Metamorphosis



...and I've been dying to hang a branch from the ceiling, so we did that too! I still need to add butterflies, birds and a nest. I may decorate it seasonally. It' getting curiouser and curiouser....and thank goodness my husband is tolerant and supportive of my decorating craziness!!