Cat at Night in the Old Neighbourhood Canvas Print

The cat sits on the landing at top of the stairs and looks at activity in the night. I took this picture on a balmy night in April 2015. I was intrigued by the shadows and light, the patterns of the railing, siding and a streetlamp pole, the organic form of the cat in a backdrop of golden light from the street lamp. Night photos can be so expressive. Unique camera textures, blotchy hues and pixelated areas of colour are in situ effects which happen due to the way the camera interprets light. This is illustrated in the way the cat becomes part of the shadow of the landing due to the mottled patches of blue and purple flowing into one another. I did not do much post-processing here, just a bit of overall fade correction effect which gave the colours some zing. As a visual artist I was a painter for a long time, taking photos for practical and artistic uses but mainly as a side interest. Over the past few years photography has become my favourite expressive medium, and the camera is now an appendage. I’m quite fascinated by the painterly effects you can get using the camera as a painting tool. Blurs, blotches, pixels, contrasts remind me of impressionistic brushstrokes and pointillism, or dots of colour, which is not surprising since cutting edge artists of the 1800s were pioneers in the art of painting the effects of light – imagine what they would have done with a modern camera! In fact the camera came into more popular use around that time, and would have had an influence on the impressionists and other artists. This is my cat Rajah, a brown tabby Maine Coon mix, domestic cat or house cat (Felis catus), overlooking part of his domain. Rajah came into my life as a rescue cat sixteen years ago. He was about a year old, abused and quite sick with infection, and for the first few days I wasn’t even sure he would live. But he did, and eventually got me trained to take care of his every need. He’s now seventeen and gone deaf, but he’s adapted well and is very healthy and happy. He’s brought me a lot of love! Photo taken April 12 2015 in an old neighbourhood in the city of Gatineau (Hull) Quebec, Canada.