Cool for Cats

Louis Wain is a fascinating character; an illustrator, born on the 5th of August, 1863, who drew cats obsessively.  His work featured in picture books, newspapers, magazines, comic strips, adds, etc.  He was thought to have been schizophrenic but may have been undiagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome.  His studies of cats were anthropomorphic, occasionally a little chocolate box at the start of his career but his later work was, at times, psychedelic.  He fell out of favour after his Victorian/Edwardian heyday but was rediscovered in the 1930's thanks to the efforts of H.G. Wells.  Personal intervention by the Prime Minister saw him relocated from the paupers ward of a mental hospital to a pleasant facility with gardens and colonies of cats, where his interest in drawing was reawakened and he saw out his days.  If he had a guardian angel (apart from his friends in high places) it must surely have had whiskers.....  Contemporary collectors of his works include Nick Cave and Tracey Emin.  

Muppet Cabaret

It's no secret that I love the late, great Bob Fosse as a dancer, choreographer and director.  When I was in high school I decided to make this poster.  I didn't want to make a portrait of Joel Grey, who played the M.C. in the film, but the man in the poster bore an unfortunate (and completely accidental) resemblance to my school principle......So, this didn't make it into  my end of year show for my art class!

It's no secret that I also love The Muppets.  Who knew two of my favourite things could be combined so brilliantly?  And yet, here they are!

And here's how the same scene played in the actual film:

Same Cat Time - Same Cat Channel

This is Treacle.  Most of the time she spends her days mooching about the place, making a fair bit of noise...

Every now and then she takes a turn for the worse....

It's because the stress of her secret job gets to her....

Fighting evil is a tough job....

But somebody's got to do it...

That somebody is none other than Treacle B. Puddin'....

And here's something very cool: the Batman theme toon and Lego!

Boy with Attitude

After Mike TV finally got to realize his dream of actually being on (in) tv, the Oompa Loompas performed summed up the situation in this way:

Little Old Lady and Sofia Petrillo

Here's something I've been working on lately: a drawing of a little old lady.  I've a sneaking suspicion she might be a little dotty.....

Here's another little old lady.  Occasionally dotty.  Always fierce; in the conventional sense and the Tyra Banks sense.  Sofia Petrillo from The Golden Girls - singing!

Doodle Birds and Charley Bowers

I began to doodle something one day - I had no clear idea of what I wanted to draw; I was just putting lines on the page.  One bird emerged, then another.  I didn't used to work spontaneously - I used to sit down with a project in mind and work out a study in pencil then when I was satisfied with that I would begin to add ink and acrylic and work for hours and hours.  I like to work this way too.  Sometimes it's good to fill a page and then sift through it afterwards - sometimes there's a nice surprise when you're finished - a little character who's been evading you so far has just turned up out of the blue.  One of those "oh, there you are!" moments. 

Here's a short stop motion film by Charley Bowers from 1930.

Bram!

I was intending to post this before midnight....but here it is now; a quick sketch of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.  It was the centenary of his death ( or not - author of books about the undead and all that....) yesterday.  In all the photographs I saw of him he looked a bit shifty or nervous, as if he was worried everyone would figure out his books weren't all that..... Or, more likely, that he'd forgotten to iron Henry Irving's newspapers and now the great man was going to have inky fingers and shout at him.. I get the feeling he was the Waylon Smithers in the relationship.

Here's a clip from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.  I'd definitely go to this musical...