Tahverlee

Tahverlee is a painting of the codes of an exquisite tabby queen who sojourned at Herrin Animal Control, where I volunteer, for many months. At the start, although not feral, Tahverlee did not even want to come out of her compartment, and if you tried to touch her, she would leap and lunge away from you. She occasionally would come out to explore, and spent a couple of weeks at large in the old shelter trailer, living her life atop the trolleys. 

Tahverlee was a long-stay cat, because of her edgy behaviour just on the edge of not being adoptable. The day she first allowed me to stroke her, and on the day she was out for exercise and circled me on the floor and sat herself next to me, I almost wept with joy and relief. I fell in love with her over time, her delicate bone structure, her refined marks, her luminous eyes. She and I became great friends through the months. Finally, Valley of the Kings, a wild-animal sanctuary in Wisconsin that also gives a home to feral cats, made a bid for Tahverlee. She now lives in a beautiful place with first-rate care, outside access to sunlight and green shade, and surrounded by the spirits of living wild beings including wild cats great- and small-bodied.

((A reel of the three-dimensional artwork with details on the sides is posted to my Instagram grid.))

Tahverlee is currently on view in the lobby of Herrin Animal Control. If you buy the painting, half the sum will go to support the shelter and the other half will be sent by me to Valley of the Kings :)