Spirit Animal Paintings: Painting My Adopted Cat’s Spirit

9 Comments 5 min read
Lauryn Hock reaching out to her cat Teddy while holding his spirit painting up to the wall where the other paintings are

Getting to Know Me

You probably know a lot about me already! In fact, (if you follow me on Instagram) you get to see the behind the scenes of my life all the time! On the rare occasion, I will get more vulnerable on my blog and talk about what makes me, ME, just like when I wrote about getting my spirit painted by Jonny in Maui. Having a blog and social media makes it all too easy, and sometimes inevitable, to share yourself online!

After having a fabulous experiencing the Spirit Painting magic in Maui, Hawaii, I wanted Spencer to get his done too!!! At first, when Jonny and I were planning to work together to show off his skills, I let him know that Spencer wouldn’t be interested in getting a painting done for himself. The real story is that I never asked him, I just assumed that he wouldn’t be interested in it because he would find it too “spiritual” or hippie-ish. Spencer ended up attending my painting session on the beach in Hawaii and loved every minute of it! He even helped answer questions about me for Jonny to get a better feeling of my spirit. Once I realized that he was into getting his spirit painted, we asked The Spirit Painter to meet us in Salt Lake City and paint Spencer as well!

Spirit Painting of a house cat by Jonny Tanner

Animal Spirit Painting

Finally, Spencer and I had our paintings hung in our room above our bed! The Spirit Painter (as well as his wife, who I connect with on another level) and I kept in contact. We talked about when they would come back to Utah (where they both have roots growing up) and hanging out. We also talked about getting Teddy (my cat) a spirit painting to complete the family collection!

Jonny and Lochlan are in Utah right now spending time with family and working with clients (contact them if you want to set up a time in person or via video call)! Eventually, we the four of us + Teddy the Cat, got back together so that Jonny could paint his spirit! I had a lot of initial thoughts about what his painting would look like; mainly showing how he likes to comfort others! Instead, I was met with a ton of colors showing my kitty’s spirit!

What the Spirit Painting Colors Mean

Pink is the color of responsibility to others and blue is the color of connection to others in the charkra color spectrum.

The Color Magenta

The color pink is a mixture of blue and red, meaning it is the beginning and the end of the color spectrum on a chakra chart. It  is called the Crown Chakra and symbolizes responsibility and connection to the universe; the feeling of actualizing the beliefs a person has. Teddy has varying degrees of pink in his spirit because of his connection to me, his mom!

The Color Blue

Obviously, Teddy gets his color blue from his dad, Spencer. Blue is the Throat Chakra, which is Spencer’s dominant color, showing his ability to connect with others. Teddy takes on the trait of listening from his Cat Daddy! They both are experts at expressing themselves and other’s thoughts effectively.

Yellow (solar Plexus) represents being happy, while indigo (third-eye chakra) represents intuition.

The Color Yellow

Yellow represents joy– kind of like sunshine! Teddy’s painting has yellow because he is constantly trying to make others happy and to find happiness for himself!

The Color Indigo

Generally speaking, people have heard of Indigo Children. This was a term was coined in the 1970’s and was given to kids who had incredible perception and often thought to have paranormal abilities. Indigo is the color on the chakra chart that represents the third eye and the skill of reading other people. See also: empath. Teddy, of course as an animal, is an empath!

Orange (the sacral chakra) is for exploration and comfort.

The Color Dark Orange

As a result of being a Bengal (Teddy was brought to life by breeding a house cat and a small Asian Leopard Cat), he has many traits that make him adventurous! He loves to climb up into high places, he loves to explore outside, and he loves investigating new things.

The Color Light Orange

In fact, due to his empowered and adventurous nature, Teddy feels really comfortable in his home! Light orange is a mixture of dark orange and yellow (adventure + happiness). Once he gets comfortable in his environment, he flourishes! Teddy loves to be close to his humans, in the sunlight, next to plush blankets, and playing with his toys!

Black in Teddy the Cat's Spirit Painting represents his life being hard, while the shapes represent all his different owners.

The Color Black

Of course, with all this being said, Teddy still has a lot of walls up due to having many families before us. He still has a hard time when we leave him at home for long periods of time. Last time we boarded him, he came back skinnier and lost fur.  He needs human connection and many of his feelings for that stem from being passed around from family to family.

The Shapes of the Spirit Painting

Teddy the Cat’s Spirit Painting contains the same brush strokes and shapes again and again. When I looked at the painting, they seemed almost familiar. Jonny explained that the different shapes represent the different humans that Teddy has spent his life around. Looking back on our journey to get a cat, you might remember that I thought about the decision for a long time. We finally found Teddy (formally known as Puma) on the KSL Classifieds . Our experience getting a cat was unique because we were able to meet his previous owners. They invited us to their home and we met Teddy in their front office with the whole family in attendance! They lived in a big house with a few children ranging from 8-16. They mentioned that they were following business opportunities and wouldn’t be home enough to take care of an animal. During the meeting, not only were we able to get a feel for his personality (wild and adventurous) as well as the people who had helped shape into the cat he was! This family wasn’t the only one before us… he was also given to them from another couple who moved into an apartment and couldn’t take him with. Teddy has had many owners in his lifetime, but he has found a family and a home with us!

What do you think?

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9 Comments
  • Whitney
    June 26, 2019

    oh my gosh, I love this! This is such a clever idea. Does the spirit painter have to spend time with the animal to be able to paint the creation?

    xo,

    Whitney

  • Carolyn
    June 27, 2019

    To be honest I’ve never heard about spirit painting until I read your posts! It’s all so interesting to me! it’s cool that you’re able to learn more about your adopted cat!

  • Deborah
    June 27, 2019

    This is really interesting, I never knew such a service even existed! How sweet that you got the painting done for your cat!

  • Stephanie
    June 27, 2019

    This is so fascinating. I knew you and your husband had your spirit paintings done – but how cool that they were able to do one for Teddy. And it was amazing reading through the different colors and what they meant! Now I want one for MY cat haha!

  • Taylor Mobley
    June 27, 2019

    Well this is super fun. I want to do this for my husband and I AND all our pets!!!

  • Jasmine Vargas
    June 28, 2019

    This is interesting. Never seen anything like this. Now I want to do it for my family.

  • Tresann Lasko
    July 1, 2019

    Beautiful paintings. I love these!

  • Lily
    July 2, 2019

    I had NEVER heard of this! It’s so neat — makes me want one for myself, husband and pup too!

  • This truly makes me want to have a painting done for myself! I’d love to know what colors I’d get. Great break down explaining what each coloring means.