Sunday, November 2, 2008

Mountain Trip Paintings - #5 and #6

Two more paintings from the mountain trip. Cats are always on my mind in some way and I've almost always lived with cats. So I wasn't surprised when this emerged. It took me a while to get the contrast the way I wanted it. In our house it's impossible to work with certain materials downstairs. As the poem The Rumtumtugger Cat says, in T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats "... there's nothing he enjoys like a horrible muddle."

The blue bull is another thing entirely - I have had a few run-ins with bulls, and I like to cross fences and get in the midst of cows, but I don't do it often... So I don't know where he came from.



>>>> Appendix de Grenouille <<<<

Most children have not the strength to be friends with a child who looks strange or is without savoir faire. For many adults this remains impossible. But is it not true, perhaps, that the most generous and interesting people are often joined differently to the world, and their view is not as the rest of us? They are happy or sad for different reasons, reasons that can teach. We have much to learn while we are here, and much to enjoy and share. If we stay in only familiar circles, and stay away from the most unusual possibilities, how much will we have missed?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I really like the blue bull. I don't mess with cattle ;-) but I do collect images of fine art bulls (and roosters and cats and even fish). Would it be too much to ask if I could borrow this image for one of my animals in art posts? I would, of course, link to your website and to Sweet Tooth.

Steve Emery said...

Pagan, I would be honored. Please help yourself.

L'Adelaide said...

Steve, this post moved me to tears...I think you may know why...your appreciation of that which is different about others is that which we most learn from...it speaks to me since I have always been the different one..so of course, it moved me....

I also loved the bull and since I live with the beasts beating down my well-placed fence, yours was most realistically rendered!

Anonymous said...

I absolutely adore the expression on the cat's face. I have seen that look and responded to it with kisses, no matter how close I come to getting nipped.

susan said...

One summer my husband and I worked on a 2000 piece puzzle. Our cat, who was jealous, waited her opportunity whenever the door was opened for more than a few seconds. Then she'd run down the hall toward us and skid on the puzzle pieces.

Steve Emery said...

Linda - thank you for sharing your feelings so openly. I'm moved that my words meant that much. I deeply feel what Grenouille said - and I'm sorry to this day about some childhood friends that were a bit too different for me, sometimes, and how I would stay away from them then. We live and learn (hopefully). And I'm glad you approve of the bull's reality - I wanted to make him heavy and potent, exaggerating those things somewhat. But I've seen some big Charolais that gave me the same feeling as this guy.

DCup - bad kitties are so much fun - and I can easily picture you kissing them ("Hey! I'm throwing a serious fit here - being serious mean and ferocious!")

Susan - Our current cats have a knack for getting right on top of whatever we're doing - I've always said they like to soak up the attention from our eyes. But we don't have any who deliberately mess up our things because they're ticked that we're excluding them. They mess up our things, but not with that much intent.