Cats of the Week [art post]

by Goldeenin Artwork, Blog Postson Posted on

I am going to AnthroCon next month, and in order to fill up my panels in the art show I decided it would be fun to paint a bunch of cats. Me being me, of course, they had to be quirky, fantastical cats, and thus my Cats of the Week series was born! Each cat corresponds to a day of the week, with a little motto to go with him/her/them. Originals are 5″x6″ in customized to 8″x10″ mats and all done with watercolor and white ink—see the bottom of this post for more info. As always, prints are available (or you can just click on the image to go right to its page in my shop).

Sunday is warm and lazy and also full of smiles. You can hear her purring in the mid-morning and afternoon.
Sunday is warm and lazy and also full of smiles. You can hear her purring in the mid-morning and afternoon.

 

Monday often gets a bad rap, but if you treat her kindly she will get your week off to a great start!
Monday often gets a bad rap, but if you treat her kindly she will get your week off to a great start!

 

Tuesday is fierce and full of fire. He will help you be productive, but be careful you are not burned.
Tuesday is fierce and full of fire. He will help you be productive, but be careful you are not burned.
Wednesday is wise and reflective. His afternoons are a good time to take stock and make plans for the future.
Wednesday is wise and reflective. His afternoons are a good time to take stock and make plans for the future.
Thursday is opportunity with a coat of many colors. They bring the tempest with a voice like purring thunder.
Thursday is opportunity with a coat of many colors. They bring the tempest with a voice like purring thunder.
Friday blooms at the end of the week, like a warm spring after winter. Her nights are bright and filled with laughter.
Friday blooms at the end of the week, like a warm spring after winter. Her nights are bright and filled with laughter.
Saturday is wild and playful as a kitten. His mornings are good for sleeping late, or for going on adventures.
Saturday is wild and playful as a kitten. His mornings are good for sleeping late, or for going on adventures.

Within the series I wanted to have a balance between male and female cats (though since these are technically days of the week you may imagine them all as genderless if that suits you), so Sunday and Monday are female, and so is Friday, even though Friday is technically named after both Freya and her brother, Frey. Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are all male, like the gods they were named after (Tyr, Woden and Saturn) but Thursday (Thor) is genderless. I chose to make Thursday the odd one out because they were already the oddball in that their element (thunder) did not have a counter-element within the series (Sunday and Monday are day and night; Tuesday and Wednesday are fire and water, Friday and Saturday are earth/plant and wind/ice). On a somewhat related note: Pokémon fans may draw parallels between these cats and the first seven Eeveelutions (Sunday = Espeon, Monday = Umbreon, Tuesday = Flareon, Wednesday = Vaporeon, Thursday = Jolteon, Friday = Leafeon and Saturday = Glaceon. The only Eeveelution not represented, due to my inability to access the fabled eighth day of the week, is suitably the Fairy evolution; Sylveon).

All the lettering was hand done, though since my calligraphy is not the best, I did use a type-based template to help me block out the size and spaces. Furthermore, the days’ names up at the top were imprinted directly onto the matboard using a print out bearing that word in the desired font, size, and placement. Laying the paper over the matboard, I then used a pencil to press a groove through the paper into the soft board underneath. The result was invisible unless viewed under the proper light, but I was able to use it as a guide to then paint the letters in watercolor, and finally outline them in thin pen. The fonts used for the days are as follows (from Sun – Sat): Dunce Cap, Betty Noir, Herculanum, Albert Betenbuch, Sleuth Serif, Party LET, and Santa’s Big Secret. Dunce, Betty, Sleuth and Santa are all by Nate Piekos, Albert Betenbuch is by Robert Schenk via Linotype, while Herculanum and Party came stock on my computer. I definitely learned a lot about lettering from doing this, and it’s made me more confident with my free-hand calligraphy.

For those of you not going to AnthroCon, I have two more art shows planned this year: LonCon3 in August, and World Fantasy (assuming I get in!) in November. Hope to see you at one or both of them!

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Goldeen Ogawa is a writer, illustrator and cartoonist. To keep tabs on what she is doing you can follow her on twitter @GrimbyTweets, and on Tumblr. You can also send her an email at goldeenogawa@gmail.com.