The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, July 2017
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An Anniversary

I received some new equipment and materials and haven't finished the learning curve so I don't have anything new right now. That makes this a perfect time to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the arrival of Mimi and the Fantastic Four in July 2007, and all the events leading up to their arrival. I'll be so excited to bring you the things I'm creating now, at the beginning of August. I do have a special and a few features for you this month, so enjoy a little reading about Mimi and Lucy and me, and some timely topics of health and welfare as well as a few new book covers I've designed and illustrated.

Even though I created this painting in 2013, I chose to feature it again this year for a special anniversary. This July is ten years since we lost Lucy after losing my four oldest cats in one year, ten years since I saw Mimi in my garden on that very day, nearly in this very spot, very pregnant with the four big black cats you see on The Creative Cat every day, hunting for chipmunks to feed herself and her growing kittens, the day all our lives changed.

Here she is now, and she owns that garden, napping happily while working as an artist’s model. No more hunting to feed kittens, no more running from unneutered male cats and neighbor’s dogs, no more mincing down icy sidewalks on those tiny paws. Mimi turns 15 this year and July 29, the day she came here, is her nominal birthday; those four wonderful housepanthers will be 10 years old. While I celebrate her every day I especially want to recognize this anniversary. Of all the art and photos I’ve created of her, this one represents her change in status best of all.

It’s also one of my favorite paintings ever. As I’d said when I’d originally posted it, I’d planned something different but came up with this. What was I expecting in the five minutes or less that Mimi actually napped here and the 15 minutes total I had to do the sketch before the sun moved enough to change the shadows?

This artwork is both this month's desktop calendar and one of the choices for a free print when you register for an account on Portraits of Animals. Visit The Creative Cat to read more about this artwork and download your desktop calendar.

A New Member Thank You

You can get get a free matted print when you register for an account on Portraits of Animals.

Register for an account on Portraits of Animals and get a free double-matted print of Garden Sketch With Mimi or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.

This New Member print is a signed double-matted 5″ x 7″ digital print of “Garden Sketch with Mimi”. This print is 5″ x 7″ and is double matted to fit an 8″ x 10″ frame with white top mat and red bottom mat.

This print is only available as a new member gift during this month while it’s the featured artwork and desktop calendar, so make sure you sign up before the end of the month!

This Month's Special

Artwork and Merchandise featuring "Garden Sketch With Mimi"
25% OFF for Mimi's 10th Anniversary!
You can always find Garden Sketch with Mimi in the listing on Portraits of Animals. And because this painting is so popular, you can also find her as a greeting card, a gift bag, a garden flag and plenty of other items like coasters, wooden tiles, wall plaques, chalkboards and more which are often one of a kind.
Use code MIMIS10THANNIVERSARY.
A Little More About Mimi and Lucy, and Me
Read more about Mimi and the day our lives changed from Mimi’s perspective, and from mine.
Rescue Story: They Rescued Me

As a person who’s rescued and fostered cats and kittens for about 30 years I’ve also seen my own share of loss, both in sending fosters off to good and loving adoptive homes and in the losses of cats I’d rescued who were too ill or injured to save, and the losses of the cats who came to share my life. Loss is a part of living with animals.

At one point in my life I lost too many precious friends too close together, old, young, unexpected, the remainder of my cats were seniors and I was sure their losses were imminent. I wasn’t sure I could face it, and I was afraid I’d pull away from them to avoid the potential pain, and never rescue another cat again. Obviously, I did not. Read the story.

Mimi, Mewsing

I first posted this on July 11, 2011 when I saw Mimi in quiet contemplation at the front window. What would she be thinking about? It was one day after the fourth anniversary of losing Lucy, the day I saw Mimi once again in my garden, hunting, drinking from the water bowl, and once again carrying kittens, and decided I had to bring her in, for Lucy, for me. I had watched her struggle outside and only been able to help the other cats who lived at her house up to then. It was her turn.

. . . . . . .

Something about the light today brings back a memory…something about the time before I came here.

How long have I been here? It seems like forever, but I know it hasn’t been because I lived out there, out in the street I’m looking at, out there in all kinds of weather with noisy cars and kids after me, and I had all those babies…

That’s it, this time seven years ago I was pregnant again. Which litter? I don’t remember…Read the story.

Once You Were a Stranger

On finding a roll of film photos I'd taken of Lucy when I had been experimenting with a lens, I was inspired to write a brief poem.

Once you were a stranger who filled my hand.
Now you are a memory who fills my heart.

Remembering Lucy.

Original poem, “Once You Were a Stranger” © 2016 Bernadette E. Kazmarski

. . . . . . .

She was here, and so quickly gone.

Read more about Lucy.

Articles
Independence Day For Our Animal Companions, Not So Fun

The American Humane Association reports that July 5 is the busiest day at animal shelters, caring for all the pets who simply ran in fright during fireworks the night before, but last year the ASPCA did some research on that statement and found it’s not necessarily true. "Now, that is not to say that pets do not panic and run off during fireworks–just that it is not a major reason folks identified.” The holiday has many other real dangers aside from fireworks, though, like foods and decorations and open doors from people spending more time outside. Don’t forget about your pets when preparing for any home event, or when July storms arrive. Read more.

Your Indoor-only Cat Got Out the Door!

You may see your cat escape or you may realize you haven’t seen your cat around the house in a while, but suddenly you are panicked that your beloved kitty may have escaped the house and you can’t focus on what to do first or next or after that to bring kitty back home safely. This article covers methods for finding an indoor-only cat who has escaped your home, but also has information on lost or displaced cat behavior in general. Read more.
Awards and Features
Featured Artwork: New Klepto Cat Book Cover, “A Christmas to Purr About”
Patricia Fry’s Klepto Cat mystery number 22, A Christmas to Purr About, came around at the end of January so I had plenty of holiday decorations around to use as references, and as always I use my own cats as references, including fosters, and also friends' cats and dogs. You can read about this cover and others on The Creative Cat. Also, I'm very proud that for two years in a row, 2015 and 2016, my illustrations for the Klepto Cat Mysteries have won Certificates of Excellence in the Cat Writers’ Association’s annual communications contest.

"Of Starfish and Kittens" Reprinted in PetConnections Magazine
All those cats and kittens needing rescue right now are the many starfish that litter the beach. ...You can read it in the May/June 2017 Volume 5, Issue 5 of PetConnections Magazine where the entire magazine can be read on the website or you can read it on The Creative Cat.

Order Your July Sampler Box Now

I typically ship the current month's sampler box during the second week of the month so you are just in time to order this one.

Mimi models the July 2016 Feline Sampler Box contents

Contents

I relied pretty heavily on cards to get my images to you last year, in part because I couldn't get enough variety and quantity of handmade goods done in time. This year I'll be cutting back on one or two cards and adding a small extra gift item or two along with the premium gift item that is always included only in sampler boxes when it's first introduced.

Sign up for your Sampler Box, or for a subscription to three boxes.

Each sampler box is only $35.00 or a three box subscription is $90.00. It's a great way to get things for yourself or to use as gifts or even donation items. Go to Sampler Box Program to read more about the my Sampler Boxes from 2016. You can also order a previous box, like the July 2016 Sampler Box, above.

Rescues

Adopted! Silver Goes Home!

We're still shaking our heads and saying we wish all the rescues and adoptions were this easy. Peg fostered Silver—and had a very hard time not completely falling for him—and of course her neighbor and friend Denise, caretaker of two wonderful long-haired ginger cats, stopped over to visit too. Denise just happened to tell her son Tyrell who had mentioned he might want to adopt a cat.

Not only was Silver one of the easiest adoptions ever, he was also one of the easiest rescues ever. He wanted a new forever home! Read about Silver's rescue here, and read about his adoption here

Rescue Story: Toussaint and Petite Fleur, in Memory of Mlle.

If you've followed The Creative Cat for any length of time you are familiar with the florid correspondence between my Giuseppe Verdi, famous American opera star and his French-Canadian amour, Mlle. Daisy Emerald Marguerite. The correspondence lasted from 2011 until April this year when Mlle., at age 18, finally succumbed to nine years of battling diabetes.

This left her person with no felines at all, but through a chance conversation she was able to rescue two senior Siamese siblings from a hoarding situation, though at the time she had no idea how bad that was.They were malnourished and traumatized, but in six weeks have opened up and learned to trust and ask for love. Read more.
July Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar:
Garden Sketch With Mimi

Even at 15, Mimi is the Purrfect Model
This Month's Special

Artwork and Merchandise featuring "Garden Sketch With Mimi"
25% OFF for Mimi's 10th Anniversary!
You can always find Garden Sketch with Mimi in the listing on Portraits of Animals. And because this painting is so popular, you can also find her as a greeting card, a gift bag, a garden flag and plenty of other items like coasters, wooden tiles, wall plaques, chalkboards and more which are often one of a kind.
Use code MIMIS10THANNIVERSARY.

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