Sunday, September 07, 2008

ROCK KATS

How about some more kitties? Yesterday Cleo was sleeping so peacefully in the window that I had to take a few pictures and then Chip decided to visit which kept Cleo interested for a few minutes until Chip was batted away and Cleo continued his nap in peace.


Ah, this is a fairly good picture of my cat rocks so maybe I'll tell you about them.


For years and years, every summer when I'm in the States I seek out the various art and crafts fairs that are so common in Southern California. Usually the city fences off a few blocks of city street and local artists come and sell their wares amongst produce stalls, minstrels on the street corners, and delicious aromas mingling between the tents. I love these craft fairs and will often buy a little something whether I need it or not just because I can meet the crafter and know that the object is probably one of a kind.

One little booth that I ran into at various fairs had all these wonderful ROCK KATS that were hand painted by the artist. I absolutely fell in love with these and would stand in front of the tables delighting in the different colors and expressions on the "cats" faces. The artist said that she and her husband went to the river a couple of times of year and she would choose rocks that seemed to lend themselves well to the rounded nature of sitting cats. Then she would spend the year painting each rock (the eyes shine in the dark!) and her Saturday mornings and sometimes Friday evenings would be spent quietly manning her Rock booth at various fairs. She didn't seem so interested in selling her cats as in displaying them and she said she grew attached to each one. Oh, I wanted a ROCK KAT but who ever heard of taking a rock back to Japan especially when weight was so limited for my luggage?

(A picture of the artist's business card that I've saved all these years. I checked the Internet and she doesn't have a website though it looks like she is still actively painting rocks.)


Of course I relented and bought the little rock first (it doesn't weigh all that much) and then a couple of years later bought the larger kitty rock. The artist had some lovely large ROCK KATS that were the actual size of a cat and I have seen them being used as attractive doorstops in a local book store. I'd love a large ROCK KAT like that, but the weight!!! I am satisfied with my two ROCK KATS and many of my guests ask about them. You can see that Cleo thinks the world of them too and often cuddles up between the ROCK KATS like a mother hen.


As if I don't have enough cats as it is!

9 comments:

Quilt Pixie said...

I have a couple of crafting books on painting rocks, thought I'd try, but never got to it... I'd be VERY happy to send them to you for you to do your own large Kat if you'd use them... :-)

Amanda said...

What beautifully painted rocks. I had a couple of house rocks that we bought in Wales one year, but they seem to have vanished into the mists of time. I think I'd take more care of cat rocks though.

Doris said...

Dear Tanya,
with much pleasure we took a walk through your beautiful blog with so many nice ideas
greetings from Germany from Doris & Richard

Sew Create It - Jane said...

What a talented lady...that last picture is beautiful...pet rocks for cats I guess ;o)

artfilstitch said...

Your Rock Cats are beautiful! I could have lots of cats with these and what fun that would be. They look so peaceful and lifelike. The artist is very talented. Thanks for the photos.

mamaspark said...

I love your rock kats and your real cats too. I have seen rocks painted like that in MI too. I wonder if it is the same person or if another person had the same idea? If I ever see it again I will check the artist and we can compare!

Christine Thresh said...

The rock kats are lovely and your real cats are too.
I laughed at your "weighing" the thought of carring rocks back home on the plane.

Mary said...

These are very cute! When the boys were young we did lots of crafts and one of my favorites was painting rocks - ours never looked quite this good but we had lots of fun. This was one of my favorite books:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/089134800X/sr=8-2/qid=1220938230/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1220938230&sr=8-2

meggie said...

I LOVE your Rock Kats! And your real cats of course! LOL.