"The Love of Three Oranges", pastel, 17" x 23", 1994 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The Love of Three Oranges, Pastel

“The Love of Three Oranges” was an original pastel commissioned portrait, 23″ x 16″, painted in 1994. It’s available as prints on paper and canvas and as a note card.

[ss_product id=’35e249b4-faa2-11e6-922a-002590787d08′ ]Feline Artwork, “The Love of Three Oranges”[/ss_product]

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

These are my veterinarian’s three cats, and she supplied me with photos, plus I met these characters and took another roll of film to capture their individual traits. Even though they came to her individually, they are a close-knit group, so we decided to start with one picture of them sleeping in a heap but arrange them so that they displayed their most notable characteristics, such as Amaretto’s tail and Merlin’s extra toes. The blue blanket is a complement to their orange fur, plus added interest in the background.

You can read more about this portrait and others for my veterinarian below.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping is included in the cost of each print.

Prints up to 16″ x 20″ are shipped flat in a rigid envelope. Larger prints are shipped rolled in a mailing tube unless otherwise requested; flat shipping is an extra cost because it’s oversized.

GICLEE PRINTS

The giclees are printed on acid-free hot press art paper for a smooth matte finish using archival inks. Giclee is the highest quality print available because the technique uses a dozen or more ink ports to capture all the nuances of the original painting, including details of the texture, far more sensitive than any other printing medium. Sometimes my giclees look so much like my originals that even I have a difficult time telling them apart when they are in frames.

I don’t keep giclee prints in stock for most of my works. Usually I have giclees printed as they are ordered unless I have an exhibit where I’ll be selling a particular print so there is a wait of up to two weeks before receipt of your print to allow for time to print and ship.

I offer giclees of this painting in two different sizes: the full size of 25″ x 22″ and a half-size of 12.5″ x 11″ and an 8″ x 10″ that crops a portion of the image top and bottom.

DIGITAL PRINTS

Digital prints are made on acid-free matte-finish natural white 100# cover using archival digital inks. While digital prints are not the quality of a giclee in capturing every nuance and detail of color, texture and shading, I am still very pleased with the outcome and usually only I as the artist, could tell where detail and color were not as sharp as the original. Digital prints are only available up to 11″ x 17″ so I trim a bit off each end to fit, and also offer the half-size 12.5″ x 11″.

The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges, while the digital print has 1/2″ around the edges. All are countersigned by me.

CANVAS PRINTS

Because the standard size canvas prints are not proportional to the original painting, canvas prints of this painting will have a portion cropped off of each side.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered here because customers often want a custom size. Smaller canvases are a 3/4″ in depth, Canvases 12 x 16 and larger are 1-1/2″ in depth. I set them up so the image runs from edge to edge, then the sides are black or white or sometimes I slip in a color that coordinates with the painting. This canvas mirrors the edges of the image around the sides.

More about this portrait

"The Love of Three Oranges", pastel, 17" x 23", 1994 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“The Love of Three Oranges”, pastel, 17″ x 23″, 1994 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

DO YOU KNOW your veterinarian’s pets? I do, and early in my career had the honor of painting portraits of her cats and her dogs, all rescues. Each had their story, and it was wonderful to know that my veterinarian felt the same abut rescuing animals as I did. This portrait was from 1995. She is still my veterinarian, and she is still rescuing cats and dogs.

. . . . . . .

Veterinarians tend to be serial rescuers and begin rescuing animals long before they begin their practice. The luxurious Amaretto was adopted as a kitten from the Massachusetts Humane Society when his mom was a senior in college and he grew up in the dorm. While his mom was attending Penn Vet, she found 10-week-old polydactyl Merlin in the stray ward—returned? dumped? abandoned?—suffering from “incurable” giardia, took him home and cleaned him up with no further sign of the infection. Early in her career employed at a veterinary clinic, shy Simon was brought in as a stray who’d been in a major disagreement with a raccoon; the veterinarian who owned the clinic often treated and found homes for strays and abandoned cats, and in caring for Simon she developed an attachment and became his forever home.

. . . . . . .

Another portrait from back in my beginnings, and one of my favorites for both the cats and the composition. They are also a favorite of others—orange cats are a big favorite—and their person long ago gave permission for me to offer this as a print to brighten up a cat lover’s day.

Often I’m asked to pose groups of animals in a portrait, but not too close to each other, they don’t really get along…but these three did. One reference photo showed them all sleeping in curled balls cuddling together on a rumpled comforter and I decided that was the composition I wanted, just with different poses. I chose the poses from a pile of reference photos so you could see all their faces, but I also chose characteristic poses for each including their interactions together, and used the composition to show important physical features about each one, like Amaretto’s tail and Merlin’s paws.

pastel portrait of long-haired orange cat

Detail of Amaretto

I also chose to make the blanket a solid blue which would complement their fur and coordinate with the walls in my customer’s house, and to give it lots of folds so it looked as if they were tucked into the bedding just awakening from a nap. I admit, I went overboard with the folds in the blanket, I love to draw drapery and find it mesmerizing to paint. About to tone it down a bit thinking it was distracting, I decided it actually looked as much like a background pattern as it did a rumpled blanket and left it as it was.

pastel portrait of orange cat

Detail of Simon’s face.

Simon and Merlin both had a habit of pointing the tips of their striped tails upward, so each of them had to show this even though timid Simon had to be behind the two, sort of tucked in between somehow. It’s not really a logical positioning to be able to see as much of him as is here, but that’s the magic of artwork.

pastel portrait of orange and white cat

Detail of Merlin’s face and many toes.

Merlin was named Merlin because he was dangerously wise and capable, especially with all those extra toes. And, yes, she is still rescuing cats and dogs, plenty of them through the years. Below is the other portrait I painted for her at the same time, featuring her two rescue dogs Cassie and Tyler, who were trained search and rescue dogs; I’ve also discussed these two rescue dogs for my weekly portrait feature. We did both portraits together to hang as a set, framed with shades of blue mats and a wide oak frame.

pastel portrait of two labs

“Cassie and Tyler”, pastel, 23″ x 15″, 1995 © B.E. Kazmarski

Great Rescues Day Book

Great Rescues Day Book

Great Rescues Day Book, a collection of portraits of rescued cats

Great Rescues Day Book features sixteen of my commissioned portraits of rescued cats along with their rescue stories plus information on feline care and welfare and special notepaper.

It’s an undated monthly journal to record the dates of birthdays, anniversaries and events. It’s spiral-bound and measures 8″ x 10″ to easily fit on your desk or in a purse, briefcase or backpack.

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.

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