16/08: CATS!

My mum is visiting for a few days from tomorrow so I made a huge effort to get the current double cat commission finished today .... but it wasn't to be.    The cats are mostly black and I find black or white animals usually take so much longer than 'brown' for some reason.   Anyway, I've emailed the client with a progress report and will await feedback before finishing the portrait next Tuesday/Wednesday.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures I took at the Cat Sanctuary yesterday.   I have been there before but specifically for a halfday pastel workshop with Vic Bearcroft followed by a half day photo opportunity.  We were able to get right up to the perimeter fencing on that occasion and position the camera lenses between the wires to get the best possible pics.   Yesterday the centre was open to the General Public for a fund raising event and so we were all held further back from the enclosures and had to take our chances trying to focus the cameras to avoid the wires.  My camera (photography skills) aren't quite up to that challenge but I did get some pictures that will be good enough to work from.

A couple of the 'two legged' species

front

and back

the sanctuary is close to a small airport at Headcorn which offers adventure days .. parachuting, sky diving etc.   There was lots going on yesterday ...

but would these 'thrill seekers' be so keen if they realised what was next door to the airport???   Many of the big cat enclosures have high wire fences which slope inwards at the top to prevent the cats climbing out ... but they don't have roof wiring so they are open topped.       If they were unlucky enough to be blown off course the parachutists could be in for a nasty shock when they see what's waiting below :-)

This didn't work out very well as I was filming into the light but you can just make out a parachutist above the tree behind the tiger here:

Waiting for Supper??

Despite the problem with the wire fencing spoiling the photos a bit, I was able to get more than enough usable ones - here's one of the white lionesses who arrived at the Centre in May to hopefully breed with the resident white male lion in due course.    She and her sister were very laid back about all the attention they were getting.

I also got lots of photos of the two Serval Cat kittens who were impossibly cute and playful.  But I think my favourite photo of the day is this one of the two brothers - I photographed them many times during my previous visit to the Centre but they were very scruffy then - going through a moult or something.   They looked much more handsome this visit. 

This is definitely on my 'to do' list ...

Right ... enough for tonight!   

I'll post a few WIP pictures of the two (domestic) cats during the weekend if/when I get feedback from my client and know if changes need to be made before I get to the final stages of adding whiskers etc.