Wow, if youād like to see what kind of magic can come from pink, black, white, and other colored pencils, you have to watch the āI Love to Draw Catsā YouTube channel. Each video follows artist Beverly Garland as, starting with a blank page, she sketches a beautiful cat from a photo. And as she draws, she tells the catās story.Ā
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Beverly’s lifeās work is perfectly suited to her mobile lifestyle. Beverly lives on the road with her husband, in a converted school bus.Ā How wonderful to have an artist devote her talent to bringing the beauty of cats alive on a page. Letās find out more.
Mewla: Beverly Garland, welcome to our website!Ā Tell us, what inspired you to begin drawing cats?
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Beverly: The question could almost be, what inspired me to start drawing, period. I struggled with depression and a series of personal setbacks in my late 30s and 40s, and stopped making art for about a decade, even though it had been my livelihood. My 5 cats were a big part of my life, though. I was very active with trap-neuter-return/cat rescue and went to grad school to study big cat conservation. I wound up writing a thesis about feral cats, instead.Ā
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Later, I spent a few years as a full-time in-home caretaker for my grandmother, who was disabled by a stroke, so returning to art was a good form of self-care. It was intimidating to get back into it knowing that my skills would have rusted a lot.Ā
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One day, I tore out a page from a vintage chemistry handbook, intending to do some mixed media art. With my pen in hand, I felt waves of resistance and discouragement, so I gave myself permission internally to do something that I might judge as poor quality for me. What came out was a quirky cartoon-style black cat. It was charmingly imperfect. I posted it to social media and one of my friends immediately asked to buy it. That began a little series of āChemistry Catā drawings and commissions, including a couple of t-shirt designs.
Mewla: Iām very impressed, Beverly. Itās not easy to overcome depression and return to your art. And now you make so many people happy by creating beautiful portraits of their cats. Such a wonderful story!
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I know that my kitties have helped me and many of our cat community members deal with depression and/or Ā physical illness. Iām curious, what inspired you to begin drawing cat portraits?
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Beverly: Thatās its own story! In 2014, I was traumatized by the tragic death of an adorable cat named Rufus while I was visiting his guardians, who were my dear friends. Another friend helped coach me through an exercise to release the trauma of the event. At the end of that exercise, I came to a realization that honoring the love between humans and animals needed to be an important part of my life.Ā
Art was the most accessible way I knew how to do that. That evolved into color-pencil portraiture in 2018, which was the perfect sort of business model and art medium to do in a compact space while living full-time on the road in a converted school bus.
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Mewla: Your art truly is a wonderful way to honor the relationship between people and animals. Ā Did you always plan to be an artist, or when did you begin drawing professionally?
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Beverly: Everyone told me I was going to be an artist growing up, and I was often asked to create posters for school or church events from the time I was twelve. While I did one year of fine art school in college, I switched majors for fear I wouldnāt be able to make a living at it.Ā
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Despite no art degree, I managed to carve out a living as a commercial artist. I first got paid to make art at my work-study job making posters and flyers for campus events my freshman year of college. Right after college, I painted props and backdrops for a special event company. Then I got an internship at a computer game company doing 3d computer art and animation, which continued for many years until I got a repetitive stress injury and had to switch to more managerial positions.
Mewla: Iām glad you were able to return to drawing and use your talent in a way that works for your body and that brings joy to so many cat guardians. Cats are not easy to draw!
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Is there a particular part of a cat that you feel is most important to capture accurately to portray his or her character?
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Beverly: Definitely the eyes and overall face. Thatās where I begin each portrait. Itās the most recognizable part for many pet guardians, and I like to capture it early on so I can relax and know the rest of the portrait will be fine.
Mewla: Did someone or something inspire you to tell each catās story as you draw?
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Beverly: It was 100% my husbandās idea. Heās been my business advisor through this whole process. He saw that I was already making videos to record the drawing process, and knew it would be a meaningful touch to add to the story.Ā It has made the portraits even more special for me as well as for my customers.Ā
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Mewla: Tell us more about your fur babies.
Beverly:Ā We have four youngish cats who live on board the bus with us.Ā We also carry two little wooden boxes of cat cremains. One is for my orange cat, Sidney (who died in 2017) never got to live with us on the bus, but would have loved it. The other is for my calico girl, Galactica, who was our first ābus cat.ā Galactica is also the āmodelā for my portrait business logo.
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Mewla: The portrait business logo is beautiful, and I had wondered who was the model. Galactica will live on forever.
If a reader would like for you to draw their cat or cats, do you have advice about what types of photos they should take of them?
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Beverly: The ideal photos have good detail and lighting. However, if low-resolution photos are all someone has, I can work around that, especially if itās for a dearly departed kitty and there just arenāt any more photos. At least one should show the overall pose youād like, and that could be sitting, standing, or lying down. I also need one or two photos of the face that show off the markings and the eye color. Really, the more photos I have to draw from, the better, in case thereās no one perfect photo and I need to use details from several. I also have customers send me candid photos so I can include those in the video as Iām narrating the catās life story.
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Also, potential customers should know that since I can only work on portraits for a few hours a week, there is a 2-3 year waiting list.
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Mewla: Thank you very much for telling us about your amazing work, Beverly — Please share your website addresses with us!
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Beverly: Youāre so welcome! It is an honor to share my story with you. My YouTube channel is really the best place to see my most current portraits and videos, but I also have a website atĀ ilovetodrawcats.com that explains how the commission process works.
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Thank you so much, Mewla!
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My website is:Ā ilovetodrawcats.com
My Youtube channel URL is: https://www.youtube.com/@ILoveToDrawCats
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Click the video below to seeĀ Beverly in action. Would you like to learn about more Beverly’s cats? Then click Here
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Cool drawings!
Excellent artical Mewla and Beverly Garland. Very interesting and I love your drawings.
Enchanting! The heart of an artist is intimately connected to the Source of Life. It’s as if Beverly is interacting with the essence of each cat and sharing that subtle information with us who don’t have eyes to see the intricacy of their spirit. The drawings take me into a beautiful surreal world where felines rule.
I agree The essence of each cat is captured in Beverly’s portraits. Thank you Celinne!
A lovely profile of a lovely person. Thanks, Mewla, for this kind interview!
Thank you for stopping by and commenting, Robin!
I love this article and interview. Beverly is an internet friend now for many years and her story continues to inspire me!
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Pauline!
The Adventures of Beverly and her bus cats always bring joy to my day! Thanks for the story.
Thanks for stopping by, JohnGL!
Those portraits are so true-to-life. I love them! Thanks for the article about Beverly.
Glad you liked it!
Thank you, MaryLou!
What beautiful drawings! The tabby in particular is so detailed, every hair is perfectly drawn. I look forward to warching more of your portraits when I have a chance, Beverly.
Thanks for the comment!
Thank you, Paulan!