“Under Purrresure”

If you have ever lived around cats you’ll find that their relationships between one another can be much like the relationships that we have amongst our family and friends.

After living with 4 cats for one full year, I was able to really study their behaviors amongst one another and I found it fascinating to see how closely related they are to us as humans in the way of their relationships. Many times I would find them getting annoyed with one another’s presence. One cat would want a friendship with the other cat but the other would not reciprocate the same feelings and the cat would express their emotions by hissing or swatting at the other cat. How many times have you not reciprocated the same feelings toward a peer or an acquaintance that wanted to be friends with you?

Through this drawing I wanted to illustrate the relationship that these two cats are exhibiting amongst each other. Having the bright light within the background gives a very mysterious, film noir vibe creating a very tense dramatic feel to the strained relationship amongst the two cats. Has anyone ever snuck behind you violating your space?

 “Morning Rrrrrush” was a pivotal changing point within my approach. Through this body of work I felt that clothing has an outward skin that both hides and reveals. I noticed my cat was standing in front of the mirror. When I drew the scene inside the mirror I wanted to present the cat in perfect detail including her own version of clothing – her stripes but outside the mirror you notice her stripes are not there. I wanted this to symbolize body image and how sometimes we may look in the mirror with no clothing or limited clothing and depending on how we wish things could be under the clothing we may see that version of ourselves through the mirror.