A few years ago, after many years of patrol, Beloved was moved from a regular police precinct to the Internal Affairs Bureau, the unit that investigates wrongdoing by police. Cops refer to IAB as the Rat Squad, so that’s when our slight obsession with rats began. Many of her co-workers have made the unflattering nickname their own, and quite a few have some kind of rat on their desk. I’m always on the lookout for the next great rat thing. Finding these illustrations was like hitting the motherlode!

These are the beautiful, fairy-tale-like paintings of Dutch artist Nadya Bonten-Slenders. Her dreamy paintings and drawings often feature rats, which, along with mice and rabbits, are the artist’s favorite animals. Many of her charming illustrations can be purchased on Etsy, so go check out her shop!