More than Nine Lives 1998-present – by Melody Weightman
Materials: Zinc plate etchings. Drawings were made directly on hard ground, then dipped in acid.
Each etching tells a story. A story of an individual cat. Dates on the print relate to the length of time the cat lived or was part of the artist’s life.
Im a right handed artist that produced each etching using my left hand – as a way of slowing down and simplifying the creation of the image, and giving me time to consider the character of the cats. The images made were not reworked or corrected. They include dyslexic mistakes by me which give a childlike quality.
My first coper etching where made in 1998, and my Zinc etching where made in 2002 onwards. Further cat prints I am working on are in lino and wood block as I am getting away from chemicals and going only water based.
I have done two etchings series. One on copper plates done in Canada, and one in the UK on zinc plates.
If you would like purchase these etchings or have it in hand bound book format please contact me at melody@melodyweightman.com or 07903102575
“A purebred Siamese cat that was independent and strong in nature. Had lovely blue eyes. She would fight off dogs that were four times her size. She jumped off the roof of our house to meet up with a local tom cat when she was six months old, and had a litter of kittens all looking like the local tomcat.”
“On the first day we had Suki as a kitten, he tied to catch a bird that was three times his size, with the bird taking out his eye. We took him to the vet to have his wound mended. He was known in the neighbourhood as king of the pack, and the neighbours use to call him “One Eyed Jack”
“A big fluffy tabby cat full of warmth and love. A very gentle cat that let us dress him up in baby clothes when we were little. When we were sad or crying he would go up to us and stare in our eyes, while sitting on our laps drooling and purring.”
“He was with us for a short time. We had him as a kitten, but was not streetwise, and got hit by a car. Tiger had beautiful tiger marks on his fur, and was full of play and fun.”
“She had thick fur that would go into dreads, which I needed to cut off because it was hard for her to groom. Queeny did not like other cats, and was a huge lap lover. She would sit on her favourite pillow, spending her day looking outside the window. She looked like a queen on her pillow.”
“A sleek black cat, which was half Siamese. Misty was his mother. He loved the warm and lounging in our laps, and was very close to my sister.”
Brought home in a lunch box when my Dad was working on a late shift. He found her wandering outside and hungry. She had beautiful eyes like diamonds, and was very close to my mother.
“A big cuddly cat. He would never meow, and would only make little noises when he was being naughty. Bopper would follow you everywhere and was very playful. The neighbours called him a Russian Blue, describing him as a prized cat to have. Bopper ran away when we moved so I don’t know when he died”
Melody Makes It 