Cats on Wednesday – Cats in the Stacks

Personally I’d be happy to see cats everywhere I go. I’ve seen them greeting customers in shops and businesses. At one time my church had a resident cat who liked to attend services until a complaint resulted in his banishment (from services, not the church). He was missed by many of us. (Cats, of course, love to meditate.) Cats often happily settle down in public places. There were cats “employed” by the Hermitage Museum in Russia for hundreds of years, working rodent control. And there were cats in ancient Egyptian libraries.

I haven’t had the pleasure of encountering a library cat, but according to Iron Frog Productions’ Library Cat Map, last updated in May 2009, there are (or were) 808 known library cats in the entire world. The U.S. led, with the most -- 235. However those numbers included visitors to the libraries, statues, stuffed toy cats, virtual cats and at least one ghost. The more accurate number of live resident cats in the U.S. was 35. Apparently Iceland and all of Asia were tied with only one cat each (real cats). There were none listed for South America. The Cat in Residence job at a library in Washington was created after 98% of patrons expressed a desire for a feline member of the staff.

Dewey Readmore Books is probably the most famous library cat of all. He was put in the book return of the Spencer, Iowa library in 1988. The staff and patrons all fell in love with him and he had just turned 19 when he died in 2006, having served as public relations for the library all those years. He was the subject of newspaper and magazine articles, videos and TV, postcards and books. He has been the subject of several books by Vicki Myron, the Spencer librarian who first befriended Dewey.

If you are lucky enough to be welcomed by a library cat in your local library, you should consider yourself very fortunate.

Another Caution to Writers and Illustrators

Last week I had deadlines on overdue sketches and a dummy and new work to do for my portfolio, so I didn’t get my posts on the blog. This week and next will be busy, because of the SCBWI Summer Conference, but I’ll try to post. For now, here’s a quick one, relating to a point I’ve mentioned before but can’t seem to learn myself.

Don’t plan an illustration you don’t want to paint. Just as you don’t put a technique or style you hate to do in your portfolio, don’t make a dummy that has illustrations you don’t want to paint. Example: Do you think I want to illustrate the back end of a horse?

It was the middle of the night and that particular page was giving me problems, but is this what I want to paint? I don’t think so…. Luckily, this is a preliminary dummy.

And something else… My writer self did it again: a total of six horse and two mule illustrations in this book. I don’t mind an occasional horse, but really. Six!

So, writers, plan a little better and be more considerate of your illustrator. And illustrators, put that horse behind a tree or something!

Monsters and Miracles - Picture Book Illustrations at the Skirball

I’m so glad I finally saw the Monsters and Miracles exhibit of Jewish picture book illustrations at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The selection is extensive and inspiring. I think almost every art medium is included, and the variety of styles and subjects highlight the richness of possibility in children’s book illustration.

Uri Shulevitz, Writing With Pictures

I was so excited and so eager to see them all that I practically ran from one illustration to the other. I had so many favorites it would be impossible to choose just one. There were works by my first instructor in children’s book writing and illustration, Uri Shulevitz, by old favorite Margot Zemach and new favorite Kristina Swarner. Seeing an original piece -- the brightness, color clarity, individual brushstrokes, and distinctive techniques -- is invaluable to an artist.

Kristina Swarner, Before You Were Born

This exhibit will be at the Skirball till August 1, and I suggest that anyone who can manage to should see it. It is special, remarkable and memorable. Allow yourself plenty of time to study them all. Megan Frances has an excellent overview description of the exhibit on her site, On Beyond Words and Pictures.

Bravo to the Skirball for bringing together the work of so many talented artists!

Cats on Wednesday - Tuxedo Cats and Artists

My blog banner shows Abiah Rose’s black and white cat sitting expectantly beside her paintbox.

So why black and white? I have always had cats, showing interest in what I paint and write, sympathizing when things don’t go well and being generally good company while I work. I have a special fondness for Siamese. But none of the various and sundry cats I’ve had have been black and white.

My family used to babysit a wonderful example of black and white: Orly. She frequently visited her surrogate mother, our tabby cat Emily, while her ‘father’ traveled on business. Hence the connection with Paris’ Orly airport, due to her frequent bursts of urgent running through the house (I’m late for my plane!?).






Other tuxedo-clad visitors who spent time at our house were mother and daughter, Baby and Alley (yes, Baby was the mother). They were the sweet and super-photogenic cats of our dear late friend, artist Donna Finkbiner.

So why did I give Abiah a black and white cat? It was a book design decision. I thought black and white went best with my color palette and besides, Siamese cats didn’t come to America until after Abiah’s time. Truth is, other than period inaccuracy I couldn’t have made a wrong choice – all cats are works of art!

© D. Finkbiner