W

ALK through Lesley Anne

Ivory’s front door and

there’s no mistaking

where her affections lie.

There are cat paintings on

the walls, cat cushions on the chairs

and cat collectables on every surface.

Adorable feline faces peer out from

plates and spice jars, mugs, rugs,

jigsaws and tins, each furry body set

against an intricately worked

background.

Almost all the cats have at some time

belonged to Lesley Anne and her

family, and yet cat lovers across the

world feel that they know them, too.

Lesley Anne’s detailed cat portraits

have been featured on merchandise

worldwide, as well as in a range of

bestselling books that began in the

1980s.

Lesley Anne lives with her husband,

Evan – a renowned aviation artist – in

a small Hertfordshire village. At times,

they have shared their spacious house

and garden with up to 21 cats,

including litters of kittens, but now

there is just one four-legged resident,

Amulet, a beautiful silver-grey Burmilla.

I first met Amulet – Mumu to the family

– 14 years ago as a feisty kitten and

clearly things haven’t changed.

“Mumu would make life unbearable

for any newcomers,” Lesley Anne

recalls as we settle down in the

sitting-room surrounded by her

collection of Art Deco furniture and

china. “Her last housemate was dear

black-and-white Angel who departed

two years ago and always got a rough

deal from Mumu, though Angel took

no notice.”

Mumu is certainly a diva. A recent

attempt by an American TV crew to

film her with Lesley Anne took seven

hours, eight reels of film and a huge

amount of patience. And all for a short

snippet of airtime.

“And of course as I waved goodbye

to the team at the front door, Mumu

appeared in the hall with a smug

expression on her face as if to say, ‘That

went well, didn’t it!’ She’s certainly no

advertisement for her breed, but of

course Evan and I love her to bits.’’

F

ROM the time she was a very small

child, Lesley Anne made little

books, illustrated them and bound

them as gifts for friends and family. She

also designed greetings cards and

painted calendars as Christmas

presents.

‘‘I can clearly remember having two

ambitions, to be an artist and to be a

mum, and I’ve been lucky enough to

do both,’’ Lesley Anne says, adding she

has two sons, James and Julian, and

now two teenage granddaughters.

She met Evan on a general art course

where both specialised in illustration,

and friendship turned to love. She first

worked as an art teacher, doing her

own work in the evenings and

submitting card designs to Oxfam until

eventually she received her first

acceptance – a snow scene with

skaters. A prize entry in a national

newspaper competition attracted the

attention of other card manufacturers

and by the time second son Julian was

born, Lesley Anne had completed a set

of board books and pre-school readers.

‘‘I didn’t specialise in cats then, but

had painted lots of cat portraits without

A Cat In Every Corner

Lesley Anne Ivory’s charming illustrations have delighted many over the years. Gillian Thornton

discovers the story behind them . . .

Lesley Anne with

some of her

work.

The fiesty Mumu!

Tansy and her

kittens amongst

the Victorian

scraps.

28

backgrounds, when I suddenly had the

idea of creating a photographic

resemblance of Muppet, our Persian

cat, on a Persian carpet,’’ she explains.

‘‘I showed it to a design company I had

worked with and they asked me to do

some more.

‘‘Then one of the cards attracted the

attention of a New York professor of

fine art who was planning a picture

book called ‘Cats Know Best’ with

simple captions about cats. I was

invited to do the illustrations and as a

result, was commissioned to do a solo

follow-up, ‘Meet My Cats’.”

The rest is publishing history. More

books followed and with them a whole

host of merchandising opportunities

from companies such as Danbury Mint

and Halcyon Days. Suddenly Ivory Cats

were popping up in homes across the

world on tea towels and diaries, mugs,

plates and watches. So whilst Mumu

may currently be the only one with four

paws on the planet, none of her

predecessors has ever really gone.

‘‘I have a huge bank of photos and

pencil drawings which I use to recreate

their different poses – the way their fur

lies, and the different nuances of

colour,’’ Lesley Anne explains.

The detail is such that she will often

use a single brush hair to add fine

detail to her portraits. She works in an

upstairs studio, whilst Evan works

downstairs, both as busy now as

they’ve ever been.

‘‘I’m painting our feline family all the

time so I never really feel I have

actually lost one, even though it’s sad

when one goes,’’ she continues. ‘‘In

fact, I often think they are here all the

time. Mumu will sit on my lap in the

evening, all covered in knitting or

crochet, and suddenly sit up with eyes

wide, but not in a fearful way. Maybe

it’s Angel come back for a visit!”

F

OR the last two years, Lesley Anne

has been painting her old friends

again in a major project for her fans

across the Atlantic – 12 designs against

backgrounds that celebrate American

festive days. She shows me a glorious

picture of Mumu looking through a

window fringed with Art Deco stained

glass and overlooking a snow-covered

Central Park. On the window-sill, a

miniature Mumu skates in a snow

globe.

‘‘They’ll be brought together in a

calendar but individual designs can be

used for other things, too,’’ Lesley Anne

explains.

She can spend weeks on one

painting.

“I am just finishing off number ten

and have worked solidly on them for

nearly two years, only really breaking

off to do my annual Christmas card.

The project’s been huge fun. For

February and Valentine’s Day, for

The People’s Friend

real-lifeinstance, I’ve got dear old Spiro on a

background of a Pennsylvanian

wedding quilt, and March is fluffy

Dandelion playing with a Celtic harp for

St Patrick’s Day. For Hallowe’en in

October, I’ve got cats going berserk

with broomsticks and cobwebs, but I

do always try to maintain the dignity

that cats deserve when placed in such

a situation!”

Lesley Anne’s detailed backgrounds

are legendary and she has spent

countless hours at the British Museum

researching fabrics and patterns.

Nowadays the internet is a wonderful

tool for browsing backgrounds from

across the globe in the comfort of

home, not just for textiles but leaves,

flowers and locations.

Ask her who stands out amongst all

the cats she has loved across the years

and the answer is simple – they all do.

“Every single cat has presented me

with different things to try to capture

against suitable colours and

backgrounds,’’ she insists. ‘‘Julian’s cat,

Twiglet, for instance, was a real

character who would pinch the

shortbread from your fingers if you let

him and was always getting into

scrapes.

“And Gabby, being black, wasn’t an

eye-catching colour, but was always

aware of what was going on. I’d be

doing the newspaper crossword and

she’d suddenly materialise and practise

a spot of colour-coding by sitting in the

middle of it! Every one of them

provided me with new inspiration.”

Now Lesley Anne is awaiting dates

for a major exhibition of her work at

the Chris Beetles Gallery in London,

which always stocks some of her

original paintings. The exhibition will

bring together more than 100 pictures

from Lesley Anne’s entire portfolio and

will be accompanied by a coffee-table

book, guaranteed to delight fans and

ensure that past generations of Ivory

Cats will continue to make their

presence felt. n

If you would like to see more of Lesley Anne Ivory’s work, turn to page 34 where we have a very special offer for you.

Dandelion and the

nest in Pembrokeshire.

29