On the art of the minimalist, slightly bonkers black cat...

I have a black cat in my life. He's called Bear, and he is without question, the most affectionate, unbothered feline I have ever had in my life. He flops, flips, makes all the air biscuits the most popular bakery could ever wish for, gives eye kisses like they're going out of fashion, and accommodates more belly rubs than any cat I've ever known.

I've always had cats in my life - other than a few pockets of time, like being at uni, there's always been a fuzzy presence at my feet. Honestly can't imagine being without one for any significant time. And every one of them has had such a distinct personality it's always been easy to see them as a naturally-occurring member of the fam.

Bear and his brother Badger came to us in September 2020, during that seemingly interminable time of lockdown. After being vetted online, we got to a car park at the Cats Protection League adoption centre, stood in a yellow box in the car park, masked up, handed over our cat carrier, had it filled with two nervous three month old mittens, and headed home. The rest is FLIPPIN AWESOME HISTORY.

It was a bit of a no brainer that these bois were going to start featuring in my work, given how hard and fast I fell utterly in love with both of them. Badger has featured less, but he's naturally much less of a show off than his cheekier, slinkier, more in-yer-face bro. I will be remedying that though, and have plans to make many more Badger Cat goodies. The big dumb beaut deserves it.

In the meantime, Bear has become the star of the show. Black cats are so iconic, and in some weird pockets of the world, have a pretty bad rep (which I've never ever understood). But a shiny black snoot, jet black whiskers, and fully black toebeans an awesome kitty do make. Also makes for a really fun thing to doodle, being a monochrome void on the screen of my iPad with absolutely bonkers huge lime green eyes staring maniacally out from it. WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?

He also twists himself into some really entertaining shapes, so while being minimal in his sheer total perfect blackness, his wiggly bendy limbs and swooshy tail make for interesting accessories. One of the very best bendy shapes he does is that thing when he pretends to be a scarf, attempts strangulation by fluff on me, and gets away with it because he's so friggen cute.

I actually love making him look very much NOT like an anatomically correct beastie - because half the time he doesn't really look very anatomically correct. So a void of deepest black with the world's brightest eyes and most mischievous danger peets is what you get. I adore him, and I hope you do to.

Tell me about your cats - what about them grabbed your heart, what are their weirdest habits...I wanna know it all <3

Till next time, big love.

Rach x