[Jerry asked me to put this up, as his dedication to Caturday remains true, even though he is indeed feeling poorly today.]
From artsy.net, we have a bunch of photos of famous artists with their cats. I’ll number them but leave the artist unidentified so that you can guess (put your guesses in the comments, and can see the answers on the artsy.net page). I’ll try to put up artists who aren’t instantly recognizable.
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My Modern Met (click on screenshot) has a swell article on a Japanese artist, Monokubo (portfolio at link; there are several pages) who does fantasy digital paintings of humans living in a world of huge animals.
I’ve put some of her work below, concentrating, of course, on cats (indented text below is from the MMM website):
Monokubo was inspired to produce these illustrations after seeing iconic Studio Ghibli films like Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro which both feature large creatures in their cast. Many of the animals that Monokubo depicts are house cats. “In most cases, I choose the animals that have left an impression in my daily life,” she tells My Modern Met. “I have a cat and he is very cute.” [JAC: I read this after I wrote the comment above the last picture.]
Monokubo has a book featuring her larger-than-life animals called Megalophilia that is now available on Amazon.
This looks like a scene from My Neighbor Totoro, but with a cat:
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Finally, I can imagine big cats chasing after watermelons, but eating them? Well, some in the video below do. I’ve heard from readers whose house cats like melons, but I’m surprised that wild carnivores do, especially because cats cannot taste sweetness.
Look how easily the tiger’s big fangs cut into a melon and enable it to pick up the thing. And the leopard really does seem to like eating and licking it.
h/t: Michael
🐾🐾
Those big cats remind me of those giant cat topiaries (clever photoshop work) which I seem to remember you mentioned a while back:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/99/d2/8099d217be07c7e02babe3fa3bd85e20.jpg
I’m surprised that cats like watermelon but seeing is believing, even if there was a lot more playing with them than slurping.
I’m not at all fond of those monstrous cats.
Here’s a video about learning Polish with cats. I’d have imagined that it was secretly produced by Hili, but for the fact that she’d feature herself, no blasted cute kittens. But Hili’s been giving Polish language lessons for a long time in WEIT’s “Learn Polish with Hili”
Our old cat would go bonkers for cantaloupe. But not watermelon of the sort featured here.
We sometimes let her eat the seedy pulp, but then we noticed numerous little cantaloupe plants growing in our yard.
Of course, she wanted to make sure there is a new harvest for next year!
The below are ‘internet facts’ garnered from a range of fairly unreliable sites – most are pushing health products or cats [which drag in suckers like me] to up their ads views count – no idea how accurate/true!:
** Manufacturers of dry cat kibble add ‘volatiles’ to the mix to give an aroma of meat that pervades the air around the kibble bowl – certain fruits have similar ‘volatiles’
** Many of the same ‘amino acids’ that are in meat are also present in melons, although in much smaller quantities. Some of these are in the form of ‘volatiles’
** Watermelon seeds are bad for kitties, but not watermelons.
Assuming there’s some truth in the above…
Are fleshy smelling fruit scents a plant strategy to spread the seeds? Seems unlikely to be worthwhile since most ‘seed spreaders’ are vegetarian or omnivore aren’t they? And if that is the strategy why are watermelons a big hit with cats, but not with hyenas, dingoes & wolves? [or perhaps they are – we needz xperiments dun].
Wife my, as a child, was told this horrid fable that if you swallowed a watermelon see, you’d get pregnant. There should be a Hell, and a special place in it, for people who tell kids crap like this.
As to the huge kitties living “gently” with humans: I suppose there are also huge voles and mice to feed these kitties? This is the problem with any kind of “monster” tale, be it this, Loch Ness, the Valley of Gwangi, the island of King Kong, etc.: no one ever considers the environment needed to support these critters.
The environment needed to support these critters is a ground cover of innocence, a climate of naivete, and high altitude credulity. 😎
There is a reason for the phrase “the willing suspension of disbelief” 🙂
“…if that is the strategy why are watermelons a big hit with cats, but not with hyenas, dingoes & wolves? [or perhaps they are – we needz xperiments dun]”
I don’t think that watermelons are such a “big hit” with cats; more playing than eating. Wolves do like watermelon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPNVZVAFX48, and nom the pulp quite directly.
There’s info online about a wolf park that has an annual watermelon feed for their wolves and some other animals
https://www.jconline.com/story/news/local/2014/07/05/wolves-go-wild-watermelon/12254721/. but that info doesn’t count because they load up the melons with sausages and the like before giving them to the animals.
My cat LOVES cantaloupe! She’s 16 years old and has never declined.
My old cat loved papayas and avocados. Not sure if they’re related, though they have the same shape. One of my current kitties loves cornbread and cakes and pies with crumbly toppings. Also dog food…
Had a cat that loved gingernut biscuits once…
cr
I love Ginger Nuts but kitty’s “meh”.
I can also back up the Cantaloupe and cats. Do not know about Watermelon.
On another item, now that the 2018 tax year is over, I can report that the Trump Tax deal did nothing for me. Great job republicans.
But! The tRump tax cut will do a lot for Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who are renowned philanthropists. Maybe you can get some dosh by going homeless.
Yeah, I don’t think my cats would go for it.
Cats are renowned for their intolerance. 😎
I suppose that the watermelon-eating cats have been thirsty.
Not much for art beyond a passing interest, and even those I may have heard of I am more familiar with the art than the artist so I cannot identify a single artist in the lot.
As for the giant cat drawings, I cannot imagine mouse-sized humans would last too terribly long in their presence but I suppose that sort of defeats the idea and ruins the mood behind them. However, I think the cat scenes from the 1957 movie, The Incredible Shrinking Man, would be a more likely outcome.
My first reaction is to imagine what the litter boxes would be like…
Haven’t tried melons, but Pomme loves corn. Ralphie was the epitome of cat gourmet, though – he loved pea soup, pad thai, and curries.
Did we ever find out who those not-so-recognizable people with their kitties are?
I instantly recognised Elvis Costello in picture #1 although I didn’t know he’s a painter as well as a muso. Clicking on the provided link reveals the article believes it’s some other person. Can’t be trusted – these bloody articles…