The Inspiration
“Friendship” is the second piece in a series for The Crooked Cat Cottage. This is a rescue house for our feline friends at Sheep Sanctuary, a plant based sanctuary that is home to many animals.
The Hawkin’s Residence is being made into the “Crooked Cat Cottage” which is home to rescued cats and a rehoming centre that will be a quirky summer rental too. If you love cats this is the holiday home for you!
The house belonged to a lovely man who loved his cats. He was a key part of the Sanctuary and when he passed away it was a crushing blow to his dear friends who he ran the Sanctuary with. They are making Crooked Cat Cottage in his honour and so I thought that something about celebrating friendship seemed very appropriate.
Thoughts, Research & Pulling it together …
So, a cat and a sheep, showing the two parties in this amazing partnership.
The more I find out about sheep the more it’s clear how loving they can be. And how forgiving they are, especially after the, often very terrible, things they have been through before being rescued.
Cats often are not seen as not very loving but that just isn’t true. They are just particular where and how they show their affection. Cats often show that they love you through a head bump. Cats do this to members of their colony as a sign of unity. They have scent glands on their head just above the eye and below their ear, which excretes pheromones that they rub on you to make you smell like them. They want you mark you as theirs with a communal smell because cats recognise each other by smell before anything else.
So, we have a shared moment of love and unity between a sheep and a cat. In my mind, the cat is standing on a fence so the friends can have this moment of quiet unity and mutual affection.
For me this also is about unusual and unexpected friendships.
The symbol in the top right corner is a Celtic symbol of friendship. I like to include symbols to add meaning and a mystical element, the Celts being a mystical race where my roots are.
I made the symbol gold and picked this up in the eye of the sheep too to add balance and also a lustrous feel to the piece.
The circles or dots are also about magic and I use them a lot in my pieces of art. The circle is universally used to represent notions of totality, wholeness, original perfection, the Self, the infinite, eternity, timelessness, all cyclic movement and even God. I think it adds to the meaning of the piece and gives it a magical quality as well.
Where you can find it
Purchase a beautiful Gilcée print of Friendship here
At least 10% of any profits made from the sale of “Friendship” are donated to Sheep Sanctuary
Want to know more:
Find out more about Crooked Cat Cottage
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