It’s a little painting of a little black cat. I love to paint Mimi, I think because she is so self-aware and nearly all her poses are graceful and inspiring. Possibly it’s just because I love her so much.

Black cats have many colors in their fur. The warm sun shows off Mimi’s mahogany highlights and makes her look positively solid chocolate. I photographed Mimi at her bath in morning sun several years ago for this pose, but any of the many I’ve photographed are all favorites. This one won the contest for which was most paintable.

I also especially liked this angle for her face, and this composition with her on the edge of the art. She was right next to the basement door frame. I painted in the door frame but didn’t like the bit I’d included as looking slightly confusing, and where I thought the geometric shape would coordinate with the geometry on the floor and both set off Mimi’s soft curves and colors, it was too strong a presence and I cropped it out. So it’s just Mimi in the sun.

The biggest challenge is to paint a dark on dark composition with a black cat against a dark background, but Mimi is in warm tones of black and deep sienna and even purple and vermilion, while the background is a cool black with blends of cool violet, green and navy blue.

I’d intended these monthly desktop calendars to showcase new as well as existing artwork. This is my painting from Day 23 of the February 2018 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges. I love these painting challenges for encouraging me to create new works.

A New Member Thank You

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 “Chocolate Bath” or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.

The New Member print is a signed digital print of “Chocolate Bath”. This print is 6.5 x 6.5 matted to fit a 10 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

You can also choose a square note card from this artwork as one of the choices in the listing.

 

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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

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Square monitors and screens

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Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

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Cell Phones and Smartphones

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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For more art, information and stories featuring cats, visit The Creative Cat.

www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski —

Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun! —

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.

Don’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.

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© 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.