Bungle: I was one of seven pups born on Mansfield Road in London (my parents met on a beach, so the story goes), a couple of days before Halloween in 2021. When Christmas rolled around, I moved across the road and in with my now family: Monika aka “Mum,” her husband, and their two sons. They named me Bungle, but Mum says I should’ve been called Ernest because I am an earnest boy. I like to sleep, and I love to sit on a hill outside and watch the world go by. I also like balls. And running through the forest. Most of the time, I curl up by Mum’s feet while she draws. I am very scared of THE CAT. Oh, here he comes.
Eddie: I lived a good life before that mutt moved in. Sigh … I still have a pretty good life here. This is important: I like food. I love food. But I’m only fed three times a day and if they’re one minute late feeding me, I will MEOW. Who are they? Well, they love color and they always spread out paints and sketchbooks and fabrics for me to investigate. And they love animals. They fetched me from a cat sanctuary back in 2012, so I guess you could call me a senior cat. But I am still sharp as ever — especially when it comes to feeding time. I insist on being fed not one minute later than 7 a.m. Oh, and at 4 p.m., and 10 p.m. sharp. Maybe I overdo it sometimes since I have a habit of vomiting in awkward places. Oh, and the other thing that makes me extra special: I have no tail.
Bungle and I don’t exactly get along most of the time, but we do agree on one thing: We are the best studio mates Monika could dream of, and together we help oversee her projects. We’ve heard that most people work at a desk or table, but Monika is not good at sitting in chairs. She gets restless. Can’t sit still. Ants in the pants. So, she made herself a cool workstation/daybed/ chaise lounge sort of setup out of two Ikea Kallax shelves and a large dog bed big enough for a Great Dane.
This is a big improvement from the previous workspace: her bed. In the old days, after the kids would go to school, Monika used to spend the day on top of the bed doing illustration work for clients all over the world and listening to audiobooks and podcasts. In the evenings, she lifted the bedspread up with all the art materials on it, and it became a bed to sleep in again.
I sometimes pretend not to care about Monika’s work, but the truth is: I’m proud of her. She is constantly drawing animals for her illustrations in children’s books, fabric collections, greeting cards and kids’ activity cards. Her animal drawings make kids and grownups smile. I have been keeping track lately and I think she has been sketching dogs more than cats … but maybe that’s because they’re easier to draw. They are simple, after all. We cats, well, we are complex.