Snow Cat

Society of Illustrators 49th Annual of American Illustration, 2007, p279
Illustrator: Richard Goldberg

The assignment was a secular "winter holiday" greeting card. The image is from the illustrator's memory of his black cat Satan who would chase snowflakes in the lights at night. (I thought the cat's name ironic, especially since I consider every "holiday card" is actually a Christmas card in disguise.)
I like the playful, artsy nature of the card and how the snowflake the cat captured is the one perfect flake in the illustration. It appears the cat is admiring his find. The way the cat reaches for it, the direction of the cat's eyes, and the undefined white dots in the background lead the viewer's focus to the one distinct snowflake. That one flake is the clue to this being winter, and the playfulness of the cat reminds us that winter can be fun.
And what about the C shapes in the design—the shape of the cat's body and the resulting negative shape? Is this the illustrator's underlying effort to imply C is for Christmas? Hmm...
Actually, my very favorite part of the illustration is the artist's initials. I love his letters, especially the "g". It reminds me of an upside-down exclamation mark and feels like the last period on the last page of a long book — There!