A couple weeks back, I took pictures for my Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers pint glasses. So after much delay, I finally filled the pint glasses with milk, set them on the table, and Tiziano and Torre had a heyday.

Afterward, I went to my trusty computer and downloaded the images. The sun was blaring through the window. The cats were feeling lazy.

Tiziano curled up in the sun on my desk. A few minutes later, Torre was lying next to them. An almost Yin/Yang pose between them.

Beautiful and content. I grabbed my camera. I had to capture that sweet moment before they would jump off the desk and start pouncing on one another, hissing and growling. *snap*. There it was.

Yesterday, I was feeling extremely stressed out. I had to deal with U.S. customs forms to Canada, despite that free trade agreement we have in North America. My Canadian CD distributor was unavailable to help me. And the "help" section of the form was filled with useless jargon that didn't bring me any closer to successfully completing the form.

Then I got a call from a telemarketer which sent me over the edge. I reported them as Violators Do Not Call Registry. My relief subsided and so I got on IM and started jabbering with friends to unwind. It did an okay job, but I needed a change. I spend too much time on the computer.

A couple days earlier I had thought about painting. So without much thought, I grabbed my acryllic paints and paint brushes. I found some unused canvas. I picked a picture off my website and printed it in Black and White. And I started painting.

It was weird. I'm not a painter by nature. Like many things, I hate editing. I just want to paint. But this wasn't like my first cat painting where after I came to that point where I was ready to stop. It was like something from Forrest Gump, "I just felt like running." But me, I just felt like painting.

Time blurred by with Battlestar Galactica, Season 2, in the background. I barely recognized it was on. I painted for about four and half hours straight trying to look past my usual self.

You see, usually, I have a problem when creating art, at looking at the big picture. That wasn't an issue here. My cat painting practically created itself.

When I felt it was done. And I knew it was. I stepped back and looked at what I created. Wow! I was impressed. Did I do that? I loved it!

And here it is: