{"id":4069,"date":"2019-02-14T17:42:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T07:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=4069"},"modified":"2019-02-14T17:42:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T07:42:36","slug":"artist-john-maitland-shares-his-experience-on-painting-cats-for-this-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=4069","title":{"rendered":"Artist, John Maitland, shares his experience on painting Cats for this exhibition."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb_share_1\" style=\"float: right; margin-left: 10px;\"><a name=\"fb_share\" type=\"icon_link\" share_url=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=4069\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php\">Share<\/a><\/div><div><script src=\"http:\/\/static.ak.fbcdn.net\/connect.php\/js\/FB.Share\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/div><p>Painting cats is something very new for me, but I found the challenge very interesting! My first response was to research the history of the bond between people and cats.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4071\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchate-header-JM.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1768\" height=\"687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchate-header-JM.jpg 1768w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchate-header-JM-300x117.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchate-header-JM-768x298.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchate-header-JM-1024x398.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1768px) 100vw, 1768px\" \/>The fire was lit when I heard the poem Pangur Ban (the White Cat) which gave me a greater understanding of how close our relationship has been with these little animals, and just about for ever&#8230;.As the poem illustrates, the illustrator \u00a0and scholar \u00a0working on the illuminated manuscripts by candle light and Pangur Ban his sole companion, the cat, keeping his environment free of pests .\u00a0They are both looking after each other&#8217;s interests and the scholar\u2019s biggest need is\u00a0the companionship offered by the sleek, purring, lightning- like assailant of the small inhabitants behind the monastery walls!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second inspiring moment arrived just before Christmas when my daughter\u2019s Tom cat (apparently) gave birth to a litter of kittens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Archie my grandson, aided and abetted by granddaughter Sarah, organised a fitting and proper and very comfortable nursery for the tiny newcomers\u2026\u2026on the best chair in the house! It was all pink and grand until, with only one kitten left, the temporary protective seat cover was removed &#8230;.. unveiling the fact, it had been very ineffective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4075\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/aaaa.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"1205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/aaaa.jpg 750w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/aaaa-187x300.jpg 187w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/aaaa-637x1024.jpg 637w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/>Eight weeks later&#8230;&#8230;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next painting, I made was &#8220;The Last Man Standing&#8221;.\u00a0As the other kittens had now gone to new home, the chair had to be reupholstered and is showing off the family&#8217;s brand-new addition, the one no one else wanted. \u00a0Jeffery is pictured-proudly sitting on his new blue chair.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4070\" src=\"http:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchae-main.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1810\" height=\"2935\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchae-main.jpg 1810w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchae-main-185x300.jpg 185w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchae-main-768x1245.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/artchae-main-631x1024.jpg 631w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1810px) 100vw, 1810px\" \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve Found Her&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hands up any parent who hasn&#8217;t heard that triumphant and highly emotional cry!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everyone&#8217;s looked for the missing kitten without success and just when you think everything&#8217;s really good the cry rings out&#8230;&#8230;.oh! such joy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the other paintings my aim was to capture the &#8220;essence &#8220;of cat. \u00a0Tom speaks for himself, Pangur and friends depicts the subject with his chums doing what cats do and of course Autolicus, fierce proud and aloof.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think AlOOf is the essence of cat!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/redhillgallery.com.au\">redhillgallery.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"al2fb_like_button\"><div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n(function(d, s, id) {\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=499790883388518\";\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n}(document, \"script\", \"facebook-jssdk\"));\n<\/script>\n<fb:like href=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=4069\" send=\"true\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" share=\"false\" width=\"150\" action=\"recommend\" font=\"arial\" colorscheme=\"light\" ref=\"AL2FB\"><\/fb:like><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SharePainting cats is something very new for me, but I found the challenge very interesting! My first response was to research the history of the bond between people and cats. The fire was lit when I heard the poem Pangur &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/?p=4069\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4069"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4076,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4069\/revisions\/4076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artchat.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}