"Listening to Granados, de Falla and Rodrigo", watercolor, 6" x 9" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Listening to Granados, de Falla and Rodrigo, prints

This art is “Listening to Granados, de Falla and Rodrigo”, 6″ x 9″, watercolor on 40 lb. watercolor paper, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski, signed and dated 4/8/14. The original is sold but prints are made in archival inks on Epson Cold Press Watercolor Paper, Hot Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.

[ss_product id=’d41c1154-feaf-11e5-9295-0cc47a075d76′ ]Feline Artwork, “Listening to Granados, de Falla and Rodrigo”[/ss_product]

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This painting probably has the longest name of any of my pieces of artwork! But there’s a story behind it, as there always is.

About “Listening to Granados, de Falla and Rodrigo”

If you don’t know your Spanish classical guitar composers, now is your chance. I was listening to them while I painted this, but it could also be that Fromage was listening to them when I took the photo.

No, this is not one of my Five. Don’t I have enough black cats, I have to go looking for others? Well, Fromage is related to us, not by blood, but by bond. She is the neo-natal kitten I fostered in 2009, bottle feeding her and helping her along until I handed her over to the capable paws of the Fantastic Four so that she would learn to be a proper black cat.

Fromage was rescued by and lives with a friend (Cranberry’s lady), and I visit regularly. I took this photo of Fromage on the striped woven pillow on an Easter visit, several photos in fact because her soft black shape looked so graceful on the colorful pillow, and ever since that moment this image has been requesting its chance to be painted. That happens with many images, like Dusk in the Woods and Peaches and Peonies—each time I thought about what I’d like to paint next, the painting itself would appear for me and patiently hover in my mind. When an image wants that badly to be painted you have to give in eventually.

In fact, this painting was such a pest it was getting in the way of other things, like visualizing daily sketches and a portrait or two. And there are plenty other images I’ve been waiting to paint when I found the time, but this one finally won its place. And I’m really glad!

So this is not really a “daily sketch”, it’s a planned painting taking a little more time and effort. Typically with daily sketches, no matter the medium, I don’t do a starting sketch underneath, I just start to paint, but here I did, wanting to be sure I captured all the details in proportion. And I wanted to work it a certain way, with flat bright colors but just enough detail through a few highlights and shadows. Fromage is not entirely black because I wanted to capture some of the warm and cool highlights and accentuate her graceful curve. The native pillow is really just a few colors but I wanted a little more shape in the larger red areas.

And the pillow was on a tan leather couch but from the beginning I pictured this yellow gold background, kind of rough and slightly gradated, like stucco perhaps. That may have been a suggestion from the pillow, but I really was listening to Spanish classical guitar as I was painting and when I got to the background, last of all, after everything else had been painted, I was fully into the color and texture of antique stucco.

You’ll be seeing a few other more intentional paintings of my cats and others’ coming up. I’ve also finally worked out a few portraits and will be starting on those, and have at least two large and deeply detailed paintings of my cats coming up this year as well. Now that I’ve given this little painting its day!

SHIPPING

Shipping within the US is included in all the prices listed. All shipping is via Priority Mail. Prints are shipped flat in a rigid envelope. Canvases are shipped in a box to fit with padding. Since this original is small it is also shipped in a box with extra padding.

PRINTS

Note that prints are not the same dimensions as the original and may be cropped on the top or sides to fit the dimensions of the print size.

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.

The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges. The 5″ x 7″ and 8″ x 10″ digital prints are centered on 8.5″ x 11″ digital cover while the 11″ x 14″ has 1″ around the edges because the digital paper is 12″ wide. All are countersigned by me.

CANVAS PRINTS

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

FRAMED PRINT

All framing is done by me in my studio. This print is matted with a double mat 1.5″ wide, white on top with a rust underneath to match the outline of the two cats. The frame is a molded 1.25″ natural white flat painted wood. The backing is acid-free foam core and the glass is premium clear glass. On this piece, the frame and mats may vary slightly since both the mat and frame are on the list to be discontinued, though that may take more than a year. The framed pieces will definitely resemble the one shown here.

DAILY SKETCHES

I endeavor to do at least a small sketch each day as a warm-up to my aesthetic senses, so I have a small pouch of art materials and a few various sized sketchbooks available in the house and out. Usually, these are done in pencil, my first and favorite medium, though sometimes it’s charcoal, ink, colored pencil, ink and brush, whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, the greatest challenge to keep it quick and not get caught up in details, let the idea flow onto the paper.

Most often, the subjects are my cats because they are such willing models, though sometimes I’ll also wander afield, literally, and sketch in my yard or anywhere I go for errands. Medium and especially style vary just so I get a chance to do something new.

Every once in a while, they are meant for framing, and I’ve designed a series of notecards, notepaper and notepads using other daily sketches (see my notecards section). Often I use them as illustrations for graphics projects I’m designing.

See other feline artwork in My Cats gallery and in Feline Artwork gallery.

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© 2016 | 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.