Lion, Portrait of Rob Howards Cat [ 40” x 40” ]· Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · [ 2020–2025 ]
The mask of the observer.
This portrait captures Rob Howard’s cat as a regal, watchful companion—lion-like in bearing, yet entirely domestic. The cat sits upright on a low surface, head held high, eyes fixed on the viewer with calm, unblinking intelligence. The fur is rendered in soft gradients of blackening ink, whiskers catching faint light, paws tucked neatly beneath, tail curled in quiet dignity. The background fades into shadow, leaving the cat as the sole point of focus, illuminated by its own presence.
The painting is a tribute to a friend: Rob Howard, an exceptional photographer whose work reveals the human in all things. He lives to unmask. Through his lens, ordinary moments become profound—light on fur, the quiet gaze of an animal, the unspoken connection between creature and observer. The cat, in turn, becomes a mirror of that gift: a living portrait of Rob’s own humanity—his patience, his curiosity, his ability to see and honor what others overlook, and Lion sees him.
The blackening layers are subtle here, pooling gently around the cat’s form like a soft halo of shadow, symbolizing the quiet depth behind the surface—the unseen stories, the inner life, the bond between photographer and subject. The cat’s eyes hold the same steady regard Rob brings to his work: open, attentive, without judgment.
The work celebrates friendship and vision: how one person’s way of seeing can illuminate the humanity in everything, how a portrait of a cat can speak to the photographer’s own soul, and how connection—between friend, animal, and observer—remains the quiet thread that ties all things together.
A meditation on friendship, observation, the human in the non-human, and the enduring optimism that persists when we look with care—dark yet eternally hopeful in its refusal to let the ordinary go unseen.
Dark yet hopeful,
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Inspiration & Personal Connection
This painting draws inspiration from James Ward’s *Lioness and the Heron* (1810s–1820s). Ward’s dramatic and powerful depiction of the lioness — majestic, alert, yet caught in a moment of tension with the heron — . He captured the raw, primal presence of the animal while hinting at the delicate balance between predator and prey.
In my version, I paint my friend Rob Howard’s cat as a lion — transforming an ordinary domestic animal into something larger, more noble, and quietly fierce. The painting is both portrait and homage: a celebration of the quiet dignity and untamed spirit I see in Rob’s connection to seeing all things, and a meditation on how we project our own ideas of strength, wildness, and grace onto the creatures we love.
The blackening layers trace the slow accumulation of presence and personality — the way even a small cat can carry the weight of a lion in our imagination. Through this work, I explore the tender line between the everyday and the mythic, and how love and observation can turn the familiar into something profound.
Yet even in this moment of quiet majesty and imagined power, a faint gleam persists in the lion’s eye — a quiet reminder that true strength often lies not in ferocity, but in the gentle, steadfast bond between human and animal.
Dark yet hopeful.
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Dark yet hopeful.
James Ward’s *Lioness and the Heron* (1810s–1820s).