Cat Suites at FieldHaven Feline Rescue

I should have blogged about this weeks ago . . . but better late than never. I did write about it in my latest e-newsletter, which is why this may look familiar to some of you.

I've been a FieldHaven Feline Rescue supporter since I met Joy Smith, the director and founder, many years ago (I designed their logo too). FieldHaven now has a brand new, wonderful shelter for its feline charges. The shelter officially opened in April 2011.

As construction neared completion, FieldHaven staff came up with the idea to team local artists with shelter sponsors to create custom decorated rooms in the new building. Joy contacted me to see if I'd be interested in decorating one of the rooms and I agreed. Sandy, my good friend and fellow animal fanatic, agreed to help and we tackled this unique project with a mix of trepidation and excitement. I chose one of the four small rooms since I wasn't quite sure what I was getting us into. The small rooms (suites) are intended for cats who don't get along with others, so they're big enough for one cat or perhaps two cats if they know each other.

We designed and painted an oak woodland mural in the suite and I painted portraits of the sponsor's cats in various locations in the scene.



The "Oak Haven Suite"


The "Oak Haven Suite" in Progress

My art work is pretty much all small format, so this was quite an undertaking. While I have no problem thinking big - I'm not exactly a muralist. We ended up with even more on our plate when the neighboring suite's sponsor asked if we'd work on her room as well! A second mural was on the table until Sandy came to the rescue with a great design based on an ornate mirror & pair of candlesticks that had belonged to her grandmother. The "Mad Catter Suite" was born and it's a crazy concoction of wild colors, ornate decorations and even a Cheshire Cat.


The "Mad Catter Suite". The photos are Photoshopped versions of the sponsor's pets, complete with Dollar Store gilded frames. The moulding was salvaged from our bathroom renovation. The lower half is more of a peachy salmon than it looks here.


Seti the Egyptian Mau shares space with the Cheshire Cat


That's me for scale. The room is not much bigger than a closet!

Sandy tapped a wood-working friend to make the neat bunk beds in each room and another friend to make some of the shelves. The long shelf in the Oak Haven Suite was donated by the sponsors. Sandy's husband helped us install some of the components. We certainly appreciate the outside help for this team effort!

See many more photos in my Facebook album (you don't need a Facebook account to view the album).

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Warning - Extreme Cuteness Ahead!

You may have noticed there aren't a lot of cat photos on my blog. That's because I'm allergic to cats, so I just don't spend as much time around them as I do with dogs or other critters, which limits the feline photo opps. I can be around cats for a while, but I have to be really careful not to touch my face after I've petted them (and to wash my hands when I'm done petting). There's just no way I can visit with our feline friends without petting them, so I just have to be careful and limit my exposure. I really like cats and find them fascinating - if it weren't for the allergies (John's allergic too, even worse than I am), I'd have at least one cat of my own.

Today though, I had a donation to drop off at FieldHaven Feline Rescue and I took my camera with me. I visit FieldHaven on occasion and they always have a nice assortment of wonderful, photogenic cats. I knew that they took in some teeny kittens recently (read the story here) and hoped to get some photos of them as well. I wasn't denied! I'll start out with a few cat photos so you can work up to the super cute kittens at the end. There were a couple of dogs there today too, one of the volunteers brought hers along to help socialize the cats. The dogs were very well behaved and most of the cats didn't seem to mind their presence.











OK, you were warned!! Here are the kittens!!





If you'd like to help support FieldHaven's efforts, you can make a donation on their web site or perhaps attend their upcoming fund-raising event in September: "Classics, Cats & Cabernet". I've donated a framed painting of a Sphynx cat to the event.

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New Drawing to Benefit FieldHaven Feline Rescue

This is Noah, a kitten saved by FieldHaven Feline Rescue, now living in a wonderful home. Noah had a really rough start in life, he and his siblings were infected with panleukopenia - a feline distemper virus that was fatal to his littermates. This tough little guy pulled through though - thanks to the caring folks at FieldHaven. The effective vaccine for this virus is routinely given to kittens, unfortunately Noah and his littermates were found abandoned and unvaccinated.


This drawing is now available in my Etsy shop, click on Noah to see the listing.

The drawing measures 3" x 3" and is matted to 8" x 8". Drawn in graphite pencil with some color pencil.

Thanks to Joy Smith, the director of FieldHaven for providing the reference photo I used for my drawing of Noah.

Trying something new here - I learned about TipJoy on Twitter (where I'm annran5) and thought I'd start offering the option to tip my favorite charities when I post about them. So here goes: if you'd like to leave a tip for FieldHaven (as little as 25 cents would be appreciated) click here.

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