08/08/2026. How it began.

This is a 20x20cm square canvas. Barely big enough to hold a decent-sized sandwich, but which I’m forcing myself to use because learning curve. I’m maintaining the non-cute cat theme, but I need always to start with a convincing cat shape. This is Charlie who could just about cover this with one hefty foot.

At this stage, the white area is unpainted and the background dilute, water-soluble oil paint (black). The cat is black and I’m going for a black/white reversal.

So here we are and, yes, that’s a single eye in the middle of his face.

Quite a lot happened between the cyclops and the eyes below. The Egyptian theme is beginning to take shape but the composition is unsatisfactory. The eyes are actually made of light card, painted and cut out to stick onto the canvas.

We’ve reached the fish stage here, and I’m regretting not using acrylics, which would have given me a much firmer surface on which to apply layers. I should say that the studio is around 34C at the moment, which is cooler than it has been in recent days. I actually put the canvas in the fridge overnight a couple of days ago to see if that would help the paint solidify. I’m not sure it did.

The image now is going through a kind of deconstruction while I figure out how to deal with these eyes and to make the story of the barely visible cat. With four black cats who just disappear when the light goes, and a tabby who capitalises on dappled shade in the garden, it’s one I know well. I hunted for one a good 15 minutes before the TV screen blinked.

Where I’m heading is two Egyptian-inspired eyes hanging there in the black background like space ships. I’m working on a way of suggesting the rest of the face with the use of paint texture rather than pigment, and detailing the ‘eyes’ to bring them forward. As I’m probably stuck with the WSOs, I suspect extra quantities of patience will be required! I’m also keen to maintain the surrealism of the one central and very stylised eye, which, from the evidence below, it’s clear I’d forgotten. Another good reason to make contemporaneous notes on a public platform.

9th August, 2026. Was it only yesterday I began this?

I’m quite drawn to the Egyptian iconography, but only if it serves the prevailing theme, which is cats treading a fine line amongst all the possible stereotypical representations. There’s no place for cute or photographic, photorealistic or cartoon in this series, and so this painting follows from the previous white-on-black piece showing two cats with heads turned but with only one stylised eye each. This time, I want the cat or cats to be shadow-in-shadow but with the eyes barely anchored to any obvious bodies.

I’m regretting my choice of water-soluble oils as the surface stays sticky and can’t be painted over easily, if at all. It does, however, allow for easier relocation of the collaged eyes, which I have cut out of heavyweight paper and painted or inked in situ.

As I see them now, detached from my painter’s perspective by photography and the painting’s position on a screen, I’m suddenly reminded of a 1970s sci fi series, Battlestar Galactica, that seemed to run for years but only lasted one, in which the characters were the descendants of (our) ancient Egyptians.

The eye on the right (settle down, this isn’t a HoC vote) is better formed than the first, and the first is still too sticky to edit, although I like its ‘legs’. WSOs really test my patience.

The image below is the same as the one above but with ink edits to the eyes and a digital edit to the background using Paintshop Pro. I’ve clipped those out using Snipping Tool, which I think came with Windows 11, to make separate images for video purposes. Now they look like sentient leafhopper nymphs, the one on the left newly emerged and slightly surprised.

The question now is whether/how to shoehorn the cat theme into this. My original thinking was to make these images barely visible and this might still be possible, but it’s going to be both a compositional and a technical challenge.

Inserting the cat (above). This really didn’t work out well and I painted it out, along with the white eye. On the positive side, I discovered that a cat’s nose planum and its chin can be described as a figure of eight if that takes your fancy. And it’s also the symbol for infinity which seems consistent with the idea of cats as rather esoteric creatures that could easily be seasoned time/space hoppers. The symbol should be on its side and again, cats have got this because so are they, most of the time.

This leaves me with an eye I don’t quite know what to do with and that should probably be left alone in the absence of a stunning idea out of the blue. Or in our current circumstances, the shimmering heat mist of a desert mirage.

While I’m contemplating this, I’m going to let it loose on the internet; a tiny Egyptian cat’s eye masquerading as a space ship with some rather unusual design specs.

Launching now …

© Suzanne Conboy-Hill 2026

Footnote: I don’t know what the WordPress developers were thinking, but they’ve somehow managed to take this app from the best available to an absolute user’s nightmare.