Category Archives: pastel

Sparkling Gems in January Light

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 […]

That Magical Light, This Shining Night

pastel painting of moonlight on bare trees and snowy trail

Sunset comes early and dusk and nightfall quickly follow near the winter solstice. Christmas is among the shortest days of the year, and on this particular year I headed west on the trail, hoping to capture a beautiful sunset as heavy clouds gathered, then parted, and snow squalls and flurries filled the air. The timing […]

After the Snow Squall

I round this bend frequently and it’s still a preferred route even if it takes a few more minutes to get where I’m going. I still remember when it was the remnants of a Christmas tree farm—see the snow-covered evergreens on the left—and the barn was used as a barn. After a snow squall passed […]

Autumn Along the River, Allegheny River Reflections

Allegheny River Reflections, pastel, 12, x 16 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This is a view of the Allegheny River in Western Pennsylvania, seen from Tarentum. I took a quick walk through the park along the river on a beautiful autumn day and took as many photos as I could. The hill behind this row of trees is very high and steep and comes down to the […]

Sold Original Painting, This Shining Night

I had a “little” open house at my home this weekend, and one customer came to buy this painting. What a joy that someone who loves the painting, and loves to be out on the trail even in weather like this, now has the original to enjoy, and I know my painting is in good, […]

Autumn Rain on the Horizon

"Autumn", pastel, 12" x 24", 1997 © B.E. Kazmarski

You know those gorgeous autumn days when suddenly the clear blue sky is rimmed with darker clouds, the light dims, a wind begins, and cold autumn rain taps on the roof. This is that day. “Autumn” is a composite image from several photos I took built into an idea. I took the photos back in […]

October Sunset After a Storm: How Small Beneath the Sky

The many-faceted history of “How Small Beneath the Sky” I don’t know what it was about this image as a photograph in 2011 that stayed with me from the time I took it. It’s that sense of my tiny self, smaller than one of those dots in the valley below, one of which on the […]

The Bench, Pastel

I took a film photo of this brilliant scene in 1983 on a steep street I walked down to Main Street daily. A couple of decades later I was surprised one autumn morning to see it wasn’t terribly different. I pulled the original photo and saw the trees at that time hadn’t quite grown in […]

Deserted Cottages, Lake Erie, and a Childhood Friend

"Deserted Cottages", 17" x 8.5", Rembrandt pastels on Hahnemuhle sanded watercolor paper, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sometimes a painting holds far more than just the image, and connections that hold many people together, as these deserted cottages did in life, on paper, and inspiration. In October 2011 I posted the original of this painting of deserted cottages along Lake Erie, and told of memories of my mother, selling her house, and […]

Evening Wildflowers

On a sweltering, sticky August evening I discovered an incredibly beautiful patch of native wildflowers intentionally seeded at Scott Conservancy Kane Woods. I forgot about sweaty hands and the pulse of the sun directly in my face because it was also touching each and every flower on that hillside, filling leaves and petals with brilliance. […]