I painted two bookend paintings in 2014 that I titled, Lunch Break: Giraffe Ride (both 18 x 36”). They obviously are shown facing opposite directions and really exhibit well together—I nicknamed them, Left and Right. One of the paintings appears in the book, Cats Rule: The Art of Michael Crane.

It was interesting formulating the painting in my head. Because of the color of the giraffe, I decided to paint the waving cat gray. The tree branch with its delectable leaves (at least for a giraffe) was painted in the top corner. I decided against outlining the branch and leaves in this case and looked to the simple designs of Grete Prytz Kittelson (Norwegian, 1917-2010). I own a couple of enameled metal bowls with her famous leaf pattern. I bought these bowls through eBay well over twenty years ago, prior to this type of material exploding in popularity and price.