January Feline Desktop Calendar: Cool Morning Bath

oils pastel sketch of cat

“Cool Morning Bath”, oil pastel, 5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mimi twisted and turned in the diffuse morning light at the door, all those delicate shades reflecting warmer on the floor, cooler on her, but still all in greens and blues and a very pale yellow, the light swirling around her. I liked this sketch a lot when I painted it in 2013, and I like it even more every time I look at it.

Oil pastel again, for the strength of colors and the texture, but here the delicacy of the mixed pale yellows, greens and blues carries the idea of cool winter morning light that I wanted, the shadows deeper and just a bit warmer, Mimi’s black fur turned blue and green in all the reflections. Mimi, so inspiring!

ABOUT MY WORK IN OIL PASTEL

I’ve been working out this style now following Two Cats After van Gogh. I traveled with a friend in April 2012 to see the “Van Gogh Up Close” exhibit. All the way home on the Megabus I remembered the colors and shapes and textures, and wanted to work the same energy and form I saw in his brush strokes, visualizing oil pastel to layer and blend the strokes as an experiment. Arriving home in Pittsburgh just a few hours later I saw Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine, just quietly hanging together on the landing, Giuseppe sitting upright, Sunshine loafing, and visualized exactly what I would sketch, and posted Two Cats After van Gogh as my daily sketch that very day.

After seeing so many van Gogh paintings up close in the exhibit my goals in working “after van Gogh”, or in the style of van Gogh, are to be aware of the colors he used, and why, and to use the textures to build the image, so that every color and stroke, and the shape, direction and energy of the strokes, would be important to the painting. Like poetry, nothing is extra, nothing is wasted.

Mimi is the subject of another oil pastel, In Window Light, and also participates in yet another oil pastel with Mewsette, Kitty Spoons.

You can see other oil pastels in Two Cats After van Gogh and you can also see other feline artwork in the following galleries:

A New Member Thank You

oils pastel sketch of cat

“Cool Morning Bath”, oil pastel, 5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

You can get a free matted print when you register for an account on Portraits of Animals.

Register for an account on Portraits of Animals and get a free double-matted print of “Winter Sunbath” or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.

The New Member print is a signed digital print of “Cool Morning Bath”. This print is 5 x 7 double matted to fit an 8 x 10 frame.

This print is only available as a new member gift during this month while it’s the featured artwork and desktop calendar, so make sure you sign up before the end of the month!

Or purchase the original or a different print or item

I also offer a variety of digital and canvas prints, find this on Portraits of Animals.

Greeting Cards

“Cool Morning Bath” can be found in two of my sets of cards.

Gift Items

“Cool Morning Bath” is included in the art on my “Winter Cats” Cube Keepsake.

“Cool Morning Bath” is also one of the many gift bag choices, printed on a blue bag.

If you’d like to request something special you can email me or comment when you order.


This month’s desktop calendar

If these sizes don’t work for your device, or if you have problems, please let me know. Often I can troubleshoot the reason an image won’t download or won’t load on your device, but if I just can’t figure it out I can just email it to you and hope that works.

How to download and use your desktop calendar

  1. Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
  2. For desktop computers and laptops, right-click on that image and on a desktop computer choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this. You may also simply save it to your hard drive and set it as your background from there.
  3. For mobile devices, press on the image to bring up a menu and choose “open in new window”. Go to that window and press until a menu appears and choose as “set as wallpaper” or “set as lock screen” or whatever you’d like—this is slightly different on all devices.

Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

Desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.

. . .

Square monitors and screens

Desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.

Desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.

. . .

Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.

Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.

. . .

Cell Phones and Smartphones

Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones.

Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones.


Take a look at other featured artwork and desktop calendar posts.

Each month I feature a piece of feline artwork from the archives to the present day, discuss its history and process, and set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.


Click here to see daily sketches, click here to see daily photographs

click here to see other artwork featured on The Creative Cat

or visit Fine Art and Portraiture on my main website.


"Feline Style Sampler" book of sketches and portraits.

A collection of 34 images of feline artwork

Feline Style Sampler

Daily sketches, illustrations, commissioned portraits all in a small coil-bound gift book.

Click here or on the image to read more or find it on Portraits of Animals.

Other items with the same art or design To find all items on this site with the same art or design, use the search box for the name of the artwork and you'll find all that's available.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’t miss any new items or opportunities!

“Follow” the Portraits of Animals blog with the link in the upper left. Sign up to receive posts in email, or in your favorite reader using the links in the right-hand column.

Sign up for e-newsletters

You can also sign up for my monthly e-newsletters to receive special discounts and find out where I’ll be with my artwork.

Click here for the Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter, for feline and animal-specific products and information.

Click here for the Art & Merchandise E-newsletter, for landscapes, nature, urban scenes and more.

For art, photos and writing as I develop it, visit my blogs.

See feline art and photos as they happen on The Creative Cat, along with feline news, health, welfare, rescue stories and more.

See daily photos as I post them on Today.

Read poetry, short stories, essays and more on Paths I Have Walked.

. . . . . . .

© 2022 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.

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