Tag Archives: pastel painting

Still Life, Angled Sun, Fresh and Vintage

Winter Still Life, pastel, 8 x 10, 2014 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

That deeply angled winter sunlight reaches farther into the windows than summer sunlight, into the corner with the fruit bowl. I remember studying the late afternoon sun hitting this vintage ceramic bowl where I kept my apples and enjoying the shapes of the apples, the reflections on the bowl with its uneven design in indigo […]

Spring Cleaning, a Little Magic and Memories

"Spring Cleaning", pastel on self-prepared board, 14" x 20", 2006 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I regularly passed the backyard of an old farmhouse near me and was drawn at first by the forsythia, which was right on the edge of the road as I drove past, then as I slowed down I saw the colorful hanging laundry, always a favorite subject. That hazy spring sunlight with long shadows on […]

A Favorite Spring Scene, Pear Trees on Main Street

Walking down Main Street in mid-March I could see a few buds opening already on the pear trees lining the street. Now at the end of March they are in full, glorious bloom, and in this spring scene Main Street looks alive again. A familiar spring scene When the ornamental pears bloom, Main Street seems […]

A Quiet Snowfall

“Snowfall”, pastel, 11″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

We didn’t get any snow from this latest snowstorm, and I’m disappointed. I love the subtleties of color and shape with snow in the air and on the ground, and on the trail I am often all alone with the quiet of a winter day, or a quiet snowfall. About this painting The photo is […]

Sparkling Gems in January

Sparkling Gems, pastel on Strathmore charcoal. pastel paper, 12 x 16 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The reference photo for this painting was taken on a bright January day with lots of snow cover, and waited about five years to be painted. The mallards were floating on Chartiers Creek where it flows under Main Street on my walk to the bank and post office. The water is shallow there, and with […]

North Hills Art Center Member’s Show Submissions

North Hills Art Center Members Exhibit Submissions

Saturday, September 16 is the opening for the annual Member’s Show at the North Hills Art Center. I pulled together recent paintings I haven’t included in any exhibit there yet for my entries. You’ve seen two of these paintings in the past few months as my featured artwork, Forest Bathing and Peach Begonias, and I […]

Walk in the Woods, Especially in Autumn

“Walk in the Woods”—that’s not just an idea, that’s an imperative! Take the time, go and do it! I’m so glad I did. Time was running out for the amazing leaf color in October 2022, and I’d really wanted to take some time more than once when the leaves were at their prime to at […]

“Winter Sunset Abstract,” Custom Commissioned Painting

Winter Sunset Abstract framed and on the wall.

Another customer sent me a photo of her custom commissioned painting on the wall in her house, and this is one I haven’t shared here before. Winter Sunset Abstract is a pastel on matboard, which I use sometimes for larger paintings. This painting is 24″ x 32″, and with an ice blue mat it’s 32″ […]

Sold Original, “Sunday Morning,” and That Exhibit

You may have noticed one of the paintings I shared in my last Artist’s Life post, “Sunday Morning,” a sold original. The woman who purchased it sent this photo of it on the wall and it looks like a catalog photo, it matched everything so well. Plus I’ve been hanging art in all subject […]

Unnamed Tributary, en plein air

Unnamed Tributary, 9 x 12, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

On a quiet sunny winter afternoon this little unnamed tributary surely had a lot to say, babbling along over rocks and shelves of slate and limestone on its way to Scrubgrass Creek a distance away. Off in the woods on January 12, 2012, I stood in the snow and painted a little pastel sketch as […]