Macavity – The Mystery Cat

A friend of mine asked me whether I could do an illustration for her featuring the poem Macavity – The Mystery Cat, by T.S. Eliot. When she was little she used to read it with her dad, and she wanted to have something she could frame and give to her baby sister for her first Christmas. It's quite a long poem, with quite a lot going on, so rather than illustrating a specific moment in the poem, I decided to draw a decorative frame around the poem, featuring Macavity, who is described in the poem as being tall and ginger, with uncombed whiskers, and movements like a snake – something I tried to capture in the movement of his tail. Because he's also depicted as a master criminal, I gave him a burglar's mask to hide his identity! Hopefully she'll like it...