Hello Beautiful People!
I've just spent the better part of the past week putting the final touches on Catabet so it could be photographed by our reigning champ Dan Kvitka, proofed by my longtime friend Janet Harris, and sent off to the printer by the end of the week! I took advantage of a heatwave we were having earlier this week, and sat near the air conditioner while laying out the pages and working on the glossary. I am forgoing the dedication page in this book and having four glossary pages at the end of the book, so that I can provide information on each designer and clothing item or fashion term used in the book. There are even a few pronunciation aids for some of the more difficult words.
One nice benefit of having mostly anthropomorphized cats for the book is that I could easily have a group shot taken, which is going to be used on the back cover!
The only major change I made to the book was changing the name of our W character from Wallis to Woody, after discovering in my glossary research that Wallis Simpson was a buddy of Adolf Hitler. W is for Whoopsie! That was a close one! Woody is named for the much more palatable queen of punk fashion, Vivienne Westwood, pictured below.
Getting it to the printer this early will ensure that I'll have it in my hands much earlier than last year because the plan is to launch the book at my open studio event in October! Mark your calendars for the weekends of October 8&9 and 15&16 when I'll have books and all the original cats on display! This will be my second year participating in Portland Open Studios, a lovely event where over 100 artists in the Portland area invite you to see their workspaces. I usually have festive beverages and mini ping pong as well. The only thing missing is YOU!
And with that, I'll return to my kitties.
