Gibbs is all about the food!
It wasn’t always this way, but Gibbs had a incident with Midazolam, a drug often used for sedation which led to personality changes. (See the article on various drugs for cats and humans — important for humans and pets!)
Two of our guys have had teeth pulled, so they are now all on wet food, which is why we can’t just leave a bowl of kibble for them all the time. Gibbs alerts us to feeding time, always a little ahead, of course. During work he hangs around Mitchell because he usually feeds them. When Mitchell calls “Lunchtime Munchtime!” Gibbs hits the hallway, and his butt bounces up and down and his tummy swings from side to side. It cracks us up watching him barrel down the hall toward the feeding area.
And he’s become a beggar! Especially at night. They get a can to split as a treat around 9pm, and Gibbs begins staring at Mitchell with a piercing intensity about an hour beforehand. We’ve tried to reason with him, and even shame him, “Gibbs you are not a dog… Begging is beneath the behavior of a good cat!” Our only relief is to keep a squirt bottle near the bed, and shake it with our warnings.
I really wanted to remember to take photos of the stages of this portrait, but I got involved and forgot! Unlike Yaman’s portrait, I used diluted waterproof inks over his pencil drawing, above, to begin to place shadows and color the light off-white fur colors. I also darkened some of these ink washes which doesn’t show well in the image.
I didn’t show the buildup of watercolors over this ink,
but layered them in much the same way I layered Yaman’s.
I am happy with his portrait!
Harmony cold-press paper was new to me:
I used a sample sheet from Hahnemühle.
It is great paper, and I now
own a 9×15 waterblock.
Waterblocks are nice because you
don’t have to tape the paper down.
Do you enjoy the stories of cat antics?
Tell me in the comments, and follow for more!
☾
©D. Katie Powell.
My images/blog posts may be reposted; please link back
to dkatiepowellart and drop me a note @dkatiepowell @aol.com.
D.Katie Powell Art 
I love the portrait and reading about your attempts to negotiate feeding time with Gibbs. Cats are so funny when it come to training their humans.
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Thanks Dan. It has gotten worse, because all of our cats had teeth pulled, so wet food for everyone! Our vet says this is happening — everywhere — and they are not sure why.
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One of our cats had a couple teeth removed, but when she was 16.
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It is hard on them! I just had one removed and am ready to sue the damn doctor he was so bad!
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You have such a handsome boy as your project! The portrait is lovely, Katie.
We have 5 cats and they are on 4 different kinds of cat food so they all eat in separate rooms. All I have to say to my husband is, “Can you put them away?” when it is breakfast/dinnertime. They all run to him, then run to their rooms. Then they scratch on the door until we can bring in their food. They are spoiled rotten and we are worn out. But I love my little ones! Yes, more cat stories!
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I am cracking up. Thankfully, with them all having lost teeth, they are no that bad. Each one misses one of the five meals in a day, because s/he refuses to eat THAT flavor — but in a day, each one ends up with a full can of food.
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It’s a lovely portrait. Are they sure it is not thyroid related? Sometimes hyperthyroidism can make cats act ravenous. I am sure the vet knows about that, but it sounds a lot like cats I have know with thyroid issues.
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Thank you so much — we did have him checked for that. He was knocked out with Midazolam — also known as Versed — which is no longer used in humans — it messes with your personality. My mom had it and was whacked. This is when his personality became obesessed with food, and he also is a bit confused a lot of the time now. He chases his buddies, plays, comes for scratches — but he is “off”.
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