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

Creative Challenges

Painting, Crafting, Support and Other Challenges to Create

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Every so often a challenge to create new work comes up somewhere on the internet. Sometimes they are themed to a certain subject or media, and sometimes they are intended to support a cause, but most often they are just a challenge to create something each day. I rarely manage to participate every day, but even every other day still makes me happy.

Painting Challenges

February 2020 Personal Creative Challenge

To be certain I won’t let ideas pass me by I’m setting myself up for a personal painting challenge in February, similar to the painting challenges I’ve participated in in past years. I aspire (but don’t expect) to create a painting or sketch every day in the month, to be posted on my blog each day.

pastel painting of fawn in shade

Curious Fawn, Pastel, 13 x 15, 2020. The original is available along with digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are also available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

pastel painting of fawn in shade

Curious Fawn, 13 x 15, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I’m back to a painting for this day of my creative challenge. For this painting I once again used self-prepared smooth deep charcoal matboard coated with my favorite transparent pastel ground, Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastels, so that I would start with a dark background.

I painted it without any guidelines, just hitting the surface with my pastels and letting it work out. And I mean literally hitting the board with pastels, as I did when I painted Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, wanting to keep myself from falling into the details, using the edges of my pastels to shape the leaves with just a quick tap or swash and moving on.

This curious fawn was part of my back yard, front yard, side yard, he was all over the place in 2016, much to the consternation of his stern mother, who would wait around a corner or in the shadows and stamp her hooves as he wandered here and there, looked in my windows, tasted this or that. Of course, I practically followed him around—inside— with my camera and got many photos that I knew I’d want to paint.

This was my first choice, and my favorite of them all. My yard slopes down from street level to basement level along the side yards. I was up in my house, looking out my side window, quietly watching the fawn amble along the path from the back yard to the driveway, on the north side of the house, the sun to the south as the house cast a shadow. The big wild black cherry was still there, creating a dense shadow on the left. The July day was hot and sunny as you can see in the sunny glare on the leaves at the top, but the cool north light reflected down onto the upturned leaves of my groundcovers creating an all-over spattered pattern that would have been a perfect camouflage for the fawn, but for all the cool and warm light coming in at angles and reflecting all around, highlighting his warm tones.

I photographed him as he walked, but this was my favorite posture, paused, head turned in interest, huge ears turned forward, the clear lines of his spots running down along his body. I’m so glad I’ve finally had the chance to paint him.

Without the tree, that area of the side yard is in nearly full sun and is quite different now, but I loved looking and walking in this little area. I miss it, and it’s actually a joy to preserve it in this painting.

This is my painting from Day 7. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Greenhouse Gerberas, Oil Pastel, 11 x 15, 2020. The original is available along with digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are also available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Greenhouse Gerberas, oil pastel, 11 x 15 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I took the reference photo for this painting at a local greenhouse in 2013. I’ve always liked colorful gerbera daisies and their bold smiling faces. I’ve used it for a few graphic designs and decided someday I’d paint it too. So that time was now. I chose oil pastel because I’ve come to enjoy working out the flowers with layering and impasto on a rough-textured paper.

I chose oil pastel because the tones of the colors matched the tones in the photo, and I could layer it and build up colors, then finish with working through the composition with the tip of a tool to add definition in the flowers, leaves and stems. When I frame this I will crop it in from the edges a bit. I can see it on a tote bag or placemat too. I guess we’ll see!

I began this painting on day 3, but finished it on day 5 of my painting challenge. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

pastel painting of stormy sunset

How Small Beneath the Sky, Pastel, 16 x 20, 2020. The original is available along with digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are also available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

pastel painting of stormy sunset

How Small Beneath the Sky, 16 x 20, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I don’t know what it was about this image as a photograph 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, under the huge sky above, the sense of infinity as night draws down, and eternity as a warm autumn day changes over to cold winds and an incoming storm.

I finally painted it. I had always envisioned this and other sky paintings as moderately large, and 16 x 20 was a good size for this one. I used a piece of smooth deep charcoal matboard coated with my favorite transparent pastel ground, Golden Acrylic Ground for Pastels. I painted it freehand, no tracing or measuring, as if I was standing out there watching the scene en plein air. It’s as close to the real thing I as can get in my studio. And, of course, I would not be painting this en plein air under those conditions, so it works for me.

I love amazing skies and that was my first draw to the idea for the photo, but the tiny lights below became an integral part of this image and gave it its title.

I took the photo in 2011 and shared it on my photo blog with a narrative, but the image stayed with me. In 2016 I looked it up again and wrote a poem and named my painting after that poem. Now as a painting it’s hit the major categories of my creative efforts.

Here is the narrative:

Rain had fallen intermittently all day, but the day had been steadily dark and cold even without falling rain. But as often happens on long rainy days, the clouds broke at about sunset to give a view of faded blue sky trimmed along the edges with heavy clouds, offering reflected light but no direct sunlight. Suddenly the autumn leaves shone again even in the cooler light. I carefully watched the light, deciding that when my errand was done, or as soon as I could, whichever came first, I’d head for my favorite ridge to photograph what there was of the sunset, hoping for lots of red from the humidity in the air and sunrays from the layers of clouds breaking up, but I’d take what I could get.

No such dramatics were in the plan for this evening, but I felt the valley settle into night as I watched the clouds march steadily from the north, hearing only the wind as it swept from far beyond the horizon across my face, tugging at my hair and skirt on the hilltop where I stood, one tiny dot of a figure in this complicated and beautiful landscape, chilling my fingers with the first real cold of winter in its direct and determined path. In the center is Carnegie, somewhere in there is my house, and all of the familiar streets and scenes of my days reduced to a few amorphous blots of color, light and shadow.

In just minutes the north wind had carried the cloud cover over the valley once again like a blanket, leaving the valley in deep shadow but for the dots of light collected in the velvet darkness, small shreds of red showing through at the horizon; the sun has not given over yet, there is still some fire in its day.

And here is the poem from 2016:

How Small Beneath the Sky

Tiny toy buildings,
fluttering ribbons of roads,
arcs of light that illuminate our night are but pinpoints in the velvet earth below;
How small beneath the sky.

Poem © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Below is the framed version of the painting.

How Small Beneath the Sky framed.

How Small Beneath the Sky framed.

This is my painting from Day 7. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

But this challenge wasn’t just for painting and sketching. I also design and create gift items and merchandise and I’m a graphic designer, so I’ve included those in this challenge as well.

 

 

30 in 30 February 2018

Dusk After the Storm, 9 x 12, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Dusk After the Storm, Pastel, 9 x 12, 2018. The original is still available, matted with a 1.25″ black core violet mat in a matte black frame. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

A storm overtook us as we paddled canoes and kayaks down Chartiers Creek one July evening. We took out and watched it from among trees on the bank as the world turned black then fogged with rain, lightning struck just over the hills around us and the creek ran faster and faster and rose foot by foot. It passed just as quickly as it had started and a sunny evening had turned to a violet dusk while shreds of mist rose and wafted around us like misty sails on unseen ships.

Dusk After the Storm, 9 x 12, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Dusk After the Storm, 9 x 12, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

As always I took photos with my trusty little 2MP digital camera which I wore around my neck on a cord. This photo finally captured the mist and the dusk with just a little bit of blur and I’ve remembered it from that moment. Thirteen years have passed since that evening and this misty memory was one of the images I’d wanted to paint from all those canoe trips. The scene hardly looks like the little creek that runs behind a dozen small towns, once a dumping ground for mining and manufacturing and so polluted it was virtually dead, now alive and constantly in use, and often unbelievably beautiful.

This is my painting from Day 24. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, February 2018.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Evening Wildflowers, pastel, 10 x 14 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Evening Wildflowers, Pastel, 10 x 14, 2018. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



Evening Wildflowers, pastel (crop 2), 10 x 13 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Evening Wildflowers, pastel (crop 2), 10 x 13 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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. I photographed my fill.

Most of the photos I took that evening I love as photos, using all the lenses and filters in my little bag, but I knew I also wanted to paint a few, to capture that light, the randomness of the echinacea, wandering fleabane and distant wingstem fading off into the haze of the sun, thriving happily in the rock-hard soil. Read below about the photos too.

Below is a second crop of this painting. I may like the more intimate feel of the smaller image with more cropped off the top. Still deciding.

This was my painting from Day 18. I’m getting into this painting challenge a little late after preparing for and participating in the cat show earlier this month, but better late than never. I rarely have the chance to paint every day, only about half the days, so I decided ahead of time to jump in when I could. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SEE THE PHOTOS

I took these photos in 2009 and created a Flash slideshow of them because it was the best technology I had at the time, but it’s still available on my daily photo photo site Today, and you can see it here as a pop-up slideshow too.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I love tackling the complications of woodland and water. So much detail and color, yet I want to simplify, share what I feel instead of everything I see. I love this painting so much, and I chose it as my featured artwork for my fifth annual Seasons Along the Panhandle Trail exhibit.

This photo was from an August visit to the Panhandle Trail when I decided to cool off before I went home in the evening with a little swim in Robinson Run. It’s not deep enough to swim, but deep enough to submerge in the water cooled by its shaded route to this spot. The sun shone through the woods as if it was following me and could still see me even through the trees. As I held my spot in the current I studied the scene before me. Within all the shades of green and blue and yellow were other tones of red and violet and gold.

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, 12 x 18, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I took several photos, difficult to capture because of the contrast of the brilliant sun through the trees and the dark woods all around, so I used several settings to capture more and more light, trying to hold as much detail as I could. I have one photo that is a favorite because of the colorful sunflares I captured, and in the past five years it was those sunflares that helped me remember all the complimentary colors I saw in the woods and the water.

But how best to capture that feeling of movement and fleeting evening light? No drawing or blending but gentle to vigorous taps and swashes of my soft pastels on the paper. I tried a new-to-me pastel paper for this one, Clairfontaine Pastelmat Card, and I absolutely love it.

PURCHASE THE ORIGINAL OR A PRINT

Summer Sunset, Robinson Run, Pastel, 12 x 18, 2018. The framed original is still available. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



This is my painting from Day 21. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, February 2018.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Facades, North Side Pittsburgh, 10.5 x 15, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Facades, North Side Pittsburgh, Pastel, 10.5 x 15. The original is framed in a white wood frame with white and red mats. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



Facades, North Side Pittsburgh, 10.5 x 15, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Facades, North Side Pittsburgh, 10.5 x 15, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This row of ancient buildings has been looking over the city of Pittsburgh for well over 100 years, and each owner through time has had their way with each facade. On a bright sunny summer day they stood unapologetic for crumbling insul-brick siding, replacement windows that didn’t fit the original opening, and grass growing where a sidewalk had been. On a perfect summer day, everything is perfect. I appreciated the choice of colors and the distinction each building still held, how solid still after a century, wondering what stories they could tell of the span of human from the beginning of the industrial era to today.

Facades, framed.

Facades, framed.

This is my painting from Day 22. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, February 2018.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Chocolate Bath, 6.5 x 6.5, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Chocolate Bath, Pastel, 6.5 x 6.5, 2018. The original is sold. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



Chocolate Bath, 6.5 x 6.5, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Chocolate Bath, 6.5 x 6.5, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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.

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.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, February 2018.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

My painting for Day 20 was an illustration for Klepto Cat Mysteries book 28, The ImPAWssible Mission. As I did with the other two illustrations from other painting challenges, I’ll eventually write about the illustration and will link that article here.

Cover illustration for Klepto Cat Mystery "The ImPAWssible Mission"

Cover illustration for Klepto Cat Mystery “The ImPAWssible Mission”

30 in 30 September 2017

Poppies, acrylic, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Poppies, Acrylic, 8 x 11, 2017. It’s painted on a masonite panel. The original is framed in a 1″ matte black wood frame. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.

[ss_product id=’2835f230-9b46-11e7-b6f4-002590785994′ ]Still Life, Poppies[/ss_product]

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Poppies, acrylic, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Poppies, acrylic, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Just some bright orange poppies in the sun on a summer afternoon. I took photos of a neighbor’s garden and intentionally angled one of them to have the poppies grouped against a dark background with no leaves or buds and as few stems as possible, and no black centers, just a big mass of orange, and kind of abstract.

I used acrylic for this for a change from my usual pastel, which was the medium I’d planned when I took the photos, “if” I ever took the time to paint it. I haven’t used acrylic for a while and want to get some practice in, and that’s another thing these painting challenges help with—experimentation.

It’s painted on a masonite panel and the entire background is vertical strokes of phthalocyanine green, just the perfect bluish rather than yellowish green to complement the shades of orange and really make them flash.

This was my painting from Day 15. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Late Winter Sunbath, pastel, 6.5 x 9.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Winter Sunbath, Pastel, 6.5 x 9.5, 2017. The original is sold, but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Late Winter Sunbath, pastel, 6.5 x 9.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Late Winter Sunbath, pastel, 6.5 x 9.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I’d always wanted to paint this photo of my orange boy, Allegro. I took the photo in 1993 or 1994, and it’s been on my mind all this time.

I wanted not so much to paint a portrait of Allegro as I wanted to capture that moment that was so much Allegro in his quiet, understated self, having wandered around and found a warm spot in the sun, decided to drop everything and enjoy the sun while it lasted. He sat down between the window and the plant on a cold late winter afternoon and had a nap. I worked it loosely with lots of extra colors to capture the feeling of streaming sunlight. I initially cropped it much tighter, focusing on him, but then I lost the light, the reflections on the window, the sun on the plant, and all the things in addition to Allegro that I loved about the scene.

This was my painting from Day 16. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Tulip Garden, watercolor and brush pen, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Tulip Garden, Watercolor and Brush Pen, 6″ x 9″, 2017. The original is not framed and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available, but this is most likely to be a greeting card.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Tulip Garden, watercolor and brush pen, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Tulip Garden, watercolor and brush pen, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I wanted to try something fun whimsical and a little looser, an image I visualized when looking at my reference photo. Tulip gardens look like happy little balloon displays and while I love tulips and have painted several watercolors, I wanted to capture just the colorful nature and the shapes of the bright, nodding rounded flowers contrasted with the heavy leaves. I used the brush pen to define some details. I can also add some hand-lettering with the same pen someday if I’d like to.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Main Street, September Morning, pastel, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Main Street, September Morning, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Main Street, September Morning, pastel, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Main Street, September Morning, pastel, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I love quiet little street scenes, and living in a small town they aren’t difficult to find. I took the reference photo for this early on a Saturday morning in early September 2015. The day was already hot, still holding the heat of August, and a bit of a mist had risen when the sun came up; the light was warm and languid, hazy and bluish in the distance. There were people around aside from me—some of the shadows on the sidewalk are from cars—so it was just a momentary empty sidewalk. I remember paying more attention to the two flags slowly waving back and forth on the slight morning breeze so who would notice the people?

I used all Sennelier pastels on this self-prepared board because the surface is so heavily textured but it didn’t hold the pastel very well, and it turned out this had only gesso and no grit or pastel ground. I’d chosen to use this board because of its texture and knowing it could add its own level of detail in many areas of the painting. I was a little disappointed in how it performed, but I always end up liking how it turned out. I stippled the surface with a sponge, I think, and it has an interesting grainy texture. We all have to challenge ourselves sometimes.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Flowers For Sale, Oil Pastel, 6 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Flowers For Sale, Oil Pastel, 6 x 10, 2017. The original is matted and framed with a white frame I “fixed up” with a flower pattern I embossed on the face. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are also available.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Flowers For Sale, Oil Pastel, 6 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Flowers For Sale, Oil Pastel, 6 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Three buckets of flowers for sale on the street corner, just waiting to be painted. I chose oil pastel for this painting because of all the techniques I’ve learned to use with it. The background of the flowers was really dull and I wanted to be able to create something interesting from it. I like the layering I can use with drawing on top of other colors and scraping areas away too. I can create an impasto with the sticks too, thicker areas of oil pastel that I can’t do with my regular pastels. I love the way I can build color too, letting areas next to each other influence each other and also intentionally drawing so they blend, and sketching with directional lines and crosshatches and all sorts of other techniques that create shape. I used watercolor paper so I’d have a little texture to work with too.

I took this photo years ago and every once in a while I’ll flip past it on my computer and think about how I really should paint it sometime, so finally I did.

This was my painting from Day 25. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

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

Allegheny River Reflections, Pastel, 12 x 16, 2017. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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

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 is very high and steep behind this row of trees and otherwise the hill comes down to the bank of the river, but for this short stretch the row of trees was separated from the hill, deep in bluish shadow, while the trees caught the late afternoon sunlight.

I knew I wanted to keep this loose, just capturing the visual of the reflection and the contrast with the bright sunlight, bright leaves, and dark hillside.

I had intended to use navy blue paper for this painting because of the bluish cast of autumn, but I had no navy blue left in the pad of paper, so I used black. I used Strathmore charcoal paper, which is lightweight and has a finer texture than the other black pastel paper I’ve used. When paper is made the pulp is poured into a mold that has a screen in the bottom of it. The paper pulp is spread on the screen, then pressed into it with a piece of heavy felt. As it dries the paper holds the screen pattern on one side but is relatively smooth on the back. I considered using the “felt” side, which has only a slight screen texture, but then decided I wanted to use the texture to build the detail in the trees.

This was my painting from Day 26. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

I Want To Be Where That Gull Is Standing, Pastel, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I Want To Be Where That Gull Is Standing, Pastel, 9 x 12, 2017. The original is not framed yet but will likely be a blue weathered wood frame with color core mats. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I Want To Be Where That Gull Is Standing, Pastel, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I Want To Be Where That Gull Is Standing, Pastel, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Really, it’s true, I just decided to be honest with the title. The seagull is standing on a beach on Hilton Head Island and I’d like to be there at just about any point, weather conditional.

I took photos of the beach when I visited my niece and I’m just working my way around to a few. It was January and the weather was quite calm so not too many exciting waves, but this colorful swell was actually very nice. The little riffle behind the gull, the curl of foam in front, I painted until I could hear it. So many of the artists I follow are painting waves these days, and I see wave workshops. I also wanted to catch that wave and just do at least one. I painted this on a scrap of Wallis sanded pastel paper because I needed to layer the pastel in just that way.

This was my painting from Day 27. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Marsh Road, pastel on self-prepared board, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Marsh Road, Pastel, 8 x 11, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood white weathered frame with no mat and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Marsh Road, pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Marsh Road, pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s time for another painting challenge, and I’m ready. My recent trip to Savannah and to see the eclipse inspired a lot of paintings, as have my daily photos and even putting my recent Panhandle Trail exhibit together. In November I’ll have another exhibit of paintings of Carnegie. I have portraits to finish. Time to get the studio time back. I don’t think I’ll do a painting every day, but every other day, as I did in January, would be great.

This was painted from a photo I took in the Savannah Wildlife Refuge. If you are familiar with my paintings you’ll know I love road paintings, and a simple long dirt road through a wildlife refuge is totally entrancing for me along with all those textures and shades of green things all around, and it’s so FLAT. I’m from Western Pennsylvania where things need to be made flat. I took this photo because the road curved through a small stand of live oaks, and you can see the shadows of the trees under the arch along with the light at the end. The simple shapes of the grass, reeds, brush and trees in the distance under that big blue sky graced with clouds that looked too tired under the sun was one image I knew I’d paint.

I used various soft and hard pastels on a self-prepared board. You can see a vertical texture and I tried to both use that and mask it. The panel was an Ampersand pastel panel on which I’d done an illustration that was changed so many times that there was no surface tooth left. I pulled all the pastel off it, sanded it, and brushed it with two coats Golden translucent pastel ground, all brush strokes in one direction. I think it worked out okay.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Geraniums and Parsley (uncropped), watercolor, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Geraniums and Parsley, Watercolor, 6″ x 9″, 2017. The original was framed in a white solid wood frame with double mats, white with a red liner. Digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Geraniums and Parsley (uncropped), watercolor, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Geraniums and Parsley (uncropped), watercolor, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

An artist in one of the groups I post in said she could feel the “absolute joy” in this painting. Yes, the exuberance of nature on a beautiful summer day, and my joy at even just a little bit of life and color to be inspired by in the year I didn’t have a garden.

I always have a few pots of herbs on the deck and a few pots of geraniums on the steps. I’ve always had a big garden but for two years after trees fell I did not, and those herbs and geraniums were all I had. But when I looked out the back door, the bright red and pink, the bright light green parsley alight with mid-day sunlight in the blue Chinese pot, and the trees out at the end of the yard were more welcome than I’d ever imagined. I smiled when I looked at the scene wanting to remember it. The bright colors and complex greens also made me want to paint it.

When I painted this I was working on my “spatters”— I decided this would be a good painting to see what spattering with various brushes with paint and water could to with the background. I think they worked pretty well here. I also piled paint up in the upper left where it’s dark, and let it spill and move over the paper, then let it dry to form the leaves in the trees. I like it.

Here is the cropped version.

Geraniums and Parsley, watercolor, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Geraniums and Parsley, watercolor, 6 x 9 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Here is how it’s framed.

Geraniums and Parsley, framed.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Sunset, Moonset, pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sunset, Moonset, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. The original sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

 Sunset, Moonset, pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sunset, Moonset, pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sometimes the moon follows the sun over the edge, especially as it did this summer evening after storms cleared. The lower sky was layered with clouds in all colors, wispy, puffy blended as if I’d put my finger up there and moved the pigments around. the half moon had risen earlier in the day and was just behind the sun, setting only about an hour later, but brilliant way up in the sky, above most clouds, in that deeper blue canopy.

I used various soft and hard pastels on a self-prepared board; on this board I used Colourfix Fine Blue Pastel Ground. I did sand it between coats and afterward, but I still ended up with pock marks in the surface which you can see right above where the clouds stop, but no matter.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mimi in the Laundry Shade, Watercolor, 6″ x 6″, 2017. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

 Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This was painted from a photo I took in August 2015. I’ve always wanted to do a simple little painting of it: my colorful dresses and skirts moving gently in the breeze, the bricks in the patio outside my basement door, the bright sun and shadows, Mimi relaxing on the concrete step in the shade of the laundry. Just a nice memory of a simple summer morning.

I painted this in watercolors on my 6 x 9 pad of 140 lb. watercolor paper. I enjoy painting on that little watercolor pad, the perfect weight, texture and size, and I’m so glad I found it. just working with it makes me more confident.

I’m not sure what’s up with my scanner, though. It’s usually right on the mark when I scan any of my artwork, but lately I’ve had to do so many adjustments, and even photograph my art to get the colors right. I may end up getting a new scanner and rescanning them, but likely anyone else would have to study the painting to see what might be “off” about it.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Sunset Cruise, pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sunset Cruise, Pastel, 9 x 12, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood matte black 11″ x 14″ frame with a gray violet black core mat. Digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Sunset Cruise, pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Sunset Cruise, pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I took the reference photo for this in 2005. It’s been waiting 12 years to be painted. It was indeed a sunset cruise…down Chartiers Creek on a perfect July evening. Not only the delicate light on the nearly still water and the clear sky gradating up to deep blue, but the curve of the hills on either side. Of all the photos I took for this one scene, this off-center horizon has stayed with me all these years.

This and other similar artwork

The original of this painting is still available, and you can also purchase prints in other sizes and media by visiting the listing for Sunset Cruise, Pastel.

This was my painting from Day 13 of the September 2017 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. See other paintings in this and other painting challenges on the page Creative Challenges.

This painting and others like it can also be found in the following galleries:

See more paintings in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 Days Painting Challenge, September 2017.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

This painting was a commissioned illustration. I included it in the challenge because it was a painting I did on one of the days, but of course it’s not for sale.

Book cover illustration.

Book cover illustration.

30 in 30 January 2017

Winter Sunset, After Rothko, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Winter Sunset, After Rothko, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017.

The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood white molded frame with no mat and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



Winter Sunset, After Rothko, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Winter Sunset, After Rothko, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s actually the sunset reflected on the eastern horizon, but I guess it could be the western sky as well. It’s from memory, not from life or from a photo, but it’s something I visualized when I’d looked at the horizon at sunset out my back window, a clear cold cloudless sky and deep shadow in the valley below, and imagined it like two distinct color blocks, like a Rothko composition. It’s not copying Rothko, only inspired by studying his paintings and having read writings and heard interviews by his son. This is actually a figurative landscape, though to some it may appear abstract. I intend to work my way back to abstraction at some point.

I was participating in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 1.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Summer Morning on the Deck, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Morning from the Deck, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood white molded frame with no mat and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



 Summer Morning on the Deck, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Morning on the Deck, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This painting is one of those sweet familiar ones I’ve been wanting to paint for years: an early summer morning, hazy and bright, seen from my deck or through my kitchen window, geraniums in full flower, trees overlapping and heavy with dewy leaves, quiet and still.

It’s painted in soft pastel on another self-prepared board.

I was participating in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 2.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Dead End, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Dead End, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood distressed antique silver frame with no mat. Digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



Dead End, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Dead End, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 4.

I just love a row of houses in the sun. This street dead ends at the top of the bank of Chartiers Creek. The houses have been there over a century, flooded several times, seen lots of people moving through watching life with their blank window eyes. Now in brilliant winter sun they stand like old friends, the long shadows of the houses and buildings across the street reaching to touch them as the sun drops toward the horizon.

This was painted on a self-prepared board.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Curving Tracks, Charcoal, 6.25 x 9.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Curving Tracks, Charcoal, 6.25 x 9.5, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood white frame with double black core mats and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



Curving Tracks, Charcoal, 6.25 x 9.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 5.

I took this photo a few years ago from an overpass and always wanted to sketch it in charcoal. The graceful curve of the tracks in any season, because I admire it all the time, is an inspiration to create. In the starkness of the snowy day, the minimized palette honestly black and white even in a photo, the trees rising straight up all around, marching up the steep hill toward the sky and starting down into the ravine on the other side, has been another inspiration I’ve wanted to sketch. We had a nice snow and when I drove past this spot today I decided now was the time to do it.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Reflecting on Each Other, pastel on tan Canson mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Reflecting on Each Other, Pastel, 5″ x 7″, 2017. Prints on paper and canvas are available.



 Reflecting on Each Other, pastel on tan Canson mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Reflecting on Each Other, pastel on tan Canson mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

At this angle I could see a little splash of orange on the Granny Smith and a few specks of green on the Clementine. The light on each of them, the shadows and shapes and the shades of green and orange were almost too many to identify. I took the photo several years ago of my fruit bowl. How fun when you can use your fruit as a painting subject, and then eat it. That’s really a very good deal.

I liked the uncropped version too. Sometimes I like the rough edges on a sketch.

 Reflecting on Each Other (uncropped), pastel on tan Canson mi-tientes, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Reflecting on Each Other (uncropped), pastel on tan Canson mi-tientes, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I was participating in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 8.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Observant Gull pastel on gray fleck mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Observant Gull, Pastel, 5″ x 7″, 2017. The original is framed in a 1″ solid wood blue weathered frame with a single pale blue black core mat and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.

Observant Gull pastel on gray fleck mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Observant Gull pastel on gray fleck mi-tientes, 5 x 7 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

What can you say about gulls that is unique, since this is pretty much what they do all day? I’ve done a few other gull paintings and intend to do a few more, but unless I start numbering them I have to find something about this gull, “[Adjective] Gull”, that will make this painting different from the others. At least to me.

Last year at this time (January 2016) I was in Savannah, Georgia, delivering two rescued and well-socialized kittens to my niece and great niece and nephews. My niece and I spent an afternoon enjoying the beach, me for the first time in about 30 years, and doubly wonderful in January having left a moderate snowfall and very cold temperatures behind in Pennsylvania.

I took more photos of gulls and waves than anyone should have taken though I tried to be more restrained. Still, I’m glad I did, as I have this particular gull standing in exactly the same spot but with head turned in different directions, from different angles, and with different levels of reflection on the water. So, now, when I have finally found the time to do a few sketches and paintings from last year’s photos, I can sort through my gull photos and find exactly the right one, the tide washing back down the beach at an angle, the gull’s reflection broken up in a clear and interesting pattern, the blue of the reflected sky gradating from light to dark.

The framed painting. It’s difficult to photograph a work with glass so the details are a little soft but the colors are okay.

"Observant Gull", framed.

“Observant Gull”, framed.

I liked the uncropped version too. Sometimes I like the rough edges on a sketch.

Observant Gull uncropped version © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Observant Gull uncropped version © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I was participating in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 11.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

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

Sparkling Gems, Pastel, 12 x 16, 2017. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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

Sparkling Gems, pastel on Strathmore charcoal. pastel paper, 12 x 16 © Bernadette E. KazmarskiThe 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 the noonday sun shining right down on it with no shade from trees, the water is filled with light as well as the sky reflecting down onto the surface and light reflecting in various shapes and colors onto every little ripple. It was beautiful to look at, but darned complicated to piece together the interaction of light in the water and on the water and reflections on the surface. I was determined to keep it loose because I didn’t want to contain the movement of the water with unmoving edges.

I named it “Sparkling Gems” because the water is so sparkling and clear like aquamarine, emerald, jade, peridot, tourmaline, malachite, turquoise, while the mallards are like the deeper gems, ruby, garnet, sapphire, lapis, adventurine, agate, and all so beautiful after a few days of cold and snow.

I was participating in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 12.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

"Promises to Keep", soft pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Promises to Keep, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. Digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



"Promises to Keep", soft pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Promises to Keep”, soft pastel on self-prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 16.

This panting is named for the famous poem by Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, which was my first thought when I walked around a bend in the trail to see this alley in the woods filled with deep snow. I’d been hiking around Kane’s Woods with a friend after a heavy snow to get as many snow photos as I could, knowing I probably wouldn’t stop to paint. Late in the afternoon in early January the light was fading but those wonderful dusky shades were filling the white and gray of the snowy surrounding.

How do you capture the bare trees with snow without drawing each twig and fluff of snow?

When I prepared a dozen 8 x 12 hardboard panels with pastel grounds I made each different, and some with texture that I would use as part of the art. To this board I applied white acrylic ground with marble dusk mixed in and rolled it with a small flocked roller. The ground mixture on the hard surface puckered and formed a textured surface.

The texture was just deep enough for me to work pastel down into the texture, then scrape other pastels over the surface of the texture to achieve the shaded appearance in the snow itself, and I also used it to scrape the darker warm gray pastel of the tree trunks over the surface in the wooded area to get the effect of the many tiny twigs piled with snow. I also used it to get the effect of the snow on the vertical trunks where it settled on the bark.

This land was a portion of land involved in the Whiskey Rebellion in Scott Township, west of Pittsburgh, in Western Pennsylvania. It’s also a trail I walked on as a child, long before it was a “trail” on conservation lands. I’m glad to be a member of the Scott Conservancy and be a part of conserving this land.

I took this photo in 2009. It’s about time I painted it.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Touched By Evening, pastel on black Art Spectrum sanded, 8.5 x 12 õ Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Touched By Evening, Pastel, 8.5″ x 12″, 2017. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.

Touched By Evening, pastel on black Art Spectrum sanded, 8.5 x 12 õ Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Touched By Evening, pastel on black Art Spectrum sanded, 8.5 x 12 õ Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 17.

It’s sweet to study the buildings in an old small town where they rarely rise above four stories tall. I like to look at rooftops and caught this view while walking down a hill until I was at just rooftop level at just the right time of day, late afternoon, as the sun was nearing the horizon and the light became golden and touched just the tops of the buildings with shadows cast by other buildings. This is seen from the backs of the buildings, and all red brick, almost a monochromatic color scheme.

I managed to capture the sun glinting off the blue dome and crosses of the Russian Orthodox church but couldn’t line up the gilded dome and crosses of the Ukrainian Orthodox church right next door. No matter where you look in this town you see crosses against the sky because there is a church on practically every corner, but none as fine as the Orthodox churches standing almost side by side.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

As the Crow Flies, 10 x 14, ink on gray paper © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

As the Crow Flies, Ink, 7 x 10, 2017. The original is framed with a black frame and a single black core pale gray mat, and digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.

As the Crow Flies, 10 x 14, ink on gray paper © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

As the Crow Flies, 7 x 10, ink on gray paper © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 20.

The day was gray, misty and quiet, just the day to spot a large crow perched atop a dead tree. I was transfixed by its stillness, unmoving, against the gray sky, took a photo, and then it crouched down, lifted its wings and lifted itself heavily from the tree, moving upward and away slowly, on deep, slow flaps of its wings. I left a large expanse of gray because, while perched in the tree the a closeup worked well, once it was airborne the huge gray sky was part of the composition.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

Rainy Violet Sunset, pastel on black Canson paper, 9" x 12" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Rainy Violet Sunset, Pastel, 9 x 12, 2017. The original sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



Rainy Violet Sunset, pastel on black Canson paper, 9" x 12" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Rainy Violet Sunset, pastel on black Canson paper, 9″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This is my painting for day 22.

I’m still tinkering with the title for this one because it’s also one of my Main Street paintings and I want to get “Main Street” in here somewhere. I have no idea when I took the photo but I know I’ve been holding on to this one for a while. I love rainy dark streets with reflections on the wet pavement, and streetlights shining up the faces of buildings. This one, however, was all about that violet sky, the clouds breaking apart after the sun had set, leaving a red glow on the clouds.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

"Studio Morning Shift", pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Morning Studio Shift, Pastel is available matted and framed. Prints are made in archival inks on Epson Velvet Art Paper, Cold Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.




ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Studio Morning Shift", pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Studio Morning Shift”, pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This is my painting for day 15, and it’s the first cat sketch I’ve done. I painted a number of portraits over the holidays so I moved to landscapes and other subjects first. I actually had a different image planned for today but Mimi, Mewsette and Mr. Sunshine were totally enchanting getting organized in the best cuddle pile on my drafting table by the window, the light was wonderful, and, well, here you are.

I wasn’t sure which crop I liked better on this sketch. Above I have the crop that preserves all the edges even though the windows aren’t right, the panes are each the same size. Below is the crop that includes the image area I’d wanted, but I like the black edges. Whatever, I guess I don’t really have to make a decision.

"Studio Morning Shift", pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Studio Morning Shift”, pastel on black pastel paper, 9 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

But then, I like this crop too, just the “important” area of the art.

"Studio Morning Shift", detail © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Studio Morning Shift”, detail © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

 

Daily Cat Sketches

You may not know that I created a daily cat sketch from life inspired by my very feline family, from December 2011 to August 2014, when I slowed down and then stopped when I started running out of space to store them safely. the practice made me create art each day, even something small, and I experimented with different media and paper, and turned many of the images into gift items and also sell the originals and donate them to benefit animal shelters and rescues. Read more about my Daily Cat Sketches and browse the gallery.

Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge.

See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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 31″ x 23″, a half-size of 16″ x 12.5″. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. All are countersigned by me.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

GREETING CARDS

  • Cards are blank inside but can be customized with your message for an extra charge.
  • Feline Fine Art Cards assort with all other 5″ x 7″ greeting cards (except custom printed cards) for a quantity discount.
  • Individual cards are shipped by first class mail.
  • Sets of six and twelve are packed in a clear-top stationery box. Price includes shipping via Priority Mail.
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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

Summer Back Road, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 12 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Back Road, Pastel, 8″ x 11″, 2017. The original is framed in a 1-1/2″ solid wood 12 x 16 walnut frame with a white mat. Digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Summer Back Road, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Summer Back Road, pastel on prepared board, 8 x 11 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Let’s go for a ride!”

Back in the 60s in homes with no air conditioning, a mid-summer car ride on a country road with all the windows open was a real treat. Funny how just riding around and looking at things was a regular form of entertainment, even in the early days of television. Ice cream for the ride was a rare bonus.

Much of the land around where I live, very near where I grew up, was active farmland then. I have carried those memories of fields and cows and horses and barns and woods to today. Almost any spot along winding, hilly back roads through fields with old trees and fence posts is a worthy spot for painting.

This image is one of many I liked best of the group I’ve been taking over the years for various reasons. The tree in the center is the main subject if you ask me, and I like the way it owns the road. The road itself leads straight into the scene, unlike most of my road sketches where the roads have bends. The field on the left gently reaches up and up and up out of the shadow in the left corner. That fluffy summer sky is just so pretty, just enough cloud, just enough blue, it’s all almost overwhelmingly perfect. It’s a scene that always makes me feel very expansive, positive, wanting to run to the top of the hill as I did when I was a child when I saw such a place. The whole scene has a very simple color palette, and where I like to add complementary colors to most of my paintings to liven up the shadows and highlights, I wanted to maintain the scene’s simple, literal sense. A summer day is very uncomplicated.

It’s painted in soft pastel on a self-prepared board. Where I had added the pastel grounds smoothly on other boards, I stippled it on this one intending to use it for a scene that had fine details, like the leaves on the trees. I used that texture to build the textures all over the painting.

I was honored that this painting was featured on Facebook by Keith Linwood Stover in his Artists Supporting Artists Cyber Art Show.

I participated in Leslie Saeta’s annual “30 in 30” painting challenge in January 2017. This was my painting for day 3. Read my wrap-up of all my paintings from this painting challenge. See all the art from this and other painting challenges on Creative Challenges.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping within the US 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.

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″ and some of the prints are cropped to fit standard mat and frame sizes.

Digital prints have at least 1/2″ around the edges depending on the size of the print. 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.

I usually have at least one of the smaller sizes of canvases on hand, but order larger ones as they are ordered because I have limited storage space. 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

I do all my own framing and can custom frame a print for you. Please ask.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.

 

This painting was a commissioned illustration. I included it in the challenge because it was a painting I did on one of the days, but of course it’s not for sale.

The painting for "Merriment, Mayhem and Meows".

The painting for “Merriment, Mayhem and Meows”.

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.

Flourish-darkgray-100Don’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.

. . . . . . .

© 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.