cats love full bellies: meet jamie shelman

image copyright & provided by kindest permission of the artist

And that's why this print is titled, "Belly smackin good." I love it! If Elizabeth could I bet she'd high-five the dog after every successfully gobbled can of cat food.

This jolly scene is only one of many from the hand of Baltimore artist Jamie Shelman, whose Etsy shop is named The Dancing Cat for good reason. There you will see cats doing what they do best and what they do in their furry little dreams of domination: napping, bopping each other, fooling with a can of soda, dressing up as burritos. (You just have to go look.)

Jamie and husband/fellow artist Thomas Meyer both attended Rhode Island School of Design and have studied round the world. "More importantly (Jamie writes in her profile) we love the thought that our work can make someone happy even if just for a moment and possibly redirect their day or their lives in a positive direction. Tom and I, regardless of the black realities of the world that surrounds us, never pass thru a day without finding something ridiculous enough to make us laugh to the point of tears." And Jamie's drawing style, as free and gestural as kitties themselves, gets to the essence of fun in a few lines and a split second.

You should go over to Jamie's website too, and then their blog.