An artist friend purchased a calendar and e-mailed her remarks today. I was so excited to hear from a fellow animal artist and author of several books! My portraiture style is very much in the fine art portraiture genre, though I do work in looser styles and different media, but I study the work of other artists all the time to inspire growth and change in my own work.

Chris Davis is one of those artists—I have one of her books, For Every Cat an Angel, which she sent after I lost my Peaches last year. I found her colorful, whimsical style so comforting for its lighthearted nature, and indeed that is the name of Chris’ publishing company, Lighthearted Press!

Here is what Chris wrote:

Bernadette, I sat down last night and read your calendar from cover to cover – it’s fabulous! Like a good book, I didn’t want it to end. Every cat lover should have one of these calendars. The stories are uplifting, and the notes and quotes you put on the calendar pages are helpful and inspiring.

I think you’ve created something very special here. Your stunning artwork jumps off each page. I enjoyed reading the additional info at the end, where you told more of each heartwarming story.

As an extra special gift, you included all those resources and important info at the back for anyone who shares their life with a cat. What a treasure! I’m delighted with this extraordinary work of art. I think all the love and care you give to your kitties was also given to this calendar…and it shows!

Congratulations, Bernadette – you’ve got a winner, here!

Cheers, Chris

www.lightheartedpress.com

And please visit Chris’ website to see her illustrated books! You’ll love them—and she’s working on a new one!

Read other reviews on my Reviews page.

Layla Morgan Wilde, host of Cat Wisdom 101, wrote a review of Great Rescues and you can enter a contest to win one just by commenting on her blog post!

Click this link: Christmas in July Contest

And don’t forget to look around and find the interesting and informative things Layla has to offer cat lovers. She was on The Daily Show along with Jackson Galaxy last week!

Mewsette, my erstwhile shipping supervisor.

We’ve organized our paperwork and packed up and sent the first orders for Great Rescues!

[Mom worked all day and it was really boring but we couldn’t distract her. Mewsette made sure everything was address, packed and labeled correctly; note that she can do this in her sleep.]

Now we just have to wait and see what people think. Please feel free to write your comments about Great Rescues on this blog, on the Reviews page or on any page on the site.

I have lots of stories to tell in addition to these, stories about more rescued kitties who live with the people in the calendar, more details about the portraits and details about the printing of the book itself. I photograph everything that happens during my day, why not this as well?

For now the book is available on my website and in a few local shops, but I’ll also post details about where else I have it available.

Thanks for visiting!