Awakening, a Block Print Dedicated to My Prince and Princess

"Awakening", block print © B.E. Kazmarski

Quote reads: “‘Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.’–Anatole France. Dedicated to my prince and princess and all those since who’ve awakened their part of my soul.”

One last block print from the existing collection…”Awakening” was inspired by my close companions Kublai and Sally who ran the household together for about 12 years and who actually slept curled like this.

Detail of Kublai's face

I had seen the quote in a number of different places, and of all the quotes about how animals fill our souls this one, the concept of awakening, I found most moving. These two cats, especially Kublai, the black one, were a major part of my awakening not only to animals but to love in general.

Aside from the fact that they were both loving, friendly and social, they were complete opposites in the way they expressed this love and were as different in temperament as they were in color and texture as the loose reference to yin and yang illustrates.

Detail of Sally's face

In their own ways they nurtured about 30 foster cats of widely differing ages and social abilities, just as they nurtured me in the years they shared my life.

“Kublai” is somehow derived from the word for “prince” in Sanskrit, and “Sally” is derived from the word for “princess”—Sarah—in Hebrew.)

Detail of quote lettering and border

The image is 18″ in diameter, and I enjoyed following the inspiration to combine the image of the two cats with the decorative border simply made of shapes and patterns that were both attractive and easy to cut in a block print.

As with other block prints, I have printed this on just about anything that will hold still long enough. Available printed black only or with hand-colored border, print only, matted with circular mat, or matted and framed.

I have this posted in my Etsy shop, and as my opportunities for printing outside arise I’ll be printing more of these on various items.

Also, I finally have all my current block prints posted on Etsy. Visit these galleries for more information:

Linoleum Block Prints

T-Shirts

and a few entries in Household.

Now on to some new designs!