‘I am the Cat who walks by herself,
‘And all places are alike to me.
‘When I have done that, and between times,
‘When the moon gets up and night comes…
‘I go out to the Wet Wild Woods or up the Wet Wild Trees or the Wet Wild Streets, walking by my wild lone.
‘I am the cat who walks by herself and all places are alike to me…’
My heartfelt thanks to Rudyard Kipling whose “Just So Stories” told by our father in the African night, enchanted our childhood. (Loosely adapted from “The cat that walked by himself”.)
Equinoxio 
Great!😘💜😘
I love the words and the series of pictures
Glad you like the post Luisa. It’s a story I have been wanting to write and post for a long time… 🙏🏻💕🌹
🙏😘🙏😘🙏😘
💕
😻
You remind me of someone in our village who a friend called the cat who walks alone. It suited her.
Kipling was a good writer. Now when I started drawing this I had no idea about the text. The subject was a young female dancer who came with a her troop on the main square a few years ago. I did adapt her a bit from the photo. Then as I started posting the story came back to my mind.
All well Ellen?
All’s good, thanks. I sold a novel last month to a small press in London–I’m hoping it’ll be out next year. So yes, all’s ridiculously well here. And you?
Congrats. There are still people publishing real books… 👏🏻
Ridiculously well is good. Peachy.
We’re fine, thank you. rainy season has started which is not that fine. But the crops need rain.
Ye be good naw ye hear?
Love the art and the story.
🙏🏻 The final result is not exactly what I had in mind originally, but I think it works… Cheers.
I loved watching this come to life!!
Merci ma grande.
Mon plaisir, mon Brieuc.
👍🏻
What a wonderful post! I can only imagine how many memories this evokes in you!! Magical!
Thank you. Actually the drawing had nothing to do with Kipling. It’s only after I finished sketching and painting that I wondered what words I would put. And I saw my old battered copy of “les histoires comme ça”. Had to look for the original english version.
Cheers.
You are most welcome!! Stay well! 🙂
Are these your drawings, Brian? I love Rudyard Kipling, but my childhood was spend sinking into books about Moomin Family adventures 🙂
yes, they all are my drawings. Took drawing and painting back up after a 40 years stop. Don’t know why. And Kipling is a must for children. Moomin family. Will look them up… 👍🏻 (Apology again, this was in the spam…)
It was fun to get another drawing series! There hasn’t been one in a while.
Thank you Liz. As you probably have noticed I go through phases. I actually drew 3 sketches in a row a little while back. Two more to post. All well?
You’re welcome, Brian. Yes, I have noticed that you go through phases. We’re experiencing a heat wave at the moment, so I’m definitely wilted–but all is well other than that.
Heat wave now? Here the rainy season has just started… We’ve had hail two days in a row. (I was gonna write ‘hale’ but had a doubt…) 😉
Yes, pretty much our one week of summer. 🙂
Ha! Ha! Surely you must have a bit more? With or without mosquitoes?
That would be with mosquitoes and black flies and no-see -ems. At least we don’t have fire ants or scorpions.
Hmmm. We do have scorpions. Not too often in this house but once in a while. Which is always a concern when the grandkids come here. (Though they probably have some in their house too).
Take care Liz
You, too, Brian.
well
done
😸
Meow.
Great stuff, Brian!!
Thank you. That sketch was difficult. I don’t know why. Then the words came down easy. Already written. 😉
You are talented in that you can do both, draw and write! They are quite different areas of the brain to utilise and you do them both well!
Thank you. I guess I was just lucky to have good teachers in both? 😉
Teachers who nurtured your inner talents -yes.
😉
We’ve all had good and bad teachers right? Who were your best teachers?
My Modern history and Geography teachers. A Senior english teacher wasn’t bad either.
Good topics. You were lucky. (But then, one realizes there was only a handful, right?) 😉
Yes, absolutt!
Wonderful…
I thought you might like it.
Purrrrr fect 😉
🙏🏻 🐱
I thought of Catwoman.
Yes, indeed. A mexican catwoman.
I didn’t know up until now you could draw so well.
Thank you. My mother taught me. She was a great sketcher and painter. Way beyond what I can do. Funny thing I stopped sketching 40 years ago. No time. Then I picked up again, and realized my hand remembered. 😉
Indeed, it does remember:-)
Same goes for music. Do you play any instrument?
I wish I did. When we lived in Uganda, I wanted an electric guitar and so, my dad ordered it. It got lost due to the coup that happened just around the time in reached.
An electric guitar? Well, well… So you were there when Idi Amin Dada made his coup. Mbaya sana.
I was there when Milton Obote was overthrow, in the years after Idi Amin.
Not good years. Obote was not easy but Idi Amin was crazy… What an experience.
Turbulent years, no doubt. I lived through a coup d’é·tat during which I had to crouch under a table to dodge bullets.
Why am I not surprised? Africa can be so much Beauty and so much… violence. (Obote was no piece of cake either…) Kwaheri sassa.
He wasn’t. So I read later. I was a teen at the time of his overthrow. Africa can be, yes, both.
Agreed. Totally.
Il/elle marche seul, mais évolue avec tes mots.
Merci pour ce partage Brieuc
Bonne soirée
La version Française est sympa: “Je suis le chat qui s’en va par les chemins mouillés du bois sauvage, remuant la queue et tour seul.” Bonne nuit Mélie.
PS. As-tu lu les histoires comme ça à ton fils?
J’ai lu beaucoup d’histoires à mon fils. Aujourd’hui, il préfère les jeux vidéo et je dois insister pour qu’il lise 😀
J’imagine. C’est difficile. Si on insiste trop, ils vont faire une phobie à la lecture, si on n’insiste pas… ils jouent encore plus á la vidéo… Bonne chance.
Beautiful drawing. Didn’t know you could draw. Very well done and great inspiration from Rudyard Kipling. Really enjoyed how you took us through the process from sketch to colouring, and articulate choice of words. I got the sense of a child-like subject, a girl who likes to have fun and that side of her comes out when night falls. The night always brings out mysterious things. Hope you are well 🙂
Very true about the night. The subject was a young dancer who came for a performance nearby with her colleagues. I asked her for a picture and she said yes. Very smiling. Took poses. Good inspiration.
To me it is also good to keep a record of my process. (To make less mistakes the following time!) 😉
Hope all is well with you?
That is great she was game to pose for pictures, and smiling with poses too. Keeping a record of your processes is wise. You can always look back and see how far you’ve come
All is well. Writing and trying to write more. I find the most creative, magical inspiration comes from when I am not stressed, and more so when I am having a good time. I think you can relate 😊
Dancers are artists, and artists are used to… the limelight. I took several of of her colleagues too. I think for them it is part of their performance.
Yes, stress and toxicity are an unavoidable issue, right?
Breathe. Smile. Breathe… 😉
Performers are a part of the limelight and for many of them that’s probably where they feel most free and…themselves. It’s probably why so many of us are enthralled by performances, whether in a theater or on the street.
Stress is always there….or at least the triggers of stress are always there. It’s about managing it all.
Agreed on both counts.
Looking forward to seeing more of your sketches and drawings. And most certainly, photography 🙂
Kam sia, Peng Yu. 😉
Same to you, my friend 🙏🙏🙏
MY apologies Mabel. Your comment seems to have gone to Spam. Why does WP do this? Grrr. Hope all is well with you?
That’s okay. It happens. Gremlins out to get you sometimes 😄 I’m doing okay over here. Hope you are doing alright.
Glad you’re ok. I hope the racist incidents have stopped?
In lockdown over here… Haven’t been out much at all. No racist encounters of late.
One advantage of lockdown right? You don’t make nasty encounters. (Don’t make nice encounters either though) 😉
so you can do Home office without problem? How’s your morale? Lockdown can affect you.
I love working from home. It’s worked out so well. Morale-wise? Honestly never been better – one of the different, weird ones. Being different is not a bad thing.
Different is fine. aren’t we all unique? (Who wants to be like everyone?) Cheers Peng Yu.
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Fabulous work, as usual, mon ami! J’espère que tu va bientôt voir ta Paris bien-aimée. 🇫🇷
Ma très chère Julie. I was getting concerned about you until I saw your post in my mail. As you know I will take my time reading it. C’est á déguster tranquilement…
Croisons les doigts our flight is booked and confirmed for early July. I will let you know once we’re safely there. Biz.
Nice man 👍 I like the story and the progression of each sketch for each line of story told
Thank you. (You can also note some of the changes from pencil to ink to paint.) 🎨
Absolutely
Kipling was part of my childhood too, I loved the way he could take me into exotic places and stir my imagination, which is clearly what happens for you in some way, love the imaginative drawing.
It happened the other way round: when my father closed the book after telling us a story I was inside the exotic place. There were spitting cobras and pythons in the garden. Nasty monkeys. Dolphins in the sea by the lunch table. Not until I went to University in Paris did I realize I’d been living inside the book…
Nice
Thank you.
Your welcome
this is truly wonderful – you did the pictures?
The drawing and painting? yes. I’ve taken the habit of shooting at different stages. To mark the progression.
You are an amazing painter! Loved the story you added 🙂
Thank you. Kipling really added the story… 😉
Lovely Brian, a feline metamorphosis.
Hi Paul. Greetings from Paris. A strange feeling of going back to a parallel universe. Masks. Bikes running pedestrians over. Eerie and dangerous. Not to mention Macron’s heath pass which I can’t get, though “Pfizered”, coz the French can’t read non-UE codes. The brave new world has arrived… All set for your move to B.?
Welcome back, Brian. Things are very strange these days, I imagine you’ll have been experiencing some anti-covid lockdown protests, if news reports are accurate. This is the future, the vaccinated versus the non-vaccinated – and then the vaccinated from outside the 27. Almost ready for the off, should be in Brussels by Friday, maybe Saturday all being well.
Friday? Tomorrow then? Bienvenue à Bruxelles. Have a Kriek for me on the PLace de Jonkeere… 🍻
Have fun in Paris, which will soon only be an hour away on the train! I’m looking forward to that.
You will most certainly be able to come to Paris more than before. (Just mind the bikes and electric scooters. Crazy)
Wonderful drawings! They are very detailed!
Thank you. Glad you liked it.
You’re welcome!
Love your step by step drawings, great work! =^..^=
Thank you. (Love how you “did” the cat. never seen that before. =^..^=)