Estrella. A study in evil

Sketches of Spain #4
Giclée print

Image Size: 228mm x 183mm

Paper Size: 328 x 293mm

£82.61 Signed edition of 99

Estrella, the cat that put the talon in Catalonia (after Cat) is enjoying another one of his day-long siestas, in the baking sun on the balcony of this little house in Masquefa, where I'm house-sitting for friends.

Oh yes, he looks comfy enough, catching a few rays while he's pretending to sleep. He's thinking of course of his food; the dark gelatinous reeking sludge that comes from one of the 50 or so tins stacked up in the kitchen. He's also thinking that if I make the slightest move, he'll be up screeching and hissing in a fairly convincing display of a cat who's had a comprehensive grounding in jugular veins.

We're together on the balcony; I think I might make a move for the station, when I've done this little drawing; done his sweet little baked bean feet and his shiny fur. What I'm thinking is, I'll lull him into a false sense of security and then run out of the house the back way. But then I drop the tiniest of brushes; a miniscule job that I used for the whiskers. And he's nastily wide awake. So now I have to paint the chair, until he's asleep; the comfy chair he uses while I get cramp on this hard kitchen stool. It's a shame, Barcelona would be so nice today.

Spanish sketchbook: Giclée print

Sketches of Spain #2

Giclee print

Image Size: 297mm x 215mm
Paper Size: 397mm x 325mm

£105 Signed edition of 99

I was housesitting in Masquefa, a 40 minute train ride northwest  from Barcelona in Catalonia. My mates Paul and Helen Critchley normally did it; they lived in Barcelona but were travelling that year. The tasks weren't especially onerous: feed the cat; feed the fish; but not the fish to the cat and water the plants indoors and out. Most days after getting the croissants for breakfast and having a coffee and holiday fag, if I didn't get the train into Barca I'd sit on the verandah and fill up sketchbooks with small gouaches like this.

One thing I learned was that the sun moves quite fast, and almost every still life I attempted failed, because the shadows changed position constantly. A graphic demonstration of time flying when you're enjoying yourself. I also painted the laziest, hungriest cat in the world, Estrella. It got to the point where he'd meet me at the station and shout at me in Cat Catalan that if I didn't get my sorry ass up to the kitchen and empty a whole tin of cat food (his owners recommended only a half) into his bowl immediately then surely I would die.

I think he doubled in size whilst I was there but what could I do?