Today's Earth Day edition of the Wall Street Journal has a cat cartoon of mine. This cartoon actually has a couple of themes, or keywords, that could be associated with it: cats. technology, ring tone, relationships. Sometimes a little bit of serendipity occurs and a cartoon could just as easily fit in a technology mag as well as a cat lovers publication and a women's magazine. And, like some cartoons, there is a bit of a personal touch in the drawing.
I was thinking that you can put anything on your ringtone these days, and so the gag was a natural. The cat "Sebastian," was modeled after my sweet Bertie, a tiger cat of ours who hung out with me in my Brooklyn studio, while our other 2 cats slumbered the day away in the bedroom. He was a great cat, who fought diabetes the last five years of his life. We had to give him injections twice a day.
He passed away a couple years ago. So, it's nice to pay a little personal tribute in a cartoon. I named the cat Sebastian just because it seemed like a funny name -- and more cat-like than "Bertie."
Maybe five years ago, Bertie was on my board. This is, literally, a board that I draw on. He was startled (by some noise outside -- probably a garbage truck going over the Pacific Street speedbump right outside our apartment), and he scrambled away, scratching the living hell out of the board. The board surface was ruined. So, I flipped the board over and started using the other side. I still draw on it, and the deep scratches are still there. I'll always use it, of course, and think of Bertie -- and of all of our other sweet cats (Gus, Opie, Max) who have come and gone.
Above: From a few years back, going clockwise; Bertie, Opie, Mike.
I better go and pat our three current cats: Roo, Sam & Trout now ....
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