This year’s cat and Christmas tree strip is a bit different.
Tag / cat tree
Infinite temporal loop
Possibly the only cartoon strip published today that doesn’t mention Back to the Future Pt 2. Instead I used time travel in a slightly different way, creating a never ending temporal loop. This is regularly enacted in our house, with Bella in the hammock and Billy underneath her, playing with her tail.
Des Res
The last few weeks’ worth on strips have been very much drawn on the run, whenever I mange to snatch a few moments of drawing time at home, at lunchtimes, or during rehearsals. Especially during rehearsals.
Yes, I’m back on stage again, and after a fallow patch of doing rather staid old musicals that just don’t deserve the attention they get (The Sound of Music and the so-dire-I-didn’t-even-audition-for-it Carousel) The Hastleons are back doing a show which I think is absolutely wonderful and deserves a huge audience.
I’m playing the Monsignor, which means I get to play to my strengths: act a lot, sing a bit and do very little dancing. But the show really belongs to Deloris and the nuns.
Above: Sister Act in rehearsal – Deloris and the nuns face down Curtis, Deloris’ gangster ex-boyfriend. By happy coincidence, the Hastleons’ rehearsal hall is a deconsecrated chapel, we still sit on the old pews which are set around the edge of the rehearsal space. The pews you see in this photo, however, are prop ones originally built for Guys and Dolls.
If you’re able to get to Hastings next week, see this show. It’s going to be fantastic!
Living on the ceiling
This kind of practical joke is so much easier if you have claws.
This will be the last cat tree strip for a bit – it’s finally starting to get a bit warmer so the cats can go outside and play in real trees again.
Doing a Jeffy
I always liked those Family Circus cartoons where Jeffy would go out for a wander and you could follow the dotted line to see what his doings were. This is the cat equivalent – it’s a bit more acrobatic that Jeffy could ever manage, but what the hey? I’ve seen Bella chase her own tail up and down the cat tree much like this – it’s like a competition to find the longest distance between two points.
The curse of ears
Pounce
Sometimes a drawing comes flowing out of your pen that is just right. Panel 4 is one such drawing. That’s a T-shirt contender. I also had fun in the first three panels depicting Smith’s expression using just the eyes.
…and repeat
Just a record of standard cat behaviour. Bella’s favourite game, once she’s tired of chasing her mouse up and down every level of the cat tree, is to place her mouse directly behind one of the posts and then try to catch it by pouncing at the post with her front legs splayed either side of it. If she doesn’t make it difficult for herself it’s not worth doing.
Bnerk?
A tour of the tree
Just for comparison, here’s Billy and Bella’s new tree. It’s essentially the same as the one in the strip, except the balls have been knocked off the top seats already, and the den at the top of the tree has been relocated to another part of the room so they have a extra place to hide and scratch. Billy and Bella were, of course, observing the one week ignoring rule when this photo was taken