Bear was a loner when he came into my life. Formerly belonging to a couple who could no longer care for him the way he needed to be looked after as he is quite a senior citizen now, when common sense decreed he needed to be re-homed, it was me who won the prize.
He is now around 20 something years of age, yet remains agile and active, has a beautiful glossy black coat and a great appetite which maintains his solid weight around 7kgs – which for an old cat is just amazing. He’s also the most vocal of all my fur babies and often sounds like a cross between a parrot and a dog when racing around the house – the weirdest thing! It cracks everyone up when he does it – no one believes he’s the age he is.
I’ve done a number of studies of Bear because he’s so black and detail is so hard to capture – I keep looking for that magic formula. His bright yellow eyes glowing out of his round chubby face are the only way I can tell front from back at a distance and even close up sometimes. But in the sunlight – what first seems like an amorphous mass of black fur is in fact a rich mahogany undercoat with platinum highlights defining his proud shape with a rich depth of colour.
I will do a proper portrait of Bear one day but this was a lot of fun just playing around with sunlight and shadow and introducing Bear’s toy mouse for a bit of additional interest.
Footnote:
17 March 2020, 4.45pm My darling Bear was put to sleep. My heart is broken. He was about 25 years old which is a great old age for a cat but his time suddenly had come, his health was failing quickly and he was not strong enough to endure any treatment that would have maybe only added a few days to his already long life. There would have been no quality of existence for him. He now has a special shaded resting place in my garden where I pass every day and remember him. Planted on his grave is a yellow flowering Clivia to honour the colour of his gorgeous eyes – I look forward to seeing those blooms in Spring.
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