A friend was intrigued with a cougar partial skeleton scratchboard piece I did several years ago as part of a science illustration project (an image of which will eventually be on my gallery page) . She asked me to do something similar of her kitty for her young science-minded son, a project which kept getting delayed. Funny story (sort of). I hadn't communicated with my friend for several months but decided to start on this piece and surprise her. When I saw her last month, she informed me that this kitty - which was my model for the drawing - permanently disappeared during their move into a new house. Hmmm. I have really warmed up to this cute kitty - which by the way - is (or was?) a Maine Coon breed. Nice large paws and beautiful markings, with the most wonderful name: Thomas Violet. She assured me that her son would still love the drawing, kind of memorializes Mr. Thomas.

These two images represent almost-final-ready-to-transfer to scratchboard drawings. I ended up adding the ribs to the other side of his body and started sketching a background.