Steve and the neighbours

This post has two ‘prologues’:

The first is over 20 years ago, when we were living in mid-Mesa, AZ.  We had a trio of cats.  The first was Kliban, the result of a shameful mesalliance between a noble Siamese Queen and a charming rogue of an Alley Cat.  Kliban was a lovely light red and cream tabby cat, with the delicate face of a Siamese, oh, and the voice.  Well to be honest, he was all Siamese, except for the markings.  To anyone that didn’t know Kliban he was an utter terror, to the fortunate few who were accepted into Kliban’s ‘family’ he was utterly devoted, adoring, and protective.

When our niece, Kryssi, was born we were concerned about how Kliban would react.  He stared for the longest time at the tiny, blanket-wrapped bundle before he moved close enough to smell.  He finally crept close enough to identify the bundle as a human kitten, and not just any kitten, one of ‘his’ human’s kittens!

From that moment on he was the human kitten’s knight-errant.  He defended, groomed, and listened to the baby, when he heard the hungry or dirty cries he would run in search of the nearest member of his family to take care of the baby.

At the same time, Kliban had a couple of cat buddies that lived with us, Boynton and Steve.  Boynton was a long-coated grey tabby that had appeared at the door one day, and moved in as soon as the door was opened.

Steve, like Kliban, belonged to a neighbour to start with, but he chose us over his first home.  Steve was a snow-white short-coated cat with slanted yellow eyes; he was also about half the size as a normal cat.  Boynton was normal-sized and Kliban, well Kliban weighed about 35 pounds (2 stone plus!).

Steve first met us when his human, Y____, brought him over when he visited, Steve found our home so relaxing that he would go home as a limp scrap of white fur, draped over Y___’s arm like a towel over the arm of a waiter in a fine restaurant.  Y___ would look down at his kitten and say, “Steve!  What will the neighbours think??”

The second one is much more recent, last Christmas as a matter of fact.  Mum was given a 2010 Kitten-A-Day Calendar, and she has torn the pages off one-by-one.  I found one of the pages on the floor and it looked like Steve, and was draped over a roll on a cat tree.  I picked it up, began to laugh, and ran for Matt’s room.

I was so excited that I dropped the picture facedown on the floor.  Matt was leery so I picked it up, got it set right, and proudly displayed it while chanting, “Steve!  What will the neighbours think??”

Matt was completely delighted, with it, so I scanned the pic, and started playing with it in PSP.

I added the mask below…

So I then had this image to work with.

At which time, I reduced the size of the image, and renamed the image.  I also added the words I wanted to be a part of the finished product.  I used the font ‘Magneto’ and matched the colours to the colours I had used for the backgrounds I wanted to use.

I made my first background layer by opening a blank page in PSP, flood filling with the yellow from Steve’s eyes.  I then added another mask to the 1^st background.

For the base I used the background below:

The second layer was another blank image, this one was flood filled with a green from the background of the Steve image.

I then added a third mask to the green layer.

I resized it to fit the composition I had in mind.

I then assembled all the images into the composition I wanted, the font provided some needed motion to what was otherwise a rather static image.

I resized the entire image to a more manageable size.

And what was the first name I added to the tag??

Gypsy Camp

This post inspiration came from Call of the Gypsy on the 2005 Advent Calendar:  http://bit.ly/a7aGAB

Yesterday morning, as I was plodding around my apt while the coffee was brewing, I decided to take a quiet meditative moment to sit and listen to my inner artist/child.   I have to admit, I almost regretted it because boy, did she give me an ear full. Most of it can be summed up as, “I want to do more, more! Now!”

Another complaint was that I didn’t have a specific space for my musings. I’ve organized but I have really “claimed” a spot and given it any artistic flourish. While searching through SFC, this one seemed to speak to me.

Here are some of the suggested activities I am going to try:

-Wear something colorful: Since I started working in an office, my wardrobe is pretty bland. I’m lucky in that I can dress casual but even that isn’t really fun or colorful. The clothes I wear when I create are even worse;  drab black workout pants and an over-sized black t-shirt.  When I work with clay, I don’t want to ruin nice clothes but there’s no reason why I couldn’t wear more fun stuff when I write.

-Create your own Gypsy hideaway:  This suggestion instantly sparked my imagination.  My computer is next to the couch & if I could say any space was mine, it would be that. So, I started thinking, why couldn’t I do something with it? My first thought was that I could move the two-shelf end table to hold my monitor & put my most used writing books/supplies to keep handy . Another thought was I could add  comfy pillows and decorative throws.  I have an artistic calendar just sitting in my closet, why couldn’t I move it to the blank wall next to couch?  Little things really and it wouldn’t even require I spend a lot of money so I have no excuse.

-Excite your imagination with a pack of tarot cards or a crystal ball:  I have a box set of Celtic Shaman Cards but I haven’t used them much. I dug around until I found them and I forgot how much fun they are.

-Live like a gypsy without leaving home:  I bought several boxes of herbal tea and downloaded some of the suggested gypsy music to my mp3 player to listen to while I write.  I can’t really camp out but I could spend more time on my back porch once it warms up.

To say I was excited would be an understatement.  I’ve been so focused on the “mechanical” side of writing; organizing, setting schedules, refreshing my memory of the rules of grammar & literary terms and so on.  I’ve been neglecting the fun and telling myself I’d worry about that later.

It seemed practical but I’ve felt so blah lately when I tried doing anything creative and no wonder! I was reminded that while it’s important to work on those practical things, I cannot neglect what really starts my creative gears turning: fun, whimsy and being unafraid to veer off the trail.