Thula is a one-year-old tabby Maine Coon who is an inseparable companion to Iris Grace, a cute four-year-old autistic girl who has not spoken and who lives in Leicestershire, England (in the middle of England). She likes to paint nature and she does it extremely well too, so much so she can sell her paintings for a sizeable sum of money (£295 plus P&P for the largest prints).
Iris loves nature. The beauty of this story is not only in Iris’s impressionistic paintings, à la Monet, but in the relationship between her and her cat. Thula reduces Iris’s anxieties and calms her.
http://youtu.be/Gl6yR8_Uvxc
Iris’s mum, Arabella Carter-Johnson, believes that Thula is helping Iris to become more social. Iris has great powers of concentration when painting. She loves nature and her cat.
Thula even takes a dip in the bath to encourage Iris to do likewise. Iris doesn’t like baths!
Here are some thumbnail pictures which take you to fully formatted versions if you click on them:
The proceeds of sale of Iris’s paintings help in paying for therapy. This link takes you to her website.
Exactly I agree. People with Autism usually have big Talents or Can be Classed as Genius, they have alot of talent in Art and other things of their Special Interest. One thing I know is that doing something that makes you happy and at peace gives total joy. Theres a Video on you tube of a boy who boy who was blind and autism but he could sing amazingly well. It was one thing he could do well. I know it wasn’t about Cats, but with Cats they give some of us that feeling and understanding to do lots of different things i.e Art. music, etc.
Yes, it makes sense. I think she is very intuitive/instinctive which probably makes her an excellent cat communicator. She has no idea she is a great communicator with cats. When a person is very close to a cat there is no need for words. It is all understood clearly.
I’m willing to wager that if their relationship was carefully studied over several decades (maybe even just a few years) we could learn so much about the way humans and cats could communicate with one another. I loved her painting “Raining Cats” (see the link above 9th from the bottom). I swear I see cat eyes in there. She feels-sees I think (does that make sense?). From the way she paints I can’t help but thing she will do amazing things as she matures.
Yes, Dan, I can imagine them communicating instinctively without words. I love that sort of thing.
Wow! I do not have personal experience with a lot of other breeds (as their human companion), but I did have a Maine Coon. They are perfect companion animals to a girl like this. I bet the Maine Coon could even look out for her. I bet they have their own way of communicating with each other. What a beautiful thing.
Yes it’s too painful when it’s over, we can only treasure every moment we have them with us so that we have no regrets that we could have made their lives happier.
Charlie had a wonderful life with you and you must be missing him very much.