14 x 11 / print only

My wife and I lost two babies before our youngest was born. The losses occurred one year apart on November 17th, one hour apart; Madison was then conceived and born on August 18th. Madison's name has meaning; it is God's Little Fighter," it held so true as we nearly lost her three times.

She asked me, "Daddy, will you draw me a cat?" thus, Mouser was created. I also pulled inspiration from the poet William Butler Yeats in "The Cat and the Moon."

"HE cat went here and there

And the moon spun round like a top,

And the nearest kin of the moon,

The creeping cat, looked up.

Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,

For, wander and wail as he would,

The pure cold light in the sky

Troubled his animal blood.

Minnaloushe runs in the grass

Lifting his delicate feet.

Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?

When two close kindred meet,

What better than call a dance?

Maybe the moon may learn,

Tired of that courtly fashion,

A new dance turn.

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

From moonlit place to place,

The sacred moon overhead

Has taken a new phase.

Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils

Will pass from change to change,

And that from round to crescent,

From crescent to round they range?

Minnaloushe creeps through the grass

Alone, important and wise,

And lifts to the changing moon

His changing eyes.

I love that my courage has been found to embrace color as I see it; my wife and children are my heart and soul. I love them all so deeply.

I love Mouser...

I hope you enjoy it..