Category Archives: nature artwork

New Painting: Spring on the Rocks, Pastel

Spring on the Rocks, pastel on Pastelmat, 5x5, 2026 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Spring on the Rocks” features that first flush of color, mosses, ferns, violets, speedwells, and a sprinkling of spring beauties just catching the sun on a rise of limestone draped with last year’s leaves. Yes, a little abstract, just a small, quick sketch, practice, but I think I caught the light and shapes and colors […]

Wandering in the Snow

So was the trail wandering in the snow or was I? Or both of us, me following the trail’s example, though I did step off the trail plenty of times. Today the temperature hit 50 degrees, and the thermometer on my deck actually read 60 degrees for a while, though I could tell when I […]

Avoiding the Photographer But Caught By the Artist

The girls—two does from the small herd that lives in our back yards—were hiding behind my scruffy little hemlock while I was hovering around in the snow in the back yard trying to get their photo on a snowy, sunny morning the previous February. It’s a watercolor, 12″ x 18″, from 2022 that had been […]

Turn Around to See: Winter Sunset Reflections

Winter Sunset Reflections, 7” x 17”, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I painted this scene for my August 2014 exhibit “Sun Shadow Ice & Snow: Seasons of the Panhandle Trail” during Rock the Quarry, the annual fundraiser for the Panhandle Trail. I decided to do this painting at pretty much the last minute, though I’d been visualizing it for years. The scene is one I’ve often […]

Colorful in Winter

"Colorful", 11" x 15", soft pastel , 2015 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Even if you live in the city you’ll find wildlife everywhere. “Colorful” is one of my favorite duck images on Chartiers Creek from my walks to Main Street. I took the photo several years ago of the mallard balancing on one leg with morning sun reflecting brightly off off a yellow brick building on the […]

Walking the Tracks

Even when there’s snow, there’s still a lot of color in the landscape. I regularly walked railroad tracks for my Sunday hike, a day when few if any trains ran. They’re not too different from other established trails and are kept clear, and the views are interesting, going past the backs of everything, and even […]

Night Window

This is my neighbor’s house and a scene I see from my kitchen window. Years ago, every night the light was on in this window and the beacon felt so familiar that it was like a part of my own home. They told me it was their living room so the light would always be […]

A Coral Winter Sunset

One February afternoon I caught a surprise winter sunset and shared photos in “I Chased A Sunset”. …and it disappeared over the edge and took a piece of my soul with it. Really, on the way home from a quick errand to a shopping center I encountered a stunning winter sunset just beginning to color […]

New Painting: Winter Garden

"Winter Garden," acrylic, 5" x 7", 2026 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

What my garden looks like right now. I painted this in acrylic on a little canvas-wrapped primed paint panel and used only two colors: white and burnt umber. That’s the color of things out there. I’ve been planning this little thing since the last snowfall, just a little loose painting. I’ve been trying to encourage […]

Light Woods

This little sketch has a story. I planned and worked for the decade of the 90s to be self-employed and work at home. My goal in this wasn’t just to be my own boss, in fact that wasn’t even part of my consideration. I worked as a graphic designer but as a creative person I […]