"Over the weekend, I picked up sweaters for "Memory Mitten" orders from persons who had recently lost loved ones...I walked away from each meeting with the "chills." After listening to each of their heartfelt stories, I felt completely overcome with God's hands on my work!" (Kathleen King, Gladstone, Michigan) I have never met Kathleen personally but I learned of her labors of love through my son Paul who with his family has known Kathleen for many years. I was so stirred by her inspiring work that I wanted to share it with all of you! This is Kathleen's story, in her own words: "One day while at work, I overheard a co-worker talking about how her mother-in-law was busy making mittens out of old sweaters. My mother and I had just talked about what she should do with a box of my father's sweaters...he had passed away five years earlier and I had suggested she donate them to St. Vincent de Paul...winter was coming and someone in need could use them. I was in an instant panic! Hopefully my mother still had the sweaters and had not followed my advice! I called her right away and, to my relief, she still had them! Over the next month, I went on an emotional, heartfelt mitten-making journey. Everyone was coming to my house for Christmas and I was going to give them each a memorable gift of mittens made from our loving father's sweaters. The thought brought tears to my eyes. It would be a gift that I would put my heart into. On Christmas day after a huge holiday feast and lots of goodies, we sat relaxing by the beautifully lit Christmas tree, music playing in the background and a feeling of contentment of being together. It was the perfect time to retrieve the basket full of wrapped gifts. They slowly opened their gifts and, although I was tearful, I was also very excited! Tears, laughter, and awe were just some of the emotions I saw around the room. My mom put her mittens on and cupped her face with them—tears in her eyes, yet joy, too. I will never forget that look!The making of Memory Mittens for my family sparked a passion in me to create custom mittens for others. If I could bring joy to someone else by creating Memory Mittens out of their loved one's sweaters, as I did for my family, what could be better? I take creating these mittens very seriously. People are entrusting me with a prized possession from someone they have dearly loved. Each pair of mittens is made with tender love and care in hopes of giving them a heart and hand-warming keepsake." (Please take time to visit Kathleen's Memory Mittens website! You can also click HERE to see more of her completed mittens!) UPDATE 11/4/09: Kathleen's website is currently under reconstruction but will be ready for viewing soon. In the meantime, you can contact her directly at email: [email protected].

I love it, I hope you too, Let it be an inspiration

Animal characters can be fun and cute, or they can act as 'social mirrors' and allegories. An exploration of how to include an animal character in your own fiction.

A century ago illustrator Louis Wain was a household name. Who was the man behind the cat drawings?

1889, Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, (1859-1923)

The bats are out tonight. I don’t know why, or I’m just not saying. I keep going back to a scene in which a young man breaks down over a crib. I keep going back to a scene where a girl …

Explore Ωméga *'s 4130 photos on Flickr!

Emile Munier - A Special Moment Lucius Rossi - In the boudoir Pierre Carrier-Belleuse - Young Ballerina holding a Black Cat John White Alexander - The Green Dress Иван Крамской - Девушка с кошкой (Портрет Ольги Крамской) Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Sleeping Girl Henri Matisse - Girl with A Black Cat…

Louis Wain 1860-1939 The First Cat Illustrator Louis Wain cat art work has been digitized from the original chromolithographs. You have several different choices on print production. See Below Acid Free Paper(Card Stock). Please contact us with requests for Print on Demand cat items. Such as T Shirts, Coffee Cups Phone Cases etc. Louis Wain was one of the most popular commercial illustrators in the history of England. Born in 1860, his anthropomorphic portrayals of cats captured the imagination of the Edwardian era and his work helped to elevate the profile and popularity of our feline friends to unprecedented heights. Before Wain, cats in England were often thought of with contempt but his work humanised them and helped to show them as something to be liked, admired and even loved. His illustrations were so popular that throughout the beginning of the twentieth-century most homes had at least one of his famous cat annuals and many nurseries had Wain posters hanging on their walls. “He made the cat his own” H.G. Wells once remarked. “He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world.” Today his work continues to attract interest but his legacy is based more on his struggles with mental health than the work that he created. While never officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, many people believe that he suffered from this condition and some have argued that his later drawings demonstrate his psychotic deterioration. While this is certainly a fascinating aspect of his work, it is only one part of a greater story and we should be careful to not allow it over-shadow the fascinating work he created during his lifetime. Surprisingly, Wain never started out wanting to be a cat illustrator. Early on in his career, he had felt that nobody would take him seriously if he just drew pictures of cats and so his initial ambition was to be a press artist. In his early years, he specialised in drawing animals and country scenes and had work published in several journals including the popular Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. It wasn’t until 1884, when Wain was twenty-four, that he sold his first drawing of a cat to The Illustrated London News. Two years after this he got his first real taste of success when he was commissioned to illustrate a children’s book for Macmillan called Madame Tabby's Establishment (pictured above). Written by Caroline Hughes (under the pen-name Kari), his illustrations seem a lot more traditional and sober when compared to his later work. Yet even in these early examples, we can see signs of his ability to give a cat a personality and a playful nature.

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Provides resources for self-study for animation professionals, students, educators and researchers.

Tabitha and her four kittens,from "The Tabitha stories", written by A.N. Wilson and illustrated by Sarah Fox-Davies.

1948.

Here are some beautiful illustrations from J. C. Leyendecker, the man responsible for creating the Arrow Collar Man and over 400 magazine covers from 1896-1950. The peak of his career was in the 1920s, and he would become a chief source of inspiration for (and friend of) Norman Rockwell. Unlike the other artists we've featured so far, there is considerably more information available on Leyendecker. I just used his Wikipedia page for the brief little introduction above. I just love this one! Love this! Such pretty colors and scene and dress and a dapper fella. Actually, I have yet to see a Leyendecker guy that isn't dapper. Ok, it seems Leyendecker painted jester-esque images more than the average person. And I love it. Who would think scenes with jesters could be so whimsical and romantic? Apparently Leyendecker saw a way to make that possible. Le sigh. Mhmm. Leyendecker knew how to paint handsome men just as well as beautiful women. Another favorite! Such a cute scene. And you can totally see where Rockwell was drawing his inspiration from. I think this one is great - it doesn't grab your eye due to beautiful colors or a lavishly romantic scene, but it made me look for a while, trying to figure out what was going on. You can view the scene in so many different ways! Another great one. This one also seems to be a good example of where Rockwell was influenced, in both the style and the sense of humor. He is also really good at using dramatic lighting. Not just here, but in many of the above. - Emily

According to “Things Japanese” by Basil Hall Chamberlain, first published in 1890, a cat (neko) is a nickname colloquially applied to the youngest and most attractive singing-girls (geisha), the reason being that they bewitch men with their artful ways, like magic cats with several long tails (nekomata), while young courtesans (oiran) are called foxes (kitsune) for much the same reason. (Entry on ‘cats’ page 86)

So, despite the withering sprays of snark dispensed by both John and myself, the GOPers in the House went off and advanced their defense of crab-bucket environmental destruction. Yup, the liberty train rolled into town today in the form of a voice vote in the House to block funding for the enforcement of the formerly …

Fight striped cat Art Board Print/ DRUNK CATS AND ANIMAL PRINTS/ Cat Poster/ Bellacustom

William Stephen Coleman - The goldfish bowl

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