Le Chat Botté

My sister asked me to draw a picture of her cat in either 2020, or 2021. I was working a lot at the time, so it took me until April 2022 to complete. I gave it to her for her birthday in May 2022.

She didn’t ask for a specific style or anything— just sent me several reference photos of her cat, Astro. So I took artistic liberty and decided to draw him dressed as the cat from Puss In Boots or Le Chat Botté as it is known in French.

I was inspired by Art Nouveau prints and graphic design. I used gouache to paint the landscape behind the title. The landscape alludes to the narrative: The cat takes the miller’s son, has him pose as the Marquis of Carrabas, and then they invite the king back to the castle they had taken from the Ogre through deceit.

I used ink wash to color the rest of it. The paper is bristol. I was very pleased with the job done by my local framer.

The motifs in the corners are my monogram and the year of creation, 2022.

Below are photos documenting the work in progress. As you can see in the final photo, I actually used metallic and glitter inks. These novelty media are difficult to capture in photos and scans, but are quite eye-catching in-person.