Cats & Dogs Scratchin'

I know this blog is all about the cats, but some of us are cat & dog folks so I thought I'd pass this info along to y'all. The above are two of the four limited edition posters of the Dog Scratchin' book dogs. I just launched on this project on kickstarter, so please take a look and share with friends and folks who might be interested. If it's successful I will do the same or something similar with the Cat Scratchin' book cats.
Click here to see the project: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547701634/dog-scratchin-limited-edition-posters-for-your-wal
Oh yeah, by the way, I am done scratchin' the 74 cats and am down to FIVE more stories to collect and edit.(herding cats and all) Then, everything gets formatted, the art gets scanned and cleaned up for print, the story page photos are tagged and it goes to the designer around the middle of next month. If things go well, we should be ahead of schedule. I'll keep y'all posted on that. Many of the smaller rewards were shipped this past week...ahead of schedule. I love that. Thanks for looking!

Kickstarter Rewards For Cat Scratchin' Project Are Here!

The above are the hand-colored postcards (Rocky) and greeting card (Maggie) rewards for the kickstarter project. So, if you funded at below $50.00 I will be contacting you for your mailing address soon. I'm pretty excited about these. Well, I'm excited about all of it.
Here's the other news, while sorting through archives of my dear friend and poet/editor, Miller Williams, I found a cat poem he had written, that he forgot about. It was written in the 1960's and it's perfect for the book. He has given me permission to use it, and that's made me very happy. I had been sweating a little about this, okay, maybe a lot. I didn't have a poem, and he thought he didn't have one, and so I was just going to forget about it. Or try and write one myself. Whew, problem solved, I can breathe now. The other problems, which are vexing me; there are still a few stories to round up. At least I have all of the photos I needed to draw from. Come on people, you know who you are. There is no prize for being the last one to get your cats story to me.

Cat Scratchin' Deadline and Such...

This is today's drawing table boards. The rest are stashed away in a plastic tub, already scanned into the laptop, and waiting to join their stories and owner's photos next month, when I turn everything over to the book designer. That being said, I am still wrangling a few cats/stories/photos. But with 74 total cats in the book, I'm only missing two to draw, and 8-9 stories to edit.  The photos that go on the story page are the least of my worries (but I am missing quite a few of these, so send them damn it).  I'm pretty happy today. I've done or am in the middle of doing the last of 72 drawings...since March. Not bad. I'm also about to launch a limited edition poster project on kickstarter using the artwork from the Dog Scratchin' book, and I'm pretty excited about that. If it is successful I will definitely do something like that with the Cat Scratchin' images.
My message to y'all today is; please get the stories to me, and any other photos or information I need. Today is the deadline, but of course I will stretch it...just a bit.
When July 10th rolls around if I have nothing or am lacking info from y'all it'll be too bad, so sad. Really, this is it. I can not hold up the book when so many have been so good at responding quickly. Bad kitty, bad!

I gotcher Cat Magnets Right Here!

Last night I made a bunch of these magnets with Tilly, one of the cats from Cat Scratchin'.  Love them!  Last year I out-sourced the manufacture of the magnets for the Dog Scratchin' book. They were ok, but these are better, heavier, and ta-dah~ hand-made. I actually love the process, I've been making different magnets from my artwork for several years and so I've gotten better/quicker at the assembling. The book is moving right along. Many of you have responded with your stories, and photos, or both. Having the stories and additional photos really helps me in the drawing process. In fact, there will be some new art pieces for some of these kitties because I now know more about them and that informs my interpretation onto scratchboard.
There are still a few that I'm waiting for. If I know cats and people I expect some of you may wait until the last moment before June 15th. That's ok. I understand. It doesn't thrill me, but I understand. This is going to be a really great book, I'm thankful for all y'all's participation. Those who read this blog who are not going to have their cat/s in the book? I do take on commissions and I think I'm very reasonable in price so give me a holler.

Calling Cats/Herding Cats

Well, I hate to do this, but I've been working my scratchin' fingers to the bone and there are still a few cats out there for me to draw so I'm going to start callin' y'all out. I also am lacking many stories for cats that I've drawn (thanks for sending the photos in a timely way).  The above page is a spoof (thanks to Catherine Bass for the idea last night) of what your spot in the book could potentially look like; no story, no owner photo, and a generic outlined cat. Is this what you want? You paid me money, and I aim to please all or most of you...so here's the deal, I will give you until June 15th to send the items I need from you. I hate to be harsh (because I'm not...) but to put it in simple terms, I will have to pull you and your cat from the book if I do not receive the items outstanding from you (and some of you owe me photo, cat name, story, uh, everything) by that date, period. And, sorry, no refunds.  I have drawn over 60 cats, and I'm so happy about that. Those who haven't sent this stuff, (you know who you are) and for one reason or another you keep putting it off, don't worry, I'm not mad, I'm just desperate because I must finish so the book can go to print.
Here are the cats and what I need from each: And please, if you've sent me these things already and I've missed it, or lost it in my email files, please tell me. I would love to be wrong about the following list.
Al-Story and Owner Photo 
Boo-Story and Owner Photo 
Finn-Story and Owner Photo
Fiona-Story and Owner Photo
Frank-Photo to draw from, Story, and Owner Photo 
Hunter-Story and Owner Photo
Itty-Story and Owner Photo 
Knievel-Story and Owner Photo
 Lana-Story and Owner Photo
Lilsagarde-Story and Owner Photo
 Miles-Story and Owner Photo 
Mr. Boots-Story and Owner Photo
 Sam-Story and Owner Photo
Sebastian-Story and Owner Photo
Smokey-Story and Owner Photo 
Sweet Pea-Story and Owner Photo 
Sydney-Story and Owner Photo
Varla-Photo, Story and Owner Photo
Zoe-Story and Owner Photo
+ Aaron who owes me everything including the cat's name.