CATch Me if You Can

Inspired by one of my last paintings, “Unravelling”, which I presented in this blog some days ago, I have started a new series of paintings and artworks featuring cats. I call this series

“CATalogue”

Many of them should illustrate some kind of word play on the word “cat”, like the title of the series itself. As far as possible of course… I cannot say that I love cats, I don’t really, although I had a wonderful one when I was a child, whose name was “Caramel” because he loved caramels. But generally, I don’t trust them. This is for me reason enough not to like them.

Having said that, I find them very beautiful, and quite inspiring for paintings. As a result of my “unlove”, they might not have always the best role in my paintings, but well… just one more of my artistic freedoms!

CATch Me if You Can - by Miki

One of my favourite comments so far about this artwork id from my artist friend Pamela Allegretto

“Oh Miki, you totally captured the mood of many a childhood nightmare. Great work!”

You might understand that, like me, she is not a big cats fan… 

And if you want to buy a reproduction of this painting, it is available as greeting card, poster and Giclee print canvas in my FAA Gallery

Homage to a Fan

This morning when I got up,  I went though my mails, as usual. I do now want to appear arrogant, but i do get quite often nice mails from people from all around the world, who like what I do. Well, whatever they say, it is always wonderful to read their appreciation, to think that they took the time write to me  and let me know how they feel about my art.

Well, this morning I found a very short message in my Art Site Guest-book, and I must say that this was one of the most beautiful and charming comments I have ever received:

“… I’d love to live in the world you have created in your paintings…”

Not many words, not complicated esoteric or deep philosophical considerations, just that… JUST WONDERFUL!

I don’t know why exactly it touches me so deeply. i started thinking about what is this world in my paintings, as it certainly does not correspond to the real world, but neither to a dream world of me, as I never dream, at least not awake. But I do know that I dream much and vividly nights… is it my Night World?

Well, if it is, and considering how exhausted I often awake in the morning after  dream-filled  nights, I am not sure that I would love myself to live in my paintings world! 

Not sure I would love to meet that CATalonia here…

New CATalonia

If anybody here wants to buy a print of New CATalonia it is available in different sizes and on different supports 9papers, canvas), in my FAA Gallery here:

King Solomon in The Jardin Massey

This is a watercolour painting of the Jardin Massey, in Tarbes (France, Hautes Pyrenees, my home town). If you want to know some facts about that garden, just go to Cafe Crem and read Kevin’s post “Over the Hills and far away…”. Kevin loves history, and me, it bores me to death! I guess I was introduced quite painfully to history, in the school I had to learn dates and facts by heart, without being taught why it was so and my brain works in a way that it can only enjoy and remember things which give sense, kind of…

As I said, this is supposed to be a painting of that famous garden. You will see some photos of it in Kevin’s post, and you will perhaps wonder what my painting has to do with it. well, the trees were really there, all of them, the path too, and even the red bush. There were some kind of houses there too, but certainly not white and of that shape. This house looks much more like some Spanish house to me. as always, I couldn’t stay by what I saw, my fantasy went through with me, and the result has, I suppose, nothing to so with the Jardin Massey.

But it gets even worse: as I looked at the painting when I was back home, some days ago, I saw something strange: King Solomon ruling about the two prostitutes each pretending that the baby was theirs. A perfect theme for my new series “The Biblescapes”. Really, sometimes I wonder how my brain works. Judge for yourself what it did out of this innocent landscape painting:

Anyway, this is how King Solomon suddenly appeared in the Jardin Massey. I guess he was as surprised as myself, and even our history master Kev Moore is thinking of adding this new fact in Wikipedia…

The Sweeties

Yesterday I  started a new series of paintings “The Sweeties”. Well, I guess it will be more a mini-series, as I don’t believe that my inspiration and technique will last for many paintings. I needed to take a holiday from travel sketches and  musicians paintings, and there is for me only one way: to flee back into the fantasy world. No real people, no real places, just weird and/or silly stuff. To tell the whole truth, I was so fed up that our team Derby lost in football against our mortal enemy “Nothingham Forest” that I had to leave this bloody reality for a while and calm down!

One day I might tell you why I called the series this way… in fact seing how it started, The Weirdos would be perhaps more appropriate, but the name refers to the technique I use… eating sweeties while I paint?

Bubble Boy – 5 -

(Bubble Boy – 1 -) (Bubble Boy – 4 -)

I have started to publish Bubble Boy, my illustrated tale for Children  (small children and big children…) in Cafe Literati. I will post here the illustrations, twice the week, Mondays and Thursdays, with a link to the texts in Cafe Literati.

Here we go!

(next instalment on Monday 19th January 2009)

Bubble Boy – 4 -

(Bubble Boy – 1 -) (Bubble Boy – 3 -)

I have started to publish Bubble Boy, my illustrated tale for Children  (small children and big children…) in Cafe Literati. I will post here the illustrations, twice the week, Mondays and Thursdays, with a link to the texts in Cafe Literati.

Here we go!

(next instalment on Thursday 15th January 2009)

Full Moon….

Don’t think twice, it’s me hidden in this Santa Costume… and the painting is, more than anything, a symbol for how I feel this year for Christmas…

I would much more prefer to stay home and have tons of chocolate and silly Christmassy films with my Kevin …

but well, I have to go out and be social…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Messiah found…

Due to my recent work with the  eCards department of Plaxo, and also the snow  falling down my screen all the time, I have become very Christmassy and have designed some more Xmas cards. I don’t know which program  is running through my brain actually, but it seems that I am ready to spend Christmas in a humourous mood this year… close to the border of black humour perhaps?  Whatever, I just mean it tenderly…

Well, I guess I will need humour for Christmas this year, I have to “confront” my old Mom whom I idolised all my life and to whom I always had an excellent relationship, of the kind

“My mother is my best friend”

but  big problems arose  last time as I saw her… the result being that I didn’t feel loved anymore… surely  silly from me, says my intellect, but the heart suffers…. perhaps I feel like that little lost baby… but as you noticed, still ready to play with the adult’s beard!

By the way, if you want to see and read some more huourous Christmassy stuff, drawn and written by  Kev Moore

go here!

Fantascape #13 : Stranger in the Night

Who is that stranger sitting on the hill tonight, in front of my window?

(the one in the house with the little tower…)

Fantascape #10 : La Danse du Printemps

As Susan Cornelis and me decided to start the common project Fantascapes, I first proposed the title: “The Spring Dance”. She liked it, but said that it sounds much better in French. I don’t know what it is with the French language, but wherever I have been, people loved it and always said, that it sounds so beautiful. In German TV they go so far as to sometimes put ads in French, for things like perfumes for example. Apparently it doesn’t matter that nobody has a clue what they’re on about, it is enough that it is in French to convince of some elegance.

Anyway we then thought that “The Spring Dance” was too restrictive and we chose “Fantascapes”, allowing our crazy fantasies to spin around the whole of nature.

I saw many blogs showing spring images over the last few days and I thought I should join them, presenting my new fantascape, which is literally a spring dance. I really saw these trees dancing together by night as Spring arose, in a little village in the Spanish Sierra, some weeks ago…

And please: don’t forget to give me a title for my fantascape #8 (see last post)! The titles you already proposed are simply fantastic, i enjoy it so much! There is no limits in the quantity of titles you can give me…