ChunkyMonkey by Amina Illustration

I'm so in awe of talented artists who can depict cats and gardens in all their glory.  
Amina is an illustrator who truly knows both of these topics and the Instagram Reel linked below shows her process in creating a commissioned piece of two internet-famous cats -- @kingchunky_spymonkey and @chunkytheclotho. I think my favorite part of the video is seeing her own orange cat watching her paint from a nearby windowsill full of plants.

In her bio, she says, "I am inspired by plants and nature as a whole, and try to inject it into my life and my art as much as I can ! My strengths lie in traditional art, portraiture, narrative illustration, and spoiling my cat."

BTW, postcards and prints of "ChunkyMonkey" are available from just $6! 

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A post shared by Amina Akhmadeeva (@amina.illustration)

A Sweet Treat

Toffee shares space with the cacti and tropicals.

 

Louise Clarke shared this pictures of her indoor feline. Toffee is a 6-year-old adopted from Providence Animal Center. She was a birthday present to me. She is an indoor cat that gets along with Mojito, my Havanese puppy. 

Louise is a professional horticulturist and a principal of Verdant Earth Educators LLC (https://www.verdanteartheducators.com/).

Toffee soaking up some sun.

Ollie Oop

JudyKirby, a master gardener and animal lover, shared: 
    "Ollie came to us from @fancycats with his sister and his mama. He’ll be 2 years old at the end of June. While the other cats are sleeping, Ollie can be depended upon to be somewhere he shouldn’t be. He is the sole reason my collection of houseplants has dwindled down to this. He is rambunctious, and silly, and sometimes bad. But he’s totally loved!"

Sunset Kitty part 2

I previously posted here about this kitty who was depicted in a painted by Michelle Bailey.

Much to my surprise, I ran across the real cat in person when on a neighborhood house and garden tour a few weeks ago! This is Belle. She is occupying the front window box - just as depicted in Michelle's art. No plants will ever grow in it, as long as Belle keeps bedding down there - but who needs flowers when you have such a photogenic kitty!

Princess in the Tower

Last week, Roberta Dehman Hershon of Blue Plate Communications, Inc. (www.blueplate.com) in Dedham, MA, shared her 4 gorgeous cats. This week, she is sharing those of her gardening friend, Michele Topor. 

Roberta writes,"This is Belina (about 3.5 years old). She was a homeless mom living outside of a suburban MA high school. She was clinging to the smokestacks for warmth. Students in my friend Amy’s culinary class rescued her - with scrod as bait. Amy gave her to me, and I gave her to Michele. Belina now lives in Boston’s N. End where she can look outside at her owner’s magnificent roof top garden or lounge in her own paradise during the winter when the plants come indoors. Here she is lounging between the Bay and Rosemary plants. She has graduated from dumpster diving to dining on fresh scallops and an endless buffet of cat approved delicacies."

Roberta added: "Meet 6 year old Murray who spent 3.5  years living in a FL parking lot before I rescued him and flew back to MA with him. He doesn’t sit still long enough for me to capture him in the garden. He’s enjoying his daily catnip fix in the driveway."

"Here he is wondering why a Kaffir Lime plant is blocking his favorite porch seat."

Ejected from the Window Seat

Sharon Gentry Beasley, the garden columnist for Newcastle Pacer weekly newspaper in Newcastle, OK, shared these pictures of her fluffy boy-cat, Pearly. 

She writes,"This is the bay window in the sunroom (where the computer is) and it is full since I started bringing plants indoors. Pearly-cat likes his perching place near the plants."

 "Pearly was one of 5 kittens brought to us by a stray calico momma cat about 16 years ago. Pearly looks like a high-dollar cat with beautiful blue eyes, long hair, and his paw markings match with the opposite foot. He was the "pearl" of the 5 kittens. The others were short-haired; 3 were black and 1 was yellow. Pearly also had a white area on one side of the mouth which reminded me of a pearl by his mouth. I had hoped he was a female cat and named him Pearl before the vet said he was a male. I decided to keep his girly name anyway. I don't remember how the "boy named Sue" turned out, but Pearl turned out fine with the girly name. No one has bullied him. He didn't use to be very vocal, but the last couple of years he lets me know he wants that food faster in his bowl. He is a bit of a chunky boy so I try to limit his food. He has become kind of a sneaky-naughty cat to the other remaining cat, Rascal, who used to be top cat, but Pearly slowly is trying to take over the position. So far, he has no known health problems, but he does seem to be getting a bit deaf in the last year. He is very lovable."

Pearly close-up

 a rare moment when the two cats act like they are friends

Beau-dacious

My gardening pal, Anne Hardman, is a fellow cat lover as well. Her kitties all stay indoors for their safety, but even inside cats have "cats in gardens" moments!

Anne writes: "This is my Maine Coon kitty Beau lounging in my greenhouse window. Leave it to this sweet giant to find the primo spot for sunbathing! It might be cold outside, but he is happy to settle in with my miniature orchids..."

She previously shared her kitty Max with us: http://catsingardens.blogspot.com/2016/09/max-bunny.html

Rumble in the Window Jungle

MowCow lawn services (https://mowcow.com/) shared this adorable photo of a sun-bathing tuxedo cat with us. "We got the kittens for Christmas. Rumble was adopted from a Renae, a warm-hearted grandmother, who fosters cats and kittens in Lynchburg, VA. Butters was adopted from the Lynchburg Humane Society, which has the coolest cat corners I've ever seen. (I can share pics if interested). The energetic kittens live with our family in Nokesville, VA. I'm waiting until they get a bit bigger before allowing them out into the gardens as I'd hate for the coyotes to get interested in them. Rumble is tuxedo, Butters the ginger."

Cats in a Stack

Jenny Sharp of Hartford, CT, shared this photo on her Instagram feed. She says, "Their names are Dobby (top) and Padfoot (bottom) and they are about 6 months old. Dobby is super snuggle and always wants to snuggle. Padfoot is mischievous and gets into everything."

 

"Padfoot gets along with our Corgi, Ziggy, and Padfoot plays with him (pictured below). We got them from a couple who rescued a stray cat who ended up being pregnant and had 8 kittens! "

Sunset Kitty

I recently bought this unusual cat image painted by Michelle Bailey of Takoma Park, MD. I asked her to share a bit about how she selected the subject.

Michelle wrote, "We often see our neighbors' cat, Belle, sitting in the front flower box of their house when we walk along Sherman Avenue. This particular fall day, the light from the setting sun onto the house was spectacular; especially the softly focused spot of light right around Belle. As a realist painter using mostly my own reference photos, I always have my camera ready. I instantly knew I would paint this."

You can view and purchase more paintings, including other cats, at her Etsy shop here: http://www.michellebaileyfineart.com/paintings-2/

Mellow Peep

Lynn Vismara of Wheaton, MD, shared this slumbering feline on a hot summer afternoon:
"We should all be sleeping like this today ‪#‎feelingthebreezeonmytootsies‬"

"She's a 13-year-old tortie-mix that was adopted from PetFinder.com. She came from a home of 16 other kitties, who were actually very well cared for. She used to sit on her previous owners chest when she was sick with cancer. She's named 'Peep' 'cuz we adopted her around Easter, and she likes to go under the covers and peep you."

Violets make the Best Pillows

Of all the plants I have on my windowsills, my big cat Santino prefers violets the best for napping on. I have to regularly de-hair the poor plants with a cat brush -- that is just from the leaves that are left after a long winter of window napping!

wake up, sleepyhead!

Leaves or Squirrels?

 Marie Mims Butler, zoo horticulturalist at the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk, VA, submitted this photo of her cats (from left-to-right) Mew, Sasha, and Beau. Marie says, "I see beautiful autumn leaves. Kitties see SQUIRREL."