Ponckle

Featured Artwork

For approximately 21 years Ponckle has painted St Ives to include her gloriously cats - fat, thin, stripy or furry - and a Ponckle cat has become a creature all its own.

Ponckle cats originated from the love of a black and white moggie called Claude, who numbered himself among the many cats that sauntered through the streets of St.Ives. Ponckle painted him into her pictures and found neighbours clamoured for portraits of their own cats.

As the years went by, Ponckle cats were found holiday-making on Porthgwidden Beach, surfing breakers on the golden sands of Porthmeor beach and gazing at the view from guesthouse windows. Sometimes Ponckle herself appeared in the scene wearing her famous black bowler hat.

It seemed Ponckle cats would go on forever, but after Thelonius Monk, her black cat, died her heart wasn't into painting cats again.

But - wait a minute! Isn't that a stripy feline peeking over the edge of her deckchair? And what about that grey one stretched out on the beach beside her, his paws curled up in ecstasy? Ponckle cats have somehow insinuated themselves back into her paintings again.

The Ponckle cat lives on!

Visit our online gallery to see and buy Ponckle ’s artwork