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touch with his feminine side and of maurice the french spaniel who bleaches his moustache but they also confess to not indulging in things we all thought were typical dog behavior i ve never told a soul this but i don t chase my tail can you believe that i really hate begging it s so bourgeois no it s not entirely what you think and you might actually find a few confessions that are well cat like i d rather be a cat the official better than dogs cat book from author s website now for the cats in cat confessions we discovered that even the things cats unapologetically confess to are clever and show superior intelligence and ability i d rather be a cat confirms that cats are still unapologetic about anything they choose to do and they really are the quieter more introspective species and much purrrr furrrrrr it that way it s true that when something s considered unattractive what do humans call it you got it a dog yes feline abilities are often used as analogies for speed agility cunning and dignity while dogs well you don t see many new car models or national sports teams named after dogs one could argue that the cats in question are usually big cats not domestic felines but a cat is a cat and that s that right and anyone knows that dogs are known for their annoying trait barking cats are recognized for the sweetest sound on earth purring really i ve never heard that barking can help heal anything but purring cats have been proved to purr at a frequency that actually facilitates healing some of the things cats have to say are truly profound as well cats are intuitive thinkers we weigh our options before we pounce if in fact we pounce at all the consensus cat or dog perhaps the dog would share if he lived with jelly bean while we confirmed what we knew that cats and dogs are clearly different we also found endearing similarities such as an attraction to human food and a propensity for simply being endearingly manipulative and while jelly bean agreed with the feline sentiments he found the dogs very interesting since he s never met one in the fur and paid close attention to what they had to say especially the pages where food was mentioned about allia and where to find the books allia zobel nolan is an internationally published award winning author of over 170 children s and adult trade titles with close to three million books in print and a long career in publishing as well as a fellow member of the cat writers association for more information about allia visit her website or her blog these books and others by allia are available in print at bookstores and also on amazon com barnes noble and directly from the publisher jelly bean would also like you to know that he is indeed a child star in one of allia s books the afore mentioned cat confessions read about that in an earlier book review the choice is surprisingly difficult so what is your vote i have a copy of each of these books only reviewed by myself and jelly bean as you see in the photos that i d love to give away to one of my readers please comment on this post with your vote cat or dog to be entered in the drawing and feel free to vote for both books you have from today march 10 to next saturday march 17 to cast your vote i ll write your name on a scrap of paper toss them all in the air and let them land and whichever one jelly bean sits on is the winner no probably i ll be a little more scientific than that but the drawing will no doubt involve little scraps of paper and jelly bean and even a few other members of my feline household i was provided review copies of these two books by the publisher and know the author personally though jelly bean has never met her all images and text used on this site are copyrighted to bernadette e kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used in any way without my written permission please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print or to use in a print or internet publication share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on reddit opens in new window reddit share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading creating with cats author and artist christine davis posted february 25 2012 author bernadette filed under animal artists and illustrators animal artwork book review books books about cats dogs and animals cats creating with cats dog pet loss tags animal art book review cats christine davis dogs forever paws illustrated book pet loss pet loss book pets 6 comments when you read an illustrated book do you ever study the illustrations and wonder about decisions the artist makes about medium technique style and even subject and what about the book s physical size and shape the whole little visual package in addition to the story that s in it often some or all of these decisions are assigned by an editor or art director working for a publisher who may have chosen an illustrator for their particular style or familiarity with the book s subject matter but when you are the writer illustrator editor art director publisher and marketing department shipping department receptionist and all else that goes into making a book all those decisions are made or at least begun with one person and so it is with chris davis who began with a story and a vision and ended up with a small publishing company to create print and distribute her stories just the way she wanted them while many people self publish today chris began her venture in 1997 and while chris said she d written and managed many and various things while in corporate america she d never attempted artwork of any sort but now she has to her credit five illustrated books featuring cats dogs and other animals author and illustrator christine davis a little background chris describes herself as a stubborn new yorker who is used to doing things her way as a fellow artist i understand this to mean that she has a clear vision of what she wants and of the best way to accomplish that in this case to tell her story and she will achieve that vision by whatever method it takes she actually began her working career while still in new york and bounced back and forth between gigs as a singer either solo with her piano or with a band and working temp jobs that required a very organized and detail oriented problem solver chris s studio with molly while christine grew up in new york she has lived in portland or for the past 35 years after following her muse across the country to such varied places as tucson az and denver co to see where to best to live out her dream of living in and working with nature and all the creatures there since 1991 in a house built on a quarter acre wooded hillside her studio is in her dining room and her cats enjoy a unique and attractive outdoor enclosure built just for them and while i associate her with cats after having initially read about the four sibling cats she lived with chris actually lived most of her life with dogs and began her career as a storyteller through a story inspired by her dog martha for every dog an angel by christine davis gifts from her animal companions and then some of course her entire career as a published author and artist was inspired by her animal companions and chris reached for spiritual guidance as well chris relates that her forever dog martha who d traveled out to portland with her suddenly had what appeared to be a stroke living two weeks in confusion and decline chris was determined to heal her but did not succeed she d been working with a native american healer and drumming regularly and turned to her drumming for solace she was given the title for every dog an angel in this way and told that people were looking for this book though she was not given the story that had to come from within her once she d published this book people asked her for a feline oriented book in the same theme but chris didn t have cats then or know them very well at all however the universe provided them for her to learn about that was when jake discovered the four abandoned neo natal kittens under the deck who they rescued and raised and after getting to know them chris could write for every cat an angel with confidence after sharing stories with chris in e mails and seeing her books i e mailed her telling her that i d like to write about her experience and about the technicalities of how she creates her art and her books to which she agreed i sent her my list of typical questions including what medium s she used how she determined what images would illustrate her story and how she actually painted them and we planned to talk in just a few days though chris had written up her answers to these questions as an essay and sent it back to me an example of her quick and organized methods forever paws by christine davis while i ve been writing all my life i ve never studied art and never knew i d be illustrating my books the closest i d come to creating art was doing the company picnic posters back when i worked in corporate america it was a big day when i added a red magic marker to my usual black marker and really jazzed up the poster sample of chris s illustration style when i wrote the first edition of for every dog an angel in 1997 i met with some local artists wondering if i could hire someone to paint the illustrations for me everything i saw seemed too majestic and felt like it would overpower the simple words so i grabbed a makeup brush and a 99 tray of watercolors and did some quick drawings hoping to show others what i had in mind this unexpectedly led to my doing the artwork for all my books my beloved dog jake was the inspiration for my books old dog the christmas wish and the shelter dog the christmas book is very special to me because it was the last book i wrote with jake still by my side there are several sketches of jake that were used in the book until i wrote forever paws my main medium was always watercolor i m deeply connected to water so when i paint with watercolor i use a lot of water which helps to get the flowy effect in the art i d been playing around with acrylic and began to see the fun of using that medium so forever paws was painted with watercolor and acrylic plus a liberal sprinkling of fur just can t seem to get that out of the artwork it was the loss of my dear sibling kitties dickens and pippen that led to the writing of forever paws losing them to cancer within a few months of each other left me brokenhearted i knew that dickens pippen and jake were together again but i missed them terribly then i began getting these colorful images of the fabulous time they were having up in the stars i saw flying dogs and cats glowing paws a river of tears even a dragon the message from pippen was clear there was another book to be written at the river from forever paws i wrote the story fairly quickly then began the task of bringing to life all the visions i had seen one page in particular was quite challenging the page with the woman holding out her arms and her critters touching her heart when i first sketched that page it was a completely different picture after i painted it i could tell it wasn t quite right i drew the same picture a second time but painted it with new colors it was still wrong for a third time i drew the exact same picture but i simply couldn t bring myself to paint it i realized i wasn t moved by the art and changing the colors wouldn t solve the problem i sat at my table closed my eyes and held out my arms asking the universe to please show me what i was supposed to paint and then i heard two words paint this i knew what that meant paint this moment with my outstretched hands open to all possibilities so i picked up my pencil and drew the picture that appears in the book it came effortlessly i looked at the woman s face and saw so much love and beauty there i am particularly drawn to the spiral shape and drew spirals all around the woman suddenly both the picture and i were at peace it was several days before i painted the illustration but when i did i knew i had found what had been missing from the first piece of art this page is really what forever paws is all about open arms from forever paws i really love the story of the illustration open arms while i m sure all illustrators have their own way of visualizing what they ll do and then creating their visualization in their medium it isn t always a straightforward creation even when you are working for yourself open arms helps to explain how even what you had thought was a good illustration can turn out to be the wrong one and how visualization sometimes needs to be creative in itself in order to get to the right place and like most illustrators i know she gives each of them a title as she is working so she has a convenient way to refer to them to herself or to others color palette in addition to what chris answered above i had always noted her strong palette of colors blues greens purples natural choices for as much as chris loves water and its imagery and said her entire house is done in these colors and i will note that even in her essay each of the book titles was in a different shade of blue purple or green another artist had mentioned to chris the idea of using complementary colors like blue and orange and purple and yellow which are sort of opposites and which enhance the qualities of each other when used together i had noticed a good bit of various shades of orange in forever paws and chris said the use of orange was a new thing for her woman with cat and dog from forever paws an orange background with the blues and purples the book itself often the size shape and binding of the book are determined by the publisher or by a convenient template or materials available at various printers but in this case chris decided that as well she had the idea of a gift book and visited bookstores looking at holding and reading gift books until she found one that was just right and patterned her book after that in addition where certain pages or parts of a book are often left blank she decided to add at least minimal color or artwork to pages that don t often have anything such as the end papers with the starry violet pattern and a few violet stars here and there on front matter pages that are usually only text cat lover comfort gift box from lighthearted press promotional and complementary products chris also carries the same themes styles colors and even artwork through all of her promotional materials as well and while she sells her books from her website much of her sales are wholesale to veterinarians she has also developed a line of complementary products such as her rainbow bridge wristband and a line of pawprint and dog and cat themed tissue packages seed packages scented candles available together or packaged ...
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