Peace & Happiness

I did a commission of his 2 Bengal cats, and he recommended this clip to me. He was sure that I will find some semblance of truth in it... And I couldn't agree more! So the clip below is an introductory guide to owning a playful cat, who in my case loves catching and chasing lizards, paper (crunched) balls, and his latest craze, a teddy bear key-chain which, when thrown at a fast pace resembled a mini furry creature scrambling for its dear life. Angel plays fetch of course, fetching you the above mentioned prey so that you can release it for its apparent pleasure.

The funny thing is that when we kept the teddy bear toy in a box, he would  'guard' over it by pretending to sleep and flip on his back near the box, which inherently means sleeping on our notebook and pressing countless keys on the keyboard. Below are some of the "stills" of Angel.

Incidentally, Angel peed on the sofa bed so play
was suspended temporarily pending further investigation...

We were of course pretty angry with the "devil-in-disguise" angel, and he received some silent treatment from us. However, after some detective work, we concluded that it was done under duress. There were obviously two piles of shit, with one piece of the shitty business conducted earlier by Halo which was a tad ostentatious in terms of smell. The second piece of business was done in quite a bit of haste, with the last of his chocolate nuggets left on the step just before the exit of the covered litter box.

Angel at the remand centre

 As I happened to wake up late in the day Angel, who I'm sure had vowed at the spur of the moment never to ever deal in that area, decided to take his business elsewhere. We were pretty upset with him, as this was the second time in two weeks. We have to strip the mattress and cushions, scrub and spray smell-curbing chemicals and personal cologne , sun (which is hard to come by in the last couple of days), and finally add a touch of Bengay cream (actually it's for muscle ache) to sufficiently mask the stank of below-the-table business.

Angel relieved at the verdict

After serious deliberation, Angel was let off with a stern warning and found "not culpable in the first degree". We were away for a few days in the first instance and hence not around to be his efficient toilet keepers. He got away the second time as it was quite evident that he was under considerable duress and accepted that it was all a case of bad timing.We also refrain from calling Halo as co-defendant for this smelly episode.

An original commissioned catmaSutra painting
called "peace and happiness"
for Truffles and Silky, aka Paul and Helen

Here's Truffles...
It's a great thing that in commissioning the painting,
they have decided to go for the catmaSutra cats
rather than straight portraits of their cats.

Silky and Truffles

It's the spirit that matters...
Without the spirit, 
there is nothing else...

;)

Standing the test of time

The greatest thing a human soul ever does
in this world is to see something
and tell what he saw in a plain way.
To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.
~John Ruskin

Timescapes Timelapse: Mountain Light from Tom @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

Hundreds of thousands of impressions
from the invisible are wanting to come through you!

I get dizzy with the abundance. When life
is this dear, it means the source is pulling us.

Freshness comes from there. We're given the gift
of continuously dying and being resurrected.

catmaSutra cat art exhibition, From the Depths of My Lullaby:
Lotus Lullaby

He was an elderly fellow, tanned, sporting an earring, and carrying two bags, each sling across the shoulders. He walked with a limp towards us, but stopped half way as he spied a black and white cat in the furniture shop before the eatery. He made eye-contact with the cat and with his body gestures, which must be a language in itself to the cat, he strained to bend over, and putting his hand into one bag like a magician, he released a handful of dry colorful cat food pellets into a plastic bowl (seems like these two are already acquainted). Breaking into a little smile, he proceeded towards the eatery where I was eating my prawn noodle, and he started gesturing to the people in the eatery that he needed some money to feed himself. He went from table to table and met with the usual response. People averted their eyes and shook their heads. I've prepared a two dollar note and that would be my gift to him if he came by but he didn't. Randomly, he moved from table to table and before long, limped away...

I've "met" a few cats in my time (especially as i started when I was a kid), in some alley or by the road side. It is a language without words, an understanding of our inherent natures, almost. There are, of course, cats who are afraid and ran off the minute you catch their attention. One can only imagine how the fear got into them. Then, there are those who recognize the language, and like many similar instances, I find myself sitting on the pavement by the roadside stroking a purring stray cat. I would then run off to some 7-11 and buy a packet of cat food. That was my chance meeting with a cat, and by this chance, the cat was going to get a tasty meal. What is interesting is that some of these cats are already quite well-fed and it was there spending time with you simply because it wanted to.There was one black and white cat at Empress place that I remember quite fondly as it loves to sit on the lap... It's hard to leave them once you made the connection.

Our street cats

I have no name for what

purrs so perfectly

from out of our urban wild...

The elderly man was begging for food
and he feeds a stray on the street.

There is an understanding of
what it's like to be on your own,

or what it's like to be alone,

or what it's like to be poor and old

Take your pick

the one that purrs on the street

purrs straight into

the poor little heart.

And only the ones with

the heart can see.

My colleague and I were walking back from lunch one day when we almost bump into an old lady. She was trying to sell tissue packets to passers-by. We walked past her but turned around. We gave her $2 each and asked her to go have a good meal. We didn't need the tissue so we didn't take any. She was surprised and stood motionless for a while before saying her thank yous. That was our chance meeting with the old lady, and by this chance, she was going to at least get a decent meal.

Reason has no way to say

its love. Only love opens

that secret.

If you want

to be more alive, love

is the truest health.

~Rumi

;)

Freedom to choose

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress

can be judged by the way its animals are treated”
~ Mahatma Gandhi

Do we treat our animals well? How does our government view animals? If  I were to venture an answer, the answer would be they have no views. They are not significant enough unless they're the cause (or suspected of being the cause) of an epidemic, or there are complaints from the 'majority of Singaporeans' (one of the favourite phrases that you'll hear ... We have grown a lot as a nation, and yet in many ways, we have not grown at all... Sometimes you wonder... A woman feeds a group of stray cats, and the most common comments you'll hear is "Is this hygienic? Should we call the authorities?" There're so many hit-and-run cases regarding cats that you wonder about the nature of people.

Ever occur to you why some of us can be
this much concerned with animals suffering? 
Because government is not.  Why not? 
Animals don't vote.  ~Paul Harvey

Sat on my Ikea stool at the yard at 3 am, listening to music from my Ipod, eating sesame moon cake and drinking green tea, and talking philosophy (not much point with regard to politics). I think this phrase is true, '90% of what we feel is only our own interpretation', meaning that we are all addicted or attached to something, and finding means and reasons to justify them. We are all addicts, one way or another, and it's difficult to let go - to change one habit for another. It's hard because we normally try to replace a bad habit with a good one. Makes you wonder how we pick up all these bad habits in the first place; it's as if we are being subconsciously hypnotized (which may be true in more ways than one). Finished another painting today. It's rather an experimental one, called the "color of yellow". Slowing life down to exacting beauty. It's a beautiful way to live when the present is all you have.

 Angel, my blue Russian has taken an instant liking to a key-chain teddy bear that I brought home, and as we adjourned into the yard, he has taken upon himself to carry the teddy bear to near where we sat, half-looking at us, hoping that we'll play catch again. Haha, he's looking for it now although I have hid it before he pulls out the limbs...

peace ;)

catmaSutra Artees
10% goes to Cat Welfare Society

With animals,
we have the freedom to choose...
to love, protect, care  OR to fear, hate, abuse

How we choose

determines the kind of person that we are.

Nothing goes away,

we get better or we get worse.

;)

That ingredient of Life

"Someone said Brecht wanted everybody to think alike. I want everybody to think alike... Everybody looks alike and acts alike, and we're getting more and more that way." Andy Warhol commenting on social mechanization in 1963.

 Tomato-based catfish Soup

Makes me wonder how we are all the same and more interestingly how we are different. Seems like there is this special ingredient that is hidden in a capsule (so to speak) that is buried within us when we are born. Our goal perhaps is to find this capsule and unravel it before it dissolves away, or gets hidden by tons of other things that mean much less to us. Our body and our senses are very much the same. They are subjected to all kinds of distractions, temptations and naturally, an operating system that program us to be whatever nationality we are and all the associated quirks.

Adapted from Obedience School 101

 It's easy to see the special ingredient, it seems, if we are artists, musicians, or writers; whether we follow our 'calling' or give in to the 'programming sequence' is another question. Money, and security comes with the operating system especially if it's made in Singapore. It may be quite baffling when the special ingredient is not quite so apparent but it's there nevertheless. That's probably the main reason why we are different. Some people simply love watching TV above everything else (why not go into that industry one way or another), others may be gregarious in nature and the service industry may be a perfect match. Bottom line is, we have to consciously search for that buried capsule with our very own x-factor, and find a place in the world where we can fully utilize it, unravel it. That, I suspect, is part of the secret to happiness. When we are in our element, we can only get better.

No Parking on Rooftops

If we allow the operating system complete control, then inevitably, we'll get lost somewhere and we'll start to wonder where we're heading, and whether it's worth it. Many things that we seemingly need are not worth the trouble. Life can really be better with less, if what’s left is what you love.

;)

New cat art gifts and collectibles!

Catmasutra cat art is based on the real-life adventures of the artist and his two cats. The adventures begin somewhere between this reality and the dream world of imagination. It’s like an “in-between” world, a gap that perhaps the cats are the best navigators, and the artist a hitchhiker, grateful for the directions in a purely weightless realm. The world is never a mechanical thing, set in its course, bland and monotonous but it is always expanding with possibilities; It's up to us to see the full potential according to our own vision. No one else can think exactly how each of us think, or feel and for this reason, no other person or authority can judge what we really need to make our life more complete as ourselves. We must find out for ourselves what our nature needs to bring it permanent happiness. Then comes the harder part, to let go of our fears and find the freedom to be ourselves completely. This is the world of catmaSutra cats, a world made up of imagination and stories, of childish things, of fairy tales, mythmaking, and all the flights of fancy that grants this artist his
delight.

"The highest truth is something imagined,

not proved, and that it comes not in arguments

but in stories..."

Cat lovers alert! Now you can own a little piece of the latest Catmasutra cat art pieces on these cute, vibrant and adorable cat art collectibles! Filled with irrepressible charm & wit, the collection includes keepsake boxes, framed tiles, tote bags, tile coasters, cat art magnet.

More of the latest designs coming your way soon!