These I did not draw today.
I was reading cat story blog Katzenworld and was reminded of this little leaflet I made back in 2007. It features cat stories from cats I knew personally and I enjoyed illustrating it. The texts were clumsily printed and cut and pasted (with actual see through tape! I knew nothing back then) and xeroxed and then the lines were drawn and it was xeroxed again on green sturdy paper and coloured by hand with pencils. I send them to some friends and family but was both very shy and ambitious about them.
Only eight of these exist.
Back then I thought I might make this a series and people could become a member and tell me their stories and pay upfront for the postage. Much like the Poezenkrant which is a non-news cat paper appearing irregularly since the 1970’s.
But Spring 2008 I got ill and I never made a second edition, even though I had gathered some stories.
Also, the pressure of executing an ambitious plan and trying to make beautiful things for people I know personally was too much for me.
But cat stories, gotta love them! And I really enjoyed drawing these, thinking up the frames and subjects.
As you may not read Dutch here are the subjects of the articles:
- There’s my shorthaired Birman cat Lillepoes who is always worried whenever someone takes a bath.
- Also, she learned to eat very quietly when taking food from the bowl of the other cat -which she’s not supposed to do!
- There’s a musing about cat names and how cat always have other names than the ones their passport says. My cat Lillepoes’ real name apparently is “chocolate face” or “stinktoes” or “come-and-get-it!”.
- Assepoes was my grandmother’s cat, she supervised the puzzles my nan did.
- Witje takes charge whenever someone makes a phonecall.
- Ama got accused of being mentally disturbed, by a vet no less! Later on she got lost and put in kitty jail but was rescued by her owner who wrote me a letter.
- Poem was 16 years old and couldn’t hunt any more but the day she found a mouse that Lillepoes had killed, she “hid” the mouse so quickly nobody knew where it had gone. She was oh so proud!
- One day a wild kitten walked into the woods surrounding my cabin and totally had no clue. He fled into the grass which turned out to be a pond and later on climbed into a shrubbery and sat in a birds’ nest. It was the weirdest thing. I caught it and it was socialized and put up for adoption.
- Then there’s one article about the research all cats conduct into gravity. And how they hide all their testing material under the couch.
The name is “Snorrepot” because “snorren” is the purring sound cats make (akin to ‘snoring’) with the emphasize on their contentment.
Other things can “snor” too: the stove or old fashioned mopeds. It’s also the plural of ‘moustache’ in Dutch which is logical because cats purr contently through their moustaches.
“Pot” is a vessel to keep tea or coffee in (or plants). Tea and coffee pots can be on top stoves and radiate happy homey associations.
The full title is: “Snorrepot, little cat stories to go with your tea”
(‘tea’ in Holland always means a cup of tea.)
I really wanted it to be friendly and homely.
I never made a second edition but I did use the name Snorrepot as a nickname when I became a member of the international knitting community Ravelry.com in Spring of 2009. 4 million members that community now has! A lot of them love cats.
On the back there’s a wordplay: “Snorrepost” where “post” is mail and I thought to feature letters from readers.
I really enjoy seeing this again and I find it funny to name this blog post “Snorrepost”.
Seeing this I’d love to make another edition. But the ambition is already making grabby hands towards my peace of mind. So for now I just want to share this with you. If I ever meet you in real life I’ll show you the original, it has one other page which I couldn’t show here.
Go visit Katzenworld for cat stories 🙂
snorrepost 