"Charcoal Dusk", black and white charcoal on gray toned paper, 5" x 8" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

New Works

Find what’s new on this site!

I add items nearly every day that are either completely new paintings, photos, products or writing, or items I’ve just added from my archives. No one except me would know where they are, and I don’t expect anyone to have the patience to dig around and see what’s new.

This gallery includes links to works added in the past three months, the new ones at the top of the list.

Greenhouse Gerberas small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “Greenhouse Gerberas” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a zipper.



Greenhouse Gerberas small accessory bag.

Greenhouse Gerberas small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “Greenhouse Gerberas”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Market Flowers Small Accessory Bag

I imprinted the design “Market Flowers” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a zipper.



Market Flowers Small Accessory Bag

Market Flowers Small Accessory Bag

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral photos titled “Market Flowers”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

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.

The Perfect Place Small Accessory Bag

I imprinted the design “The Perfect Place” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a zipper.



The Perfect Place Small Accessory Bag

The Perfect Place Small Accessory Bag

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “The Perfect Place”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Woodland Sunflowers Photo prints are made in archival inks on Epson Silky Photo Paper, Cold Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.



Woodland Sunflowers

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I love woodland sunflowers. No matter how many I see, or how many photos I have, I can always find another interpretation of their exuberant yellow expansiveness. The day in 2009 I photographed these woodland sunflowers along the Panhandle Trail I was captivated by fields of them leading off into the woods among the trees. Later, looking at photos, there was just something about this one that captured what I envisioned of the photo I wanted.

Find similar images and products

Photography: Gardens and Wildflowers

I also carry a number of gift items using this image. Search “woodland sunflowers” to find what is currently available.

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.

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.

FRAMED PRINTS

A plain matte black frame and white mat is available. Visit “Framing” for details or ask about custom framing. Framed prints are signed on the photo and on the mat.

PHOTO PRINTS

Prints are made on acid-free gloss photo paper using archival digital inks. I usually leave an inch or two of white around the print for easier frame fitting. All prints are countersigned by me.

Larger sizes are available than what I have listed, so please ask if you want a special size.

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 black around the sides.

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 in the Cat Book Library", 5" x 7", ink and watercolor © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Evening in the Cat Book Library, Ink and Watercolor prints are made in archival inks on Epson Velvet Art Paper, Cold Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Evening in the Cat Book Library", 5" x 7", ink and watercolor © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Evening in the Cat Book Library”, 5″ x 7″, ink and watercolor © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Bean washes his face while Giuseppe surveys the room, sitting in the cat book library.

In my office downstairs I have the triple dresser I’d mentioned in our last family portrait that holds my collection of cat books. It’s a favorite place to hang out, good view, and a cat can even see out the windows from there. It may be a little confusing in the background, but there is a mirror behind the books.

I enjoyed watching the boys pass the time in feline ways, looking at each other, looking around the room, and having little baths, since it was after dinner. As usual, when they are active, I sketched Bean first on the left as he washed his face, then Giuseppe as he looked out into the room. they were actually mirroring each other for much of this activity but that looks funnier in the photos which I’ll share one day soon—synchronized feline relaxation techniques.

It surprised me how many of the books had yellow spines, more than are here. I had forgotten with these pens that the ink is only water proof only after I let the sketch dry completely, at least 20 minutes. I started painting purple into the boys then actually blotted it off, but was even a little too soon with some of the other colors. It turned out okay though. Mostly because I was very carefully supervised.

two black cats with painting

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.

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.

 

The Perfect Place Face Mask

I imprinted the design “The Perfect Place” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



The Perfect Place Face Mask

The Perfect Place Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “The Perfect Place”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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.

Market Flowers Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Market Flowers” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Market Flowers Face Mask

Market Flowers Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral photos titled “Market Flowers”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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 3” round ornament is made from a purchased wood circle, the painting impressed on the surface, ready with a hanging hook.



Snowfall Panhandle Trail ornament

My painting “Snowfall” is impressed onto the wood disk with a fabric transfer and finished with an iridescent matte glitter varnish. Decorative text reads: “Snowfall Panhandle Trail”, which is where the scene is and where I painted it. The edge is detailed with pale gold and the back is unpainted.

Snowfall Panhandle Trail ornament, side view.

More like this

This painting is part of my “Seasons Along the Panhandle Trail” series, which you can read here.

Find more Ornaments in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

Three Sunflowers square cabochon.

This small pendant is made with a print of my photo “Three Sunflowers”, inside an antique silver square metal frame and a 1″ convex glass cabochon cover. It comes with an 18″ flocked black cord with silver beads on the ends.

Three Sunflowers square cabochon.

Three Sunflowers square cabochon.

I make a high-quality print of my artwork, trim it to fit the cabochon and frame and adhere it all together, then choose a cord or chain that coordinates with it. I decided to decorate each end of the cord with a silver bead.

Three Sunflowers square cabochon with cord and beads.

Three Sunflowers square cabochon with cord and beads.



Find similar items

Jewelry

Handmade Gifts

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 Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Greenhouse Gerberas” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Greenhouse Gerberas Face Mask

Greenhouse Gerberas Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “Greenhouse Gerberas”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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 Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Evening Wildflowers” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Evening Wildflowers Face Mask

Evening Wildflowers Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “Evening Wildflowers”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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.

Snow at Night ornament.

This 3” round ornament is made from a purchased wood circle, the painting impressed on the surface, ready with a hanging hook.



Snow at Night ornament.

Snow at Night ornament.

My painting “Snow at Night” is impressed onto the wood disk with a fabric transfer and finished with an iridescent matte glitter varnish. The edge is detailed with pale gold and the back is painted medium blue.

Snow at Night ornament, side view.

Snow at Night ornament, side view.

More like this

Read more about “Snow at Night” here.

Find more Ornaments in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

watercolor of orange cat with begonias at window

This is a print of my painting, Peach Begonias, Watercolor, 8″ x 8″ or 8″ x 10″, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski.



About the artwork

watercolor of orange cat with begonias at window

Peach Begonias, watercolor, 8 x 8, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Peach begonias? But they look pink…but the kitty’s name was Mr. Peach and he’s surrounded by my overwintering begonias one of many photos I took in March 2007. “Peach Begonias” was my shorthand for this series of photos taken over a few weeks that I knew I’d want to paint someday. And someday has arrived!

As I mentioned with Nikka’s Jupiter Ball, this photo also stayed on my mind and through the years I created several composites of Mr. Peach in different positions. I fostered him from February to July that year while a friend and her husband tried to determine if the cause of his allergies was Mr. Peach. It was not, so he returned to them, but I truly enjoyed having a ginger cat in the house, especially a big mellow roly-poly orange cat.

He sat in this window to watch the birds at the feeder every single morning he was here and I liked just about every position he sat in. I liked when he sat sideways facing me, and I liked when he sat with his back to me, and all the angles of his face and head. I really wanted a pretty painting, colorful and bright, cats and flowers. In the end, after all that compositing of individual photos, I liked his profile best, and how his eye is highlighted by the light from outdoors. I also had my choice of begonias as I turned them and pinched them back as they grew in the light from the window. By the last few photos I took the trees had started to leaf out and the morning light was distinctly yellow and slightly greenish. It’s nice being able to put it all together into the scene I like best. I think that was somewhere around 2009-2010, after I had painted Darling Clementine and wanted to do the detailed watercolor thing again.

watercolor of orange cat with begonias at window

Peach Begonias, watercolor, 8 x 8, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I had always planned this painting in the format you see above. I worked with each element to give it some flow, the heavy parts in the center and the color distributed to lead the eye all over the painting in a swirl, and Mr. Peach has a good gaze out the windows. But after I’d painted and took a few initial photos of it to determine how best to crop it, I also like the more square version of it that I have at the top. That eliminates the heavy dark area on the right and centers in on Mr. Peach. His face is far more obvious. I sent the two images out to friends to see what they thought and all four chose the smaller cropped version. Interesting how that works! I will use the wider version for greeting cards, adding it to my set of Feline Fine Art Cards. For the free matted print I’m offering the more square version, but if you’d like the horizontal view please ask.

Read more about this painting on The Creative Cat.

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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.

CANVAS PRINTS

I have canvases printed as they are ordered so I rarely have any on hand. 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.

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.

 

22 Cats Face Mask

I imprinted the design “22 Cats” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



22 Cats Face Mask

22 Cats Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

There are 22 cats in this pattern who all appear in the commissioned portraits included in my book, Great Rescues Day Book“. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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.

oil pastel of cat

This art is “Kitchen Morning”, 5″ x 7″ oil pastel on textured paper, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski, signed and dated 12/16/13. The original is available and so are various prints.



oil pastel of cat

“Morning Kitchen”, oil pastel, 5″ x 7″, 12/16/13 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

ABOUT THE ART

I started out with Mewsette and just kept going. All that beautiful cool light with the warm-toned Mewsette bathing in the center, it just didn’t look finished until I added the surrounding scene. This is oil pastel, but I think I moved over to my soft pastel style for parts of this. Well, that’s okay, and probably because I have been working on a few other pastel works. It’s really the color that counts.

That and the cat hairs embedded into it.

ABOUT MY WORK IN OIL PASTEL

I’ve been working out this style now following Two Cats After van Gogh. I traveled with a friend in April 2012 to see the “Van Gogh Up Close” exhibit. All the way home on the Megabus I remembered the colors and shapes and textures, and wanted to work the same energy and form I saw in his brush strokes, visualizing oil pastel to layer and blend the strokes as an experiment. Arriving home in Pittsburgh just a few hours later I saw Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine, just quietly hanging together on the landing, Giuseppe sitting upright, Sunshine loafing, and visualized exactly what I would sketch, and posted Two Cats After van Gogh as my daily sketch that very day.

After seeing so many van Gogh paintings up close in the exhibit my goals in working “after van Gogh”, or in the style of van Gogh, are to be aware of the colors he used, and why, and to use the textures to build the image, so that every color and stroke, and the shape, direction and energy of the strokes, would be important to the painting. Like poetry, nothing is extra, nothing is wasted.

Mimi is the subject of another oil pastel, In Window Light, and also participates in yet another oil pastel with Mewsette, Kitty Spoons.

You can see other oil pastels in Two Cats After van Gogh and you can also see other feline artwork in the following galleries:

ABOUT MY DAILY SKETCHES

I endeavored 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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Soft November Afternoon, pastel on self-prepared bosrd, 10 x 8, 2006 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Soft November Afternoon, Pastel,10 x 8, 2006. The original is sold, digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



Soft November Afternoon, pastel on self-prepared bosrd, 10 x 8, 2006 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Soft November Afternoon, pastel on self-prepared board, 10 x 8, 2006 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This little painting was done en plein air on a sunny November afternoon in 2006. I was photographing a conservation area owned by a conservation organization I worked with, and at that time I toted some art materials just about everywhere. The rich burnished colors of the remaining oak leaves and the ghostly white trunks of the sycamores along with the soft waving of the plushy field of ripe grass catching the sun was too good not to paint.

As soon as I got the photographs I needed, I stationed myself and got out my pastels. By that time a light autumn haze had softened the sunlight and the blue of the sky, reducing the contrast and depth of shadows. It appeared softer than before, even in the shadows, hence the title.

I prepared several small pieces of 2-ply illustration board with a fine pastel ground, and off I went.

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.

 

Rescued Kitties Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Rescued Kitties” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Rescued Kitties Face Mask

Rescued Kitties Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my daily cat sketches I titled “The TNR Story”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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 garden flag

Garden Flag, Greenhouse Gerberas is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Greenhouse Gerberas garden flag

Greenhouse Gerberas garden flag

Flags are printed on cotton twill with a light fabric transfer Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

oil pastel painting of gerbera daisies

Greenhouse Gerberas, draft

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. I chose oil pastel because I’ve come to enjoy working out the flowers with layering and impasto on a rough-textured paper.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Greenhouse Gerberas

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

Smiling Ginger Batik Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Smiling Ginger Batik” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Smiling Ginger Batik Face Mask

Smiling Ginger Batik Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my daily cat sketches I titled “The TNR Story”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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.

Inscrutable Patterns Face Mask

I imprinted the design “Inscrutable Patterns” onto unbleached cotton muslin using a fabric transfer for the patterned layer and used unbleached cotton muslin for the lining, which forms a pocket. Mask is made with elastic ear loops and also comes with 24″ cloth ties.



Inscrutable Patterns Face Mask

Inscrutable Patterns Face Mask

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The commercial quality fabric transfer gives the fabric a little extra density to block droplets, and body so it holds its shape where you want it. I insert a piece of lightweight wire along the top edge so you can bend it over the bridge of your nose for a tighter seal, and also to keep the condensation off your glasses. Here’s me wearing my own personal “Inscrutable Cats” face mask.

me with my sample mask

Me with my sample mask.

Each mask is also lined with fresh cotton muslin, with the top seam left open to form a pocket so you can slip in another layer or two of materials for extra blocking like a folded paper towel or coffee filter, or a folded piece of tissue paper.

Pocket for extra layers.

Pocket for extra layers.

I add elastic ear bands and also provide 24″ cotton ties if that works better for you. Masks are fully washable.

After adding the elastic I wash the masks in the washer and dry in the dryer, and handle them with gloves to package them in plastic bags to eliminate further handling.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my daily cat sketches I titled “Inscrutable”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Handprinted Art, Housewares and Apparel

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.

cat art accessory bag

I screen print the Purr design on canvas, add the heart embellishment, and stitch up the accessory bag. Bags may vary slightly in size, but are just about 5″ x 7″. White zipper closure.



About the artwork

cat art accessory bag

Purr accessory bag.

I don’t know what it is I like about visual word puzzles, but I doodled them when I was younger. A couple of years ago I got a bug about the word “purr” and was determined to fit it into a cat shape. And so I did, though it took all of two years to do it.

The accessory bags are made of the same lightweight canvas as the tote bags. I print the design on the fabric, add the heart embellishment, then construct the bag and use a white zipper.

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.

purr design on wood block

“Purr” Shelf Sitter/Wall Sign is screen printed on painted wood block and embellished with a foil heart. I painted the block white on the face and black on the sides. The block is 6″ x 8″ x 1.5″ and can sit up on a shelf or hang on a wall.



purr design on wood block

Purr Shelf Sitter/Wall Sign

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I don’t know what it is I like about visual word puzzles, but I doodled them when I was younger. A couple of years ago I got a bug about the word “purr” and was determined to fit it into a cat shape.  And so I did, though it took all of two years to do it.

I painted the 6″ x 8″ x 1.5″ wooden block white on the face and black on the sides, then screen printed the design on the face and embellished with a foil heart I’ve cut out with my Silhouette media cutter. The block can sit up on a shelf or hang on a wall.

purr design on wood block

Side view

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.

Nikka's Jupiter Ball, pastel, 10 x 15, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Nikka’s Jupiter Ball” is a pastel on Pastelmat card, 10″ x 15″, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski.



About the artwork

Nikka's Jupiter Ball, pastel, 10 x 15, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Nikka’s Jupiter Ball, pastel, 10 x 15, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s exciting to see an idea, an image you’ve visualized for decades, suddenly be there right before your eyes. All of Nikka’s markings and her big round yellow-green eyes, all the rich colors, the light, the familiar things, just what I’ve been seeing all these years. And mostly, the moment and the memory she and I shared of one of her favorite activities. She made direct eye contact with me—”do you see this?!”—yes, I could see her excitement, and then she put on an athletic feat of chasing it all around the room.

Detail of Nikka's face

Detail of Nikka’s face

Creating the painting “Nikka’s Jupiter Ball” from many photos

It’s titled “Nikka’s Jupiter Ball” because what inspired it is Nikka’s excited expression and her ball right there, a moment I saw when I walked into my bedroom one late afternoon and saw here in the sun under the rocker, then saw the ball and understood. It was her favorite toy and she always got the big round eyes when she saw it, then she’d bat it all over the room. I remembered that moment out of many, but did not get a photo of her in action.

I have many photos of Nikka on film and a few from my first digital camera, but I lost her in 2003. I knew then that I would want to paint this scene, and I used both digital and film to capture this corner of my bedroom in the right light. Because it’s season-specific, and I had a big maple tree outside the window, I had a few weeks in winter when the light was just right—and my bedroom wasn’t suddenly filled with extra furniture from my mother’s house, which I sold in 2004. I mocked up the scene and tweaked it over the next two decades, even still tweaking a bit right before I started working on this painting. I’m very pleased with the outcome.

You can read much more about this painting and about Nikka on The Creative Cat.

Here are a few of my favorite areas of detail:

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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.

CANVAS PRINTS

I have canvases printed as they are ordered so I rarely have any on hand. 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.

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.

 

"Autumn Colors", 5" x 7", pastel on board, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Reflections on an October Afternoon”, 5″ x 7″, pastel on board, original is sold. Prints on paper and canvas are available.



"Autumn Colors", 5" x 7", pastel on board, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Autumn Colors”, 5″ x 7″, pastel on board, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I played hooky today and ran off into the woods.

Autumn has been developing most beautifully and I keep trying to find the time to get out there and have a few hours in the woods to paint and photograph and just walk barefoot on the trails at least one last time this year.

A friend who walks the same trails every day shared some photos from the upper trails of yellow trees full of sun and leaves on the trail and that’s one of the places I’d wanted to explore this autumn. We agreed it wasn’t going to last, and when I discovered that my Sales Tax Webinar was not today at noon I felt the big blue sky calling me and packed a sandwich and an apple and some water and made sure I had some pastels and papers in my backpack and I took off.

Four hours later I have this little finished sketch, and I started two others just to save time, and have lots of other photos and ideas. There is nothing like sketching en plein air. Not only are my paintings different, but it also improves my work in studio. One afternoon is not enough, but rain and frost are coming and many leaves will fall.

About the materials

I don’t take all my pastels with me when I paint outdoors because the chance of losing them all is far greater when I’m standing in a stream to paint and I may accidentally drop them all in the water. Instead I have one set of Sennelier soft pastels with a good balance of colors for landscapes, and I have a box of odds and ends of duplicates of all different brands.

Today I discovered I didn’t have any truly dark colors except navy blue, so I made do mixing that navy, a good choice for autumn with its bluish shadows, with other colors.

The panel it’s painted on is a Clayboard textured panel, but not the one intended for pastel. The materials I carry are also odds and ends because I’m usually creating smaller quick sketches and I like a variety of surfaces, from pastel drawing paper to the sanded papers and pre-finished boards. Because the finish is added to a piece of hardboard it’s especially nice to use en plein air because the board holds its own shape without using a backing, like a drawing board to attach it to. I can just hold this panel in one hand and handle my pastels with the other.

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.

SIGNED 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.

SIGNED 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.

SIGNED CANVAS PRINTS

Like giclee prints, I don’t keep canvas prints on hand; at one time they were very popular but not so much lately. No matter how I store or display them in my home gallery or in exhibits or vendor shows, they are easily damaged. I order them as customers order them, and work with two providers, depending on the size of the print, who turn them around quickly.

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.

Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “Inscrutable Patterns” onto reclaimed linen fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a purple zipper.



Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my daily cat sketches I titled “Inscrutable”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Red Tail cabochon pendant.

This small pendant is made with a print of my photo “Red Tail”, inside a round antique silver decorative metal frame and a 1″ convex glass cabochon cover. It comes with an 18″ flocked black cord decorated with silver beads.

Red Tail cabochon pendant.

Red Tail cabochon pendant.

I make a high-quality print of my artwork, trim it to fit the cabochon and frame and adhere it all together, then choose a cord or chain that coordinates with it. I decided to decorate each end of the cord with a silver bead.

Red Tail cabochon pendant with beaded cord.

Red Tail cabochon pendant with beaded cord.



Find similar items

Jewelry

Handmade Gifts

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.

22 Cats small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “22 Cats” onto reclaimed linen fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″  bag, adding a colorful zipper.



22 Cats small accessory bag.

22 Cats small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

There are 22 cats in this pattern who all appear in the commissioned portraits included in my book, Great Rescues Day Book“. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Paws for Reflection, Pastel, 18" x 14", 1999 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This painting is my pastel, “Paws for Reflection,” 14″ x 18″. The original was a commission and is not available, but I have prints on paper and canvas.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Paws for Reflection, Pastel, 18" x 14", 1999 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Paws for Reflection, Pastel, 18″ x 14″, 1999 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

In 1999 I was honored to create artwork for a limited edition print to be sold as a benefit for The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. I donated original art to the shelters for their art auctions all the time as well as certificates for a custom pet portrait, and I was known for this realistic and colorful style. I was honored that the shelter chose me for this project.

“Limited Edition” is a rather outdated term referring to the days when art was printed on printing presses. Printing plates were made and once the press tests produced an artist’s proof that was as close to the original as possible, an “edition” of a limited number was printed like 50 or 500, then the press was stopped, the plates used to print were destroyed. This gave each of the authentic prints a higher value because they were limited in number.

The shelter had purchased the rights to that limited run of prints and they bought the original painting. As part of the agreement, I agreed not to make prints of the image for five years following that, though I could include it in my portfolio to show others as examples of my work.

I worked with the shelter to design the image, and chose a cat from photos I had on hand, then worked with the rest of the composition so it was pretty, but not overdone. I love those old wooden casement windows, and you’ll see windows, curtains and vases of flowers as a theme in several of my paintings.

The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. has merged with the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society to become Humane Animal Rescue Pittsburgh. Limited edition prints are no longer available, but the artwork still hangs in the shelter’s original building.

Why have I waited so long to offer it as a print?

I have offered this image on gift items and a greeting card in the past. But my digital file of this image was based on my photo of the artwork, which I took with my film camera. It wasn’t bad for photographing a larger painting in those days, but was still too “soft” to offer as a full-size print; even as an 8″ x 10″ I could see the soft edges that should be sharper and more clear and in this painting it didn’t work for me. Because I have many of these older paintings that I photographed with film and sold or gave the painting to its commissioned owner before I got the prints back and found the photos weren’t clear enough, I recently purchased a program that uses more refined methods of sharpening images no matter the reason it’s blurry. Now I can finally revitalize these older paintings, and photographs too. I’m happy to offer this kitty now.

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.

Morning Glories in the Alley

If There Weren’t Morning Glories, Poster Quote prints are made in archival inks on Epson Matte Photo Paper, Cold Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Morning Glories in the Alley

Morning Glories in the Alley

I don’t have enough sun to grow morning glories in my yard, so I take advantage of others’ lovely pink and purple trumpets. For years I’ve photographed the morning glories that come up from seeds along the wrought iron fence by my neighbor’s white barn garage in the alley near me. The house was sold, and both the morning glories and the wrought iron fence are gone. I’m so glad I took the time to photograph them.

. . . . . . .

I have been kind of obsessed with morning glories in alleys lately—they’ve just suddenly sprung up so I’ve shared some of my old favorites, but I’m trying not to spend too much time on them right now when I’m really busy.

If There Weren’t Morning Glories

I would get more
done
if there weren’t
morning glories
in
the alley

poem © 2013 Bernadette E. Kazmarski

They got the better of me today, and after a GB+ of photos of the lovely purple and pinks by the white barn and a quick scribble of a thought I decided to spend some time on something I visualized while photographing and finishing my walk home. The thought was a very literal one—I should get home, I had things to do before the end of the day and if I hadn’t encountered such exuberant and colorful beauty while walking down the alley I would probably have been home already.

But I wouldn’t have these many photos of morning glories, each of which I’ll use somewhere sometime, even if I only look at them one winter day, and I wouldn’t have that sweet spontaneous the exercise of my creative intellect from coming upon such beauty that had me let go of what I needed to do, only to come back and do it better than I would have if I had ignored the morning glories and come straight home. Soon the morning glories will be grayish withered memories and I may be too, so it was extra important to capture it.

Please share! And don’t forget to tarry a while by the morning glories.

See more Poster Quotes.

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.

FRAMED PRINTS

The photo is double matted with black core white acid-free mat and a solid wood matte black 25″ x 23″ frame and I’ve used a more square layout, but the image can also be more rectangular, and other styles are often available; check the thumbnails above to see what’s available now or ask about custom framing. Framed prints are signed on the photo and on the mat.

Other custom framing options are also available for a special quote. Please ask if you’d like another option.

PHOTO PRINTS

Prints are made on acid-free matte photo paper using archival digital inks. I usually leave an inch or two of white around the print for easier frame fitting. All prints 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, and this image wraps around the sides.

Sycamore Moon cabochon pendant.

This small pendant is made with a print of my photo “Sycamore Moon”, inside a round antique silver decorative metal frame and a 1″ convex glass cabochon cover. It comes with an 18″ flocked black cord decorated with silver beads.

Sycamore Moon cabochon pendant.

Sycamore Moon

I make a high-quality print of my artwork, trim it to fit the cabochon and frame and adhere it all together, then choose a cord or chain that coordinates with it. I decided to decorate each end of the cord with a silver bead.

Sycamore Moon cabochon pendant with beaded cord.

Sycamore Moon cabochon pendant with beaded cord.

 



Find similar items

Jewelry

Handmade Gifts

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.

 

St. John's Wort cabochon pendant

This small pendant is made with a print of my photo “St. John’s Wort”, inside a rectangular gold tone decorative metal frame and a convex glass cabochon cover. It comes with an 18″ gold bead chain.

St. John's Wort cabochon pendant

St. John’s Wort

I make a high-quality print of my artwork, trim it to fit the cabochon and frame and adhere it all together, then choose a cord or chain that coordinates with it.

St. John's Wort cabochon pendant on gold chain.

St. John’s Wort cabochon pendant on gold chain.



Find similar items

Jewelry

Handmade Gifts

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.

 

Columbines Tile

Tiles are about 4.75″ square, made of white polymer clay rolled thin with my painting “Columbines” onto the surface.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used with items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great with items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Another piece borne of January inspiration in my seed and flower catalogs, this little bunch of columbines was so joyful that it stayed with me. One of my favorite flowers, it is also a favorite of my mother, and I gave this painting to her as a birthday present one year. She has since passed away and I’ve sold her home, and kept the artwork I’d done. I sold the original to a good friend to give to her mother but this image will always remind me of her. Read more about this painting.

Find more

See more gifts in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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 small pendant is made with a print of my photo “Roots”, inside a round antique brass decorative metal frame and a convex glass cabochon cover. It comes with an 18″ hemp cord decorated with brass and silver beads.

Roots

I make a high-quality print of my artwork, trim it to fit the cabochon and frame and adhere it all together, then choose a cord or chain that coordinates with it.



Find similar items

Jewelry

Handmade Gifts

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.

 

watercolor of tortoiseshell cat

Draw Me Like One of Your French Cats, watercolor and pastel pencil is 8″ x 10″, the original framed in a gold and black finish wood frame with decorative carving and a single marbled pink mat. The original is available and digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



About “Draw Me Like One of Your French Cats”

watercolor of tortoiseshell cat

Draw Me Like One of Your French Cats, watercolor and pastel pencil, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I just couldn’t resist. when Sienna decided to help me make the bed by showing me her belly and looking coy. Especially on that woven throw with its all-over pattern of fruits and leaves, I just had to draw her! Well, paint her, but “draw” is what she actually said in the movie, so I’ll go with that.

Sienna is one of my TNR kitties who turned out to be friendly and adoptable, but she developed a urinary issue that tends to turn off adopters so she’s still with me. She is very shy but a total love and silly and purry and playful.  She loves to help make the bed and rolls around and chirps and races back and forth. She posed like this more than once, and from the very first time I visualized a painting of her, on this blanket, with this title. Lots of photos later I had a selection to choose from, and this was the winner.

When I started painting I thought the throw looked odd without the woven pattern, it just needed that texture. I had used a textured watercolor paper, then also used a piece of linen to “print” a fabric pattern in medium gray watercolor where I needed it to add the texture of the throw. Then when the watercoloring was done I finished Sienna’s fur with white, orange and russet pastel highlights and furs on that sweet belly.

I love cats on floral and decorative patterns, and that theme has been one I’ve wanted to pursue for years. Purrhaps a solid-color kitty would have been a better choice as she seems to blend into the background, but that makes it fun to discover her.

Here is the framed original.

Draw Me Like One of Your French Cats, framed.

Draw Me Like One of Your French Cats, 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 print the smaller ones myself, 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.

 

This 4” round coaster is made from white polymer clay and stamped with my brush pen sketch “Three Cats Looking”, painted red orange, then given a wash of white.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used as a hot pad for items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great as a coaster for items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.


The coaster is 4″ white polymer clay with “Three Cats Looking” stamped and impressed into the clay. It’s then painted with violet paint and given a wash of white to enhance the dimension of the sketch.

I love this little brush pen sketch and I’ve always wanted to do something with it, so I had a stamp made to play with. I may paint one or two of these too, and some other ideas include a square or rectangular dish. I really, really want to do something with the tail to let it hang off an edge or something, but I’m just not sure the polymer clay will stand up to a beating with a tail that thin.

And just to prove that my designs are “inspired by cats you know”, here is the photo I took when I sketched the three of them. You can read about the designs in my original post for this daily sketch.

photo of three black cats from behind

Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine and Jelly Bean

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes and Tiles and Coasters in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

Curled on the Bed, 5 x 8, pencil © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The original sketch of Curled on the Bed, Pencil, is still available, and I also have a variety of prints and note cards (and even a few gift items). The original sketch is 5″ x 8″, 2012 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

About the artwork

 

What else to do on a lovely sunny afternoon but curl up in the sun on the bed? Well, some of us have to work, but kitties need their beauty sleep. They gave me a break from the computer when I decided they’d be today’s subject.

This was just as much about capturing all three, each of whom moved enough that they needed extra sketching, as it was about the bedding. I enjoyed the challenge of depicting the pattern on the postage-stamp quilt, each little square with its own pattern and color and the squares arranged in a repeating geometric pattern, as well as the pillow shams with the ruffled eyelet edging. How to render the details in pencil when much depends on color, and how much detail is just enough without drawing every little eyelet opening and every flower and line on each square? Very fun to let my hands figure it out without overthinking it, which is how I end up overdoing it.

I added a little more shading to Mimi, Jelly Bean and Mr. Sunshine since they are black, and I also liked their contrast against the quilt.

I love this particular vintage quilt because I love handmade things, and I use it as much for the background in photos and eventually paintings as just to enjoy its springtime feel. But I have to be careful with it and soon it will be gently soaked in the washer and dried outside in the shade on a warm sunny day to be put away for another spring.

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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 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 black on the sides.

MOUSEPADS

Mousepads are 8″ x 7″, always horizontal, 1/4″ black foam rubber with the image printed on a flexible fabric on top.

 

Set of Bella! dishtowels on patterned towels.

My “Bella!” design is screen printed on the bottom edge of an 18″ x 24″ woven cotton dishtowel. I hand sew the green button eyes using black quilting thread for extra wear.

See below for ordering instructions.



Bella models her dishtowels.

Bella models her dishtowels.

If you had any doubts that the real Bella’s eyes were as big and round and pale green as buttons, she is here to prove to you that yes, they really are. She was the inspiration for this design, and when I created this design I got as close to the real thing as I possibly could. I went to photograph this new style of dish towels and Bella was napping on the table where I wanted to photograph them. I hoped she might want to wake up and interact with the dishtowels in some way, and what a star, she turned around and did this!

Set of Bella! dishtowels on patterned towels.

Set of Bella! dishtowels on patterned towels.

I saw a gingham dishtowel with a black cat silhouette printed on it and decided I had to try that with Bella! I haven’t found a gingham dishtowel that wasn’t already printed or embroidered for a reasonable price, nor a gingham fabric that I’d like for a dishtowel, so when I saw these Rinnig towels at IKEA I thought I’d give them a try. The pattern is woven into the towel instead of printed onto it, which I prefer for its durability, and the color is actually very dark gray, so it’s a little muted against the black ink of Bella.

The towels seem to be in good supply and they’ll be available for a while, so I feel confident in offering these towels in quantity.

The Bella! design is 8″ wide. I chose the size in part to accommodate the design when the towel is folded in thirds, and because it’s a size I like and can find two-hole buttons for. Trust me, 5/8″ two-hole lime green/apple green/light green buttons are elusive!

Ordering your towels

Offering four different patterns is tricky with ordering. I buy the four in a set, but some people like stripes and some people like plaids, and some people want all four the same, so that makes inventory interesting. That means I may run out of one pattern before others and there may be a delay while I get and print more towels.

Use these pattern names when ordering.

Pattern A, Wide Stripe

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern A, wide stripe.

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern A, wide stripe.

Pattern B, Narrow Stripe

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern B, narrow stripe.

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern B, narrow stripe.

Pattern C, Large Tattersall Check

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern C, large tattersall check..

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern C, large tattersall check.

Pattern D, Small Tattersall Check

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern D, small tattersall check.

Bella! dishtowel on patterned towel, pattern D, small tattersall check.

Original Bella! Tote Bag with the black kitty silhouette

O.M.Geeeee! It’s Bella! On a bag with green button eyes just like her big round eyes! Bella, in silhouette, is stenciled at the bottom of a bag and with just big blue-green eyes that are two-hole buttons sewn on with black thread.

Based on one of my sketches of Bella from shortly after she arrived here simply called “Bella”, I pulled out the scan of the little painting and refined the design in Photoshop. Bella’s eyes are not yellow green, they are a cooler blue-green, and I found pretty close to a good color for her. Others don’t live in a house full of housepanthers, so I added the white, gray and ginger kitties who are her foster friends.

Bella! Tote bag.

Bella! Tote bag.

Find similar items

Also see the Bella! and her Foster Friends Tote Bags.

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.

Peace, love and cats

“Peace, Love & Cats” is my design and stenciled hand-lettered by me in acrylic paint on weathered wood reclaimed from a neighbor’s old stockade fence. I create each sign individually and the wood surface varies so each sign is unique. This sign measures 10″ wide x 3.5″ tall and has a sawtooth hanger on the back.



Peace, love and cats

Peace, love and cats

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Unlike nearly every other feline design I offer, no part of this design is adapted from a sketch or painting I’ve already created. I just made it up.

I just started doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. Originally they were hand-painted, not stenciled. I was a sign painter 30 years ago and I’ve wanted to paint some decorative signs since they’ve become popular again. I gave the wood and the paint and two designs a try, then decided on four designs and started painting.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

The wood is very rough and weathered so I give it a sanding, then wipe it down with a tack cloth. Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign. There is no way to smooth out the surface so I just deal with it as I paint.

Find more

See more Signs in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

Forest Bathing, pastel, 16 x 22, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Forest Bathing, Pastel is 16″ x 22″ in mixed pastels on Pastelmat paper. The framed original painting as well as prints on paper and canvas are available.



Forest Bathing, pastel, 16 x 22, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Forest Bathing, pastel, 16 x 22, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

About Forest Bathing

A view of the misty spring woods.

I’ve always loved this ravine just off the Panhandle Trail for the angle of light that enters it, that deep “V” shape creating colorful highlights and rich shadows and always mossy logs with a little sparkle of water that meanders down the center.

And in nearly all seasons I’m intrigued by the soft mysteries in that mist when the woods are damp, filled with muted light.

I took the reference photo for this painting on an unusually warm day in early March 2022, walking barefoot in the woods around the Panhandle Trail between the snows. There was plenty of mist on that day as the warm sun reached the cool damp soil, and as I walked past this ravine on my way to the trail that winds up and up the hill the light was perfect to capture that feeling.

Painting Forest Bathing en plein air in my studio…

I wanted this to be loose, just to catch the feeling of it, but not to include every twig and sprig of moss, much as I would if standing there in the wet soil and the spring afternoon was fading and the light changing each minute.

To mimic as much of the plein air experience as I could I opened the photo on my studio computer’s large screen, put the paper up on my easel, and started painting quickly, working from the middle of this scene, blocking off areas and making adjustments as I moved. That way I catch the elements of the scene that are most striking similar to the way I would if the light was actually changing,

I know a painting’s time has come when it just flows from my hand and my pastels.

Other similar works

See more paintings from Sun Shadow Ice & Snow, Seasons on the Panhandle Trail.

See more Landscape Artwork.

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.

Cats are like potato chips, it's hard to have just one.

“Cats Are Like Potato Chips” is my design and stenciled hand-lettered by me in acrylic paint on weathered wood reclaimed from a neighbor’s old stockade fence. I create each sign individually and the wood surface varies so each sign is unique. This sign measures 10″ wide x 3.5″ tall and has a sawtooth hanger on the back.



Cats are like potato chips, it's hard to have just one.

Cats are like potato chips, it’s hard to have just one.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I remember having seen this quote on a refrigerator magnet in a friend’s house at least 25 years ago. It probably had some resonance with those who remember the Lay’s potato chip commercial. I’ve not seen it since and I have no idea who came up with it, but it’s totally true and it’s not copyrighted, so I decided I had to use it. It makes everyone laugh when I say it.

The cat silhouette design is adapted from one of my daily sketches, “Pink Sunshine”. Because I wanted the cat silhouettes to look like a repeating pattern I wanted them to be as identical as possible. In this case handpainting, because of the wood surface, didn’t give me the effect I wanted, I cut a stencil for the cat silhouettes and then add the whiskers.

I just started doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. Originally they were hand-painted, not stenciled. I was a sign painter 30 years ago and I’ve wanted to paint some decorative signs since they’ve become popular again. I gave the wood and the paint and two designs a try, then decided on four designs and started painting.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

The wood is very rough and weathered so I give it a sanding, then wipe it down with a tack cloth. Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign. There is no way to smooth out the surface so I just deal with it as I paint.

 

Find more

See more Signs in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

Home is where the cat is.

“Home is Where the Cat Is” is my design and stenciled hand-lettered by me in acrylic paint on weathered wood reclaimed from a neighbor’s old stockade fence. I create each sign individually and the wood surface varies so each sign is unique. This sign measures 10″ wide x 3.5″ tall and has a sawtooth hanger on the back.



Home is where the cat is.

Home is where the cat is.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

My back yard in the morning is a great creative place for me. While I’m working in my garden and around my house for an hour or two, early, I’m also thinking through yesterday’s ideas to make them today’s realities. I’d been thinking of signs, and begun to visualize a few of them on the wood I’d gathered. Then Mewsette did this on the steps to the deck.

Mewsette as inspiration.

I added the rest of her in a shape that worked, and knew I wanted a dangling tail for interest. Initially I planned to curve the text around her back, but since the wood is narrow and I want to keep it simple I decided to place the text where it naturally fit—in the space underneath reinforcing her position on the step.

When I was handpainting this sign I painted around Mewsette’s eyes, leaving them the wood color. Since I’m stenciling it’s awkward to try to get those little bits of stencil to stay in the right place, so I stencil over the entire shape and then paint the eyes in with a brush. In this case I used a light cool green, which is the color of Mewsette’s eyes, but it’s too light. Her eyes will be a color, and I think I’ll go with a bright green.

I just started doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. Originally they were hand-painted, not stenciled. I was a sign painter 30 years ago and I’ve wanted to paint some decorative signs since they’ve become popular again. I gave the wood and the paint and two designs a try, then decided on four designs and started painting.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

The wood is very rough and weathered so I give it a sanding, then wipe it down with a tack cloth. Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign. There is no way to smooth out the surface so I just deal with it as I paint.

 

Find more

See more Signs in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

Home is where the cats are.

Home is Where the Cats Are” is my design and stenciled hand-lettered by me in acrylic paint on weathered wood reclaimed from a neighbor’s old stockade fence. I create each sign individually and the wood surface varies so each sign is unique. This sign measures 10″ wide x 3.5″ tall and has a sawtooth hanger on the back.



Home is where the cats are.

Home is where the cats are.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Because, well, “cats are like potato chips”, I had to have a sign for those of us with multiple cats.  I adapted the two silhouettes from my daily sketch “Morning at the Window” featuring Mr. Sunshine and Jelly Bean butt to butt, but nicely positioned for the text treatment I had in mind. The phrase “home is where the cats are” divides evenly into three words and three words, but the second half is a little short so I added a heart at the end. Why not?

"Morning at the Window", marker, 7 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Morning at the Window”, marker, 7 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

You can read a little more about the sketch, and about my daily sketches, on The Creative Cat.

On the original sign I painted the heart black, but knew I’d want it to be red, and so it is.

I just started doodlin around in my studio with some nice weathered wood from my neighbor’s old stockade fence. Originally they were hand-painted, not stenciled. I was a sign painter 30 years ago and I’ve wanted to paint some decorative signs since they’ve become popular again. I gave the wood and the paint and two designs a try, then decided on four designs and started painting.

Because of that I began painting these signs freehand with outlines I traced on the wood and that worked fine with the first pieces of wood I used that I’d chosen because they were nice and smooth. However, in real life, most of the wood is not smooth but has rough finishes, stamped patterns from being cut, and splits and holes from nails and weather.

The wood is very rough and weathered so I give it a sanding, then wipe it down with a tack cloth. Now the larger areas on the signs are stenciled, and the text is hand-lettered. I try to find a smooth area for the text for each sign. There is no way to smooth out the surface so I just deal with it as I paint.

 

Find more

See more Signs in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

Kitty Love picture frames.

I purchase unfinished frames and add color and black cat silhouettes in acrylic paint. Your photo fits in the heart-shaped opening. Frames are 5.5 x 8.5 and are displayed using a dowel peg in the back of the frame.

Please choose the color you’d like in the drop-down list below.



Kitty Love picture frames.

Kitty Love picture frames.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I made a set of these last year. This year I changed the cat silhouette and added a few new colors. The art is “Mimi en Silhouette” as the cat shape. I named this design in French because it’s an homage to Theophile Steinlen’s style and you may have guessed I’m very fond of his style.

I also added the pawprints near the heart because it just needed a little something over there, just purrfect for a few little kitty paws.

Find more

See more Frames in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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 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.

 

A Tangle of Cats at the Door, 5 x 8, pencil © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The original sketch of A Tangle of Cats at the Door, Pencil, is still available, and I also have a variety of prints and note cards (and even a few gift items). The original sketch is 5″ x 8″, 2012 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

About the artwork

A Tangle of Cats at the Door, 5 x 8, pencil © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

A Tangle of Cats at the Door, 5 x 8, pencil © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Not that they’d all keep still while I sketched them, instead I wanted to catch their energy, not sure how many or how detailed I’d get I let the sketch build itself and drew them one by one as they moved around at the basement door, looking out at the garden in the morning while I did some work in the basement.

Fun, all five in a row, I believe it’s Mewsette, Giuseppe, Bean, Mimi and Mr. Sunshine.

I’ve been surprised at the popularity of this sketch. I can only guess that my sketchy pencil lines really did capture their energy while they watched at the door. It’s one of the most often-viewed sketches of all time and gets at least one view per day, often as many as ten.

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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 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 black on the sides.

MOUSEPADS

Mousepads are 8″ x 7″, always horizontal, 1/4″ black foam rubber with the image printed on a flexible fabric on top.

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.

"Mischief," pastel, 9x12, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mischief, Pastel, 9″ x 12″, 2022. The original is sold but digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Mischief," pastel, 9x12, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Mischief,” pastel, 9×12, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Guess who’s getting into some mischief? It’s the little tag team, Mariposa and Hamlet! It always starts when one of them tags the other, and the chase begins, but I don’t think Hamlet looks like he wants to play right now.

This image probably looks a little confusing to anyone but me. The shelves intentionally don’t have too many shadows when I use them for photography, and there’s a mirror behind them with a lot of things reflected in it. But I’m thinking everyone will be looking at the cats.

The scene of the mischief actually happened…on a hot day in late July! July 23, to be exact. I set up my display shelves here in my office to photograph a few things in a decorative setting, and Hamlet, of all cats, decided to nap there. He has never done that, so it was another first for him this year, and I decided he could nap as long as he wanted. I made sure to get a bunch of photos of him gracefully sleeping on the shelf, though.

But then Mariposa came along and just had to get involved, and the tagging began. I immediately saw the potential for a new holiday painting. I let them do what they wanted and just kept photographing. Below are three reference photos of the activity that led up to this. They are very dark and the color is “off”—I hadn’t yet changed the settings on my camera and the bright string lights always throw off the settings. For that reason I didn’t get the photo of Mariposa in the approximate position she’s in in the painting, but I remembered it.

For more information on the artwork, visit Featured Artwork: Mischief, a New Holiday Painting on The Creative Cat.

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 print the smaller ones myself, 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.

 

Garden Sketch With Mimi tile.

This tile is 4″ x 4″, made of white polymer clay rolled thin with a print of my watercolor “Garden Sketch With Mimi” onto the surface.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

I have the tile pictured above and an older model from my very first attempts with the design running to the edges.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used as a hot pad for items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great as a coaster for items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.

Special: Two Tiles for $25.00

Because it’s hard to choose just one, this special discount applies all the time on all my tiles.

Use the code 2TILES25.

They are $15 each and you get a $5.00 discount when you buy two. All tax, shipping and handling are included in that price. Buy one for yourself and one for a friend!


ABOUT THE ARTWORK

This was not what I’d intended to paint that day but I like it anyway. It’s Mimi napping in the shadow on the cool bricks among the geraniums, near the vintage aluminum tub where I grow pole beans. Mimi was so happy to be outside she only rested in each position for less than a minute, and the sun was in and out behind the clouds. The temperature was in the 90s and we weren’t doing much but looking for a comfortable spot.

I had wanted something a little tighter in detail, but I like the details this one has. I did a light pencil sketch underneath because it’s so small I knew I’d run out of space if I didn’t give myself some guidance about Mimi, the geraniums and the barrel, but aside from that I just painted.

Read more about this painting.

Find more

See more gifts in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

"Tabbies" tiles in orange.

Tiles are about 4.75″ square, made of white polymer clay rolled thin, then pressed onto one of the inked linoleum blocks from my “Tabbies” series, printed in a variety of colors.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used with items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great with items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.

DESIGNS AVAILABLE

Clockwise, from top left:

  • Wrinkled Pajamas
  • Fawnball
  • Let Me Clean You Up
  • Sunshine and Flowers
"Tabbies" tiles in orange.

“Tabbies” tiles in orange.

How to order

The ordering option below includes the names of all tiles available in this color. If a design name is missing, it means it’s sold out and I need to make more. If you’d like a design that’s missing, please let me know!

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I’ve had tiles in mind for a long time. I just like them for decoration, but they are also useful as coasters or a base to display something.

I’ve had the idea of using my linoleum blocks for the “Tabbies” series to create some texture with the impression along with color.

I don’t have a kiln at the ready and don’t really want one. I experimented with air-dry clay to substitute and while the finish has the feel and texture of kiln-fired clay they just began to crumble weeks after I’d made the first ones.

These tiles are made of polymer clay rolled thin, then pressed onto one of the inked linoleum blocks from my “Tabbies” series so they are a little dimensional and a little colorful, just as I had imagined. They are about 4.75″ square, determined by the designs on the block, three of which have distinct edges that look best when cropped to the edge.

Find more

See more gifts in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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.

 

 

 

Butterflies Votive, small

This glass votive is etched by hand and finished with a clear label I printed including four of my photos of butterflies from back yard and trail. It’s made from a repurposed sauce jar 6.5″ tall x 3″ wide and comes with an LED tea light. Price includes shipping.



Butterflies Votive, small

Butterflies Votive, small

I printed the design on a purchased clear vinyl label and burnished it onto the vase. The curved glass areas are painted with forest green permanent alcohol ink.

OTHER VOTIVES

Find other votives featuring cats, butterflies, flowers, nature and wildlife in my Handmade Gifts Gallery or search “votives”.

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 Wildflowers votive.

This glass votive features my photo of “Summer Wildflowers” printed on a clear label and burnished onto the jar. It’s made from a repurposed pickle jar 8.5″ tall x 5″ wide and comes with a string of 30 LED fairy lights. Price includes shipping.



Summer Wildflowers votive.

Summer Wildflowers votive.

I printed the design on a purchased clear vinyl label and burnished it onto the vase. The curved glass areas are painted with forest green permanent alcohol ink.

OTHER VOTIVES

Find other votives featuring cats, butterflies, flowers, nature and wildlife in my Handmade Gifts Gallery or search “votives”.

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.

Sycamore Moon votive in the light.

This glass votive features my painting “Sycamore Moon” printed on a frosted label and burnished onto the jar. It’s made with a straight-sided glass vase 6.75″ tall x 4″ wide and comes with an LED tea light. Price includes shipping.



Sycamore Moon votive in the light.

Sycamore Moon votive in the light.

I printed the design on a commercial frosted vinyl label and burnished it onto the vase. The votive comes with an LED votive, but will also accommodate a larger LED candle. Below is how it is lit in darker conditions.

Sycamore Moon votive in the dark.

Sycamore Moon votive in the dark.

 

OTHER VOTIVES

Find other votives featuring cats, butterflies, flowers, nature and wildlife in my Handmade Gifts Gallery or search “votives”.

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.

Woodland Sunflowers votive, tall

This glass votive features my photo “Woodland Sunflowers” printed on a clear label and burnished onto the jar. It’s made from a repurposed pickle jar 7″ tall x 4″ wide and comes with an LED tea light. Price includes shipping.



Woodland Sunflowers votive, tall

Woodland Sunflowers votive, tall

I printed the design on a purchased clear vinyl label and burnished it onto the vase. The curved glass areas are painted with olive green permanent alcohol ink.

OTHER VOTIVES

Find other votives featuring cats, butterflies, flowers, nature and wildlife in my Handmade Gifts Gallery or search “votives”.

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.

“Five Cats and One Box”, brush markers, 6.5″ x 9″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Five Cats and One Box original marker sketch 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

“Five Cats and One Box”, brush markers, 6.5″ x 9″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Five Cats and One Box”, brush markers, 6.5″ x 9″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I love drawing with brush markers, and using them for my daily cat sketches really taught me serious lessons about focus and letting my hands intuitively follow what I saw, letting the brush tip create a fluid line all its own.

All five joined me in the kitchen for lunch, so I gave them a box to keep them occupied. And me too. I put down my lunch and ran to get my markers. I remember those days of daily sketches, one of the lessons to capture the feeling of all those cats in action, and this was one time when my eyes were full of the potential.

When they mill around like this each of them is in constant motion, and I’ll use the old jump rope analogy for how I determine when to jump in—I stand there and watch them moving around, observe what each of them is tending to do in the moment, then sketch them one by one. But sometimes, like Mewsette in the box, they move too much and end up looking vague. Also, see how I changed my mind about the background color from yellow to turquoise, just drawing on top of it. It’s a sketch, not a masterpiece.

So what do five cats do with one box? Mewsette is in the box while Giuseppe is checking under the flap of the box, and Jelly Bean is sitting next to the box washing there, Mimi is experiencing box envy and planning on how to get into the box, and Mr. Sunshine is looking away, acting as if he doesn’t care at all about the box.

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.

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.

Three Cats Looking Coaster

This 4” round coaster is made from white polymer clay and stamped with my brush pen sketch “Three Cats Looking”, painted violet then given a wash of white.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used as a hot pad for items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great as a coaster for items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.


The coaster is 4″ white polymer clay with “Three Cats Looking” stamped and impressed into the clay. It’s then painted with violet paint and given a wash of white to enhance the dimension of the sketch.

I love this little brush pen sketch and I’ve always wanted to do something with it, so I had a stamp made to play with. I may paint one or two of these too, and some other ideas include a square or rectangular dish. I really, really want to do something with the tail to let it hang off an edge or something, but I’m just not sure the polymer clay will stand up to a beating with a tail that thin.

And just to prove that my designs are “inspired by cats you know”, here is the photo I took when I sketched the three of them. You can read about the designs in my original post for this daily sketch.

photo of three black cats from behind

Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine and Jelly Bean

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes and Tiles and Coasters in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

Tricolor Girls Settling Down for a Nap, pastel, 14 x 14, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This is a print of my painting, “Tri-color Girls Settling Down for a Nap”, pastel on Pastelmat card, 14″ x 14″, 2020 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski.



About the artwork

Tricolor Girls Settling Down for a Nap, pastel, 14 x 14, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Tricolor Girls Settling Down for a Nap, pastel, 14 x 14, 2022 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

They may be well-camouflaged among the pillows, but that’s the way they liked it. My three precious tri-color girls settle down for a nap on the bed on a bright, sunny winter afternoon, February 27, 2007. Peaches was 17, Cookie, 15, and Kelly, 14. Peaches had been with us for about 18 months, but it was as if these three had always been together; this is not the only photo of the three of them on the bed from that era. It was a regular thing. The memories are precious.

Downstairs, Namir is in a box being stalked by Lucy, and at that moment those five were the total number of cats who lived in this house. We had just lost Stanley about a month previous, and Sophie three months before. Peaches had lost her sister Cream nearly a year before, and we had all lost Moses almost exactly a year before. After a chain of losses over a year and I was just glad to enjoy watching these three feeling happy, healthy, safe and sleepy on a sunny afternoon.

The composition, each of the girls in her own space but gathering together, the colors, the familiar window, pillows, bedpost, the routine, I wanted to paint this almost immediately. I put the photo in my folder of images, but other paintings called me first; the following year I painted Peaches and Peonies, and the year after that Darling Clementine.

But I think the time that’s passed has made the moment even sweeter. Fifteen years ago these three were right there in front of me, and I knew that even in that moment there would be a day they would only live in my memory. This past spring, with all my decisions about vendor shows and products and scheduling events, I turned around and decided I wanted more time for my artwork and writing, much of it concerning my family of felines, which had been waiting long enough. And so, I paint, every day.

And there I was in my studio. where Cookie, Kelly and Peaches all began in this house, with two more foster cats, Simba and Midnight Louie, another two rescued fosters observing me in my creative work, and inspiring me to yet more, all over again.

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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.

CANVAS PRINTS

I have canvases printed as they are ordered so I rarely have any on hand. 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.

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.

 

"Tabbies" tiles in black.

Tiles are about 4.75″ square, made of white polymer clay rolled thin, then pressed onto one of the inked linoleum blocks from my “Tabbies” series, printed in black.

Because they are handmade and shaping, stamping and drying changes their dimensions, they are not uniform in size, shape or thickness, but that makes each one unique.

NOTES ON USE:

  • These are not safe for use with food.
  • These cannot be used with items taken out of the oven or microwave or off the stove, any item which has been heated by cooking—the polymer will soften from the heat.
  • These work great with items filled with hot food or liquids, like mugs of coffee or tea or dishes filled with cooked food. There is not enough heat transferred to affect the polymer.

DESIGNS AVAILABLE

Clockwise, from top left:

  • Wrinkled Pajamas
  • Sunshine and Flowers
  • Fawnball
  • Let Me Clean You Up
"Tabbies" tiles in black.

“Tabbies” tiles in black.

How to order

The ordering option below includes the names of all tiles available in this color. If a design name is missing, it means it’s sold out and I need to make more. If you’d like a design that’s missing, please let me know!

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I’ve had tiles in mind for a long time. I just like them for decoration, but they are also useful as coasters or a base to display something.

I’ve had the idea of using my linoleum blocks for the “Tabbies” series to create some texture with the impression along with color.

I don’t have a kiln at the ready and don’t really want one. I experimented with air-dry clay to substitute and while the finish has the feel and texture of kiln-fired clay they just began to crumble weeks after I’d made the first ones.

These tiles are made of polymer clay rolled thin, then pressed onto one of the inked linoleum blocks from my “Tabbies” series so they are a little dimensional and a little colorful, just as I had imagined. They are about 4.75″ square, determined by the designs on the block, three of which have distinct edges that look best when cropped to the edge.

Find more

See more gifts in my Handmade Gift Gallery.

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 of autumn scene in woods

“Walk in the Woods”, 7.5″ x 10.5″, pastel on paper, matted and framed in an 11″ x 14″ barn wood frame. Prints on paper and canvas are available.



pastel of autumn scene in woods

Walk in the Woods, pastel, 7.5 x 10.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

About “Walk in the Woods”

Time was running out for the amazing leaf color in October 2022. I hadn’t had any time in the woods and knew if I waited even to the weekend the brilliant yellow that lit the upper woods along the trail would be on the ground. A friend who walks the same trails every day shared some photos from the upper trails of yellow trees full of sun and we agreed it wasn’t going to last. I played hooky one afternoon and ran off into the woods. From the bottom of the hill to the top it was all as amazing as I imagined it would be.

I painted this from one of many photographs that helped me capture and remember what stopped me in my tracks as I walked on that upper trail, where the sun was hitting the tree canopy above me and the leaves glowed, lighting the woods and highlighting the trails where the leaves were packed down by humans, deer and everything else that walks the woods. This view faced back toward a ravine with just enough blue mist to give a cool complement to the warm yellows and oranges and umbers and silhouetted the tree trunks .

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.

SIGNED 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.

SIGNED 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.

SIGNED CANVAS PRINTS

Like giclee prints, I don’t keep canvas prints on hand; at one time they were very popular but not so much lately. No matter how I store or display them in my home gallery or in exhibits or vendor shows, they are easily damaged. I order them as customers order them, and work with two providers, depending on the size of the print, who turn them around quickly.

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Inscrutable Cats is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Inscrutable Cats garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

“Inscrutable”

“Inscrutable Cats” began as an ink sketch of one of my cats, which I then took into my graphics program to colorize the art and lay out the pattern. They all look at me like this, but this is more patterned after Jelly Bean, who sat by the window atop a box so that his face and front body was entirely in a deep shadow. Resting, his eyes are slits, and sometimes he simply closes them and takes a nap, but sitting up. I looked at him and thought, “Inscrutable”, as his expression seemed to be, and actually was since I really had no idea what he might be thinking. Read more about the art and other daily sketches at: http://thecreativecat.net/daily-sketch-inscrutable-patterns.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Inscrutable Cats” or “Inscrutable Patterns” (the original name of this art).

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Late Winter Sunbath is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Late Winter Sunbath garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

I’d always wanted to paint this photo of my orange boy, Allegro. I took the photo in 1993 or 1994 and painted it in 2017, and it was on my mind all that 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.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Late Winter Sunbath”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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 moonlight on bare trees and snowy trail

This Shining Night, Pastel is 9″ x 15″ in soft pastel on pastel paper. The framed original painting as well as prints on paper and canvas are available.



pastel painting of moonlight on bare trees and snowy trail

This Shining Night, pastel, 9″ x 15″, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

About This Shining Night

Sunset comes early and dusk and nightfall quickly follow near the winter solstice. Christmas is among the shortest days of the year, and on this particular year I headed west on the trail, hoping to capture a beautiful sunset as heavy clouds gathered, then parted, and snow squalls and flurries filled the air. The timing did not work for my goal, but the blue and violet light was magic, seeming to suspend nightfall, delaying total darkness.

As I turned around toward the trailhead and home I looked up to see the reason why: a nearly full moon had risen in the east, brushing the snow draped on branches and twigs and land with delicately tinted light. The air was full of tiny sparkling crystals, the moon softened by a light haze of clouds and the sparkling flurry of snow between me and her.

The quiet was comforting and I felt a connection rather than isolation looking at that moon through the glistening air, connection with all others who would be looking at this same moon at that moment, and others who had seen it already, and those who would see it in coming hours, all over the world.

As I looked out and up and opened my awareness to take in this simple moment, feeling the quiet and the snow flurries brushing my face, words, the title of a poem, came to me, “Sure on this shining night…,” the title of an art song composed by Samuel Barber based on a poem, Description of Elysium, by James Agee. Though the poem speaks of starlight and high summer, the idea of connection, of peace, of healed hearts and kindness, were there:

Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night I weep for wonder wand’ring far
alone
Of shadows on the stars.

I photographed the moment to keep it more permanently in my memory, and to revisit the image whenever I wanted.

“Light into Darkness,” and the joy of winter for an upcoming exhibit

I’ve been participating in exhibits at the North Hills Art Center, and the first show of this year opens at the beginning of February, so I’m preparing artwork now. The theme is “Light into Darkness” and art that must relate to “Joy in Winter.” The first show usually benefits a local organization, this show will benefit the Veterans Leadership Program.

Read about the works

Description of Elysium, James Agee.

Sure on This Shining Night, Samuel Barber.

See more paintings from Sun Shadow Ice & Snow, Seasons on the Panhandle Trail.

See more Landscape Artwork.

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Lucy the Most Exceptional Kitten is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



 

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Lucy, the Most Exceptional Kitten the World Has Every Known

This illustration is one of many I’m planning for a little illustrated book of the life of a kitten, featuring Lucy, who will always be the most exceptional kitten! As I watched her grow, even before I knew she’d stay with me, at least for a while, I began intensely visualizing the slender little black kitten with the tail that curled in a perfect circle going about her busy kitten day of throwing throw rugs, tossing toss pillows and unrolling her favorite ball of purple yarn all over the house, all in front of colorful patterned backgrounds.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Lucy”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Mimi in the Formal Garden is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Mimi in the Formal Garden garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Mimi in the Formal Garden", pastel, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Mimi in the Formal Garden”, pastel, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I was very honored and excited when Deb Barnes, president of the Cat Writers’ Association, contacted me at the end of March with a very special commission. She wanted to know if I could create the artwork for the thank you note that would be given by the organization to the many sponsors, donors and others who helped the conference be a success.

Wow, what an opportunity! To not only be able to create art to support the organization but which would also go into the hands of pet food and product manufacturers and services, sure, even though the conference was about two months away and the art had to be designed, finished and cards printed and delivered, I could do that. She asked for a few quotes, and I mentioned a printer I regularly use who she had used as well.

Then we talked about what she had in mind for the image, and she said she’d like a cat in a garden, maybe painting “thank you” on a canvas or something that brought the words into the image. She mentioned a few of my paintings in styles she liked, and when she said “a cat in a glorious English garden” I was ready. Who would know I’d been planning to start a series of paintings and sketches of Mimi and other of my cats in my gardens over the years? I started to visualize what it might look like, but I immediately knew I’d have Mimi on the bench that’s out in the back yard. From there I looked at paintings of English gardens, like Victorian interiors so full and colorful and detailed and always paths and such, and went from there. I decided to build it from sections of my own yard, and began pulling my favorite photos of flowers and bushes and groundcovers and started fitting them together like a puzzle. It turned out to be a spring theme because that happened to be when most of the bushes and trees bloomed. And then, the flagstone path curled around into the image and right up to Mimi on the bench.

You can read more about this painting in the product post.

I am honored

This painting was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Fine Art by the Cat Writers’ Association in the 2019 Communications Contest. Click here to read more about the CWA, the contest and the awards.

About the CWA

Conceived on November 21, 1992, the Cat Writers’ Association is a worldwide, 300 members plus organization comprised of a wide variety of talent, supporting evolving mediums and platforms such as Fine Arts, Journalism, Social Media, Graphic Design, Writing, Radio, Television, Videography, Podcasts, Websites, Blogs, Photography, Illustration, Cartoons, and so much more! Their goal, whether through humorous and lighthearted pieces, to serious, highly technical information is to improve the quality of cat information for the general public and to inspire, educate, and inform.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Mimi in the Formal Garden”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

The Big Nap Decorative Dish is 6.5″ wide x 5″ high, and about 1/2″ deep, made of polymer clay and the original sketch brushed on each dish by hand. Each one is handmade, hand-painted and unique. NOTE: This dish is not safe for food or water.



Original natural with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.big nap

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Jelly Bean’s roundness is a little exaggerated but it really was a big nap. Another one of the feline shapes I love.

“Big Nap” decorative dishes are based on one of my brush pen sketches, each one handmade, hand painted and unique, reflecting my influences from Japanese brush pen art, Theophile Steinlen, and Andy Warhol.

When I made my initial trinket dishes two years ago I developed a ton of ideas after working with both polymer and air-dry clay. The basis of one set of designs is my brush pen sketches integrated in several ways. I worked out the first of one of those styles, a little larger than the original 4″ trinket dishes, and using the outline of a sketch to shape the dish. Air-dry clay feels more like real clay but in earlier tests I found that worked this thin it would lose its strength, so I chose polymer clay.

The round shape of “The Big Nap” fit well to this idea. I didn’t really want to cut around all Bean’s legs so I added a little to the shape to fill in around his legs. Because the clay is baked and it works best if the object is held to the final shape while baking the size ended up being determined by the one dish I could use to form the gentle curve I wanted that could also be baked in the oven along with the clay. After it’s baked, I use the same brush pen to draw the sketch onto the clay that I used for the original sketch.

Japanese brush pen

Sometimes just a single interesting line is most expressive.

Original natural with black, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Original natural with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Theophile Steinlen

The red and black with gold is an homage to Theophile Steinlen’s style when illustration black cats with an accent color. He has been an inspiration since before I can remember, and while the black and white design was what inspired this particular dish, this design was the color version I envisioned before I knew I even wanted a color version.

Black and red with gold, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Black and red with gold, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Andy Warhol

The orange and blue combination with the black outline is inspired by Andy Warhol. Years ago when I began filling my black ink and brush pen sketches with bright colors readers compared them to Warhol’s cats. Being from my hometown I had grown up with that as an influence and totally missed it. I’ll be making more of this style in a variety of other colors.

Orange and blue with black, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Orange and blue with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Read more about “The Big Nap” and my daily sketches on The Creative Cat.

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

Black and red with gold, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

The Big Nap Decorative Dish is 6.5″ wide x 5″ high, and about 1/2″ deep, made of polymer clay. Each dish is formed by hand and individually painted with red and black acrylic paint, and the original brush pen sketch is brushed on each dish in gold. Each one is handmade, hand-painted and unique. NOTE: This dish is not safe for food or water.



Black and red with gold, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Black and red with gold, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Jelly Bean’s roundness is a little exaggerated but it really was a big nap. Another one of the feline shapes I love.

“Big Nap” decorative dishes are based on one of my brush pen sketches, each one handmade, hand painted and unique, reflecting my influences from Japanese brush pen art, Theophile Steinlen, and Andy Warhol.

When I made my initial trinket dishes two years ago I developed a ton of ideas after working with both polymer and air-dry clay. The basis of one set of designs is my brush pen sketches integrated in several ways. I worked out the first of one of those styles, a little larger than the original 4″ trinket dishes, and using the outline of a sketch to shape the dish. Air-dry clay feels more like real clay but in earlier tests I found that worked this thin it would lose its strength, so I chose polymer clay.

The round shape of “The Big Nap” fit well to this idea. I didn’t really want to cut around all Bean’s legs so I added a little to the shape to fill in around his legs. Because the clay is baked and it works best if the object is held to the final shape while baking the size ended up being determined by the one dish I could use to form the gentle curve I wanted that could also be baked in the oven along with the clay. After it’s baked, I use the same brush pen to draw the sketch onto the clay that I used for the original sketch.

Theophile Steinlen

The red and black with gold is an homage to Theophile Steinlen’s style when illustration black cats with an accent color. He has been an inspiration since before I can remember, and while the black and white design was what inspired this particular dish, this design was the color version I envisioned before I knew I even wanted a color version.

Black and red with gold, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Black and red with gold, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Japanese brush pen

Sometimes just a single interesting line is most expressive.

Original natural with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Andy Warhol

The orange and blue combination with the black outline is inspired by Andy Warhol. Years ago when I began filling my black ink and brush pen sketches with bright colors readers compared them to Warhol’s cats. Being from my hometown I had grown up with that as an influence and totally missed it. I’ll be making more of this style in a variety of other colors.

Orange and blue with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Read more about “The Big Nap” and my daily sketches on The Creative Cat.

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Mimi’s Little Visitor is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″ rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Mimi’s Little Visitor

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

painting of black cat at window watching hummingbird

Mimi at the Window, watercolor, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I was very honored and excited when Deb Barnes, then president of the Cat Writers Association, contacted me at the end of March 2020 with a very special commission, to create the artwork for the thank you note that would be given by the organization to the many sponsors, donors and others who helped their annual conference be a success. That painting is Mimi in the Formal Garden, which won both a Certificate of Excellence and a Muse™ Medallion in last year’s CWA Communications Contest.

I was possibly more honored and excited when, in September, as immediate past president, she again contacted me for artwork for a thinking of you, get well, all-purpose greeting card to be used by CWA for correspondence with members.

I have always had a windowbox at my dining room window, and for most years I had geraniums in that box until the shade became too dense. I had plenty of photos, and red was one of the colors we wanted. Also, years ago, I had grown morning glories around that window, and while they never looked like this, that was my aspiration, plus I’ve got plenty of photos of morning glories since I photograph them wherever I see them.

You can read more about this painting in the product post.

I am honored

This painting was awarded a Certificate of Excellence in Fine Art by the Cat Writers’ Association in the 2019 Communications Contest. Click here to read more about the CWA, the contest and the awards.

About the CWA

Conceived on November 21, 1992, the Cat Writers’ Association is a worldwide, 300 members plus organization comprised of a wide variety of talent, supporting evolving mediums and platforms such as Fine Arts, Journalism, Social Media, Graphic Design, Writing, Radio, Television, Videography, Podcasts, Websites, Blogs, Photography, Illustration, Cartoons, and so much more! Their goal, whether through humorous and lighthearted pieces, to serious, highly technical information is to improve the quality of cat information for the general public and to inspire, educate, and inform.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Mimi’s Little Visitor”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Peaches and Peonies is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″ rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Peaches and Peonies garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Peaches and Peonies", pastel, 23" x 17", 2008 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Feline Artwork

There it is, that moment that turns on all the lights for me…one of my cats in the sun, the conditions that have inspired most of my portraits. Cats are creatures of habit, and Peaches chose this spot to have her after-dinner bath every day for a few weeks when the sun was right; I knew it was a keeper whether a photo or a painting, so I photographed it several times over a period of several days, knowing I’d use at least one photo or all the photos as reference to create one painted image.

The painting illustrates a moment in my kitchen that I treasure because it includes Peaches, plus my painted white wood table with the vintage Battenburg lace table cover, three painted white chairs I’d picked up over the years and a hand-made white-painted cabinet that carried a story all on its own, plus a bouquet of peony flowers a friend had stopped and dropped off because she thought I’d like them. The reflections, the wrinkles in the cloth, everything is the memory of a part of my life, but so I’ve found, also familiar to others.

Please read more about Peaches and about this painting at Peaches and Peonies.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Peaches and Peonies”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, White Cat Reflecting is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″ rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

White Cat Reflecting garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

“White Cat Reflecting”, pastel on Hahnemühle sanded watercolor paper, 6″ x 14″© Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“White Cat Reflecting”, pastel on Hahnemühle sanded watercolor paper, 6″ x 14″© Bernadette E. Kazmarski

My white cat was endlessly inspiring to me, and I would need two lifetimes to recreate all the images of her that I have photographed and saw every day. Sally was deaf and spent most of her days in her own little world in pursuit of her own happiness, which when possible included a rest, nap or long snooze in the sun. Here she alights briefly on the stool, reflecting the sunlight onto all that is around her while she reflects on the events of her day so far and just what is to be done next.

Sometimes a more finished, finely-detailed painting isn’t the best way to capture an animal’s personality, and especially not my capricious little Sally. I believe I painted this in June because that is when the sun comes in the dining room window at this angle, so this June features Sally in all her brilliant colors. It suits my feeling for June, colorful, contrasty sun and shadow, rich and warm.

Please read more about Peaches and about this painting at White Cat Reflecting.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “White Cat Reflecting”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

Garden Flag, Star of Wonder is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Star of Wonder holiday card.

Star of Wonder holiday card.

This design is adapted from a holiday card, and of course inspired by and features my fine felines.

We don’t really celebrate any one tradition for the winter holidays, but we enjoy sharing traditions of all our friends. I had created the six-pointed star as part of an invitation I designed for a non-denominational holiday musical celebration a few years ago. It could have been that, while I worked on that design on my computer, one or more young black cats found it intensely interesting against the black background of the design and an idea was born, a universal message for the season, with cats. It wasn’t the one above at first, but another one, below, adapted from remembering the Four when they were kittens looking out the big window at the birds and the snow, then it was night and there was a star…

Star of Kittens holiday card.

Star of Kittens holiday card.

I really like this design, and it was just what I’d envisioned. But there was another, more serious design developing in there. Soon I was looking for the purr-fect silhouette. You’ve seen me use daily sketches for new designs for merchandise, but I’ve also used daily photos. I remembered a feline silhouette from a photo of Mr. Sunshine looking up at a moth in the pendant lamp that I used for my annual Independence Day post Oooh! Aaah! I wanted to be certain to capture every single hair and whisker of that silhouette—it was very fun and worth every minute to isolate all those furs and whiskers to that his silhouette would look authentic.

Star of Wonder holiday card.

Star of Wonder holiday card.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

Three Cats Trinket Dish

This 4” round coaster is made from white polymer clay and stamped in royal purple with my brush pen sketch “Three Cats Looking”. NOTE: This dish is not safe for food or water.



The coaster are 4″ white polymer clay with “Three Cats Looking” stamped and impressed in Royal Violet ink. I love this little brush pen sketch and I’ve always wanted to do something with it, so I had a stamp made to play with. I may paint one or two of these too, and some other ideas include a square or rectangular dish. I really, really want to do something with the tail to let it hang off an edge or something, but I’m just not sure the polymer clay will stand up to a beating with a tail that thin.

And just to prove that my designs are “inspired by cats you know”, here is the photo I took when I sketched the three of them. You can read about the designs in my original post for this daily sketch.

photo of three black cats from behind

Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine and Jelly Bean

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, Stanley With Geraniums is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″ rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

Stanley With Geraniums garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Stanley With Geraniums", ink and watercolor, 9" x 12" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Stanley With Geraniums”, ink and watercolor, 9″ x 12″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This painting is one I’ve wanted to do for years—since the very moment it depicts, in fact, on July 30, 2006, in fact, when Stanley and I enjoyed a Sunday morning on the deck.

As I’ve been digging through old photos while moving them to my studio and organizing, both prints and digitals, I’m finding special moments I’d forgotten, moments of inspiration, beauty and especially a growing closeness with my older generation of cats even as they stepped ever closer to their last days with us. While it seemed like any other morning, looking at the rest of the photos from this day, I can see this was a quietly memorable morning. This was Stanley’s last summer with us, he’d been with me for 21 years and at my best guess was 25 years old, and he and I spent every possible moment together, especially out on the deck. While he slept most of the time and was fragile and often confused, each time our eyes met we built a deepening bond I’ll always carry with me; we had lost Moses and Cream in the spring, Lucy had just joined us in June, and though there were seven (or more) other cats in the house, Stanley and I carved out time for just the two of us nearly every day.

Please read more about Peaches and about this painting at Stanley With Geraniums.

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “Stanley With Geraniums”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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 wildlife painting great blue heron pond lily pads marsh

Big Blue, Pastel, 13.5 x 19.5, 2023. Digital, giclee and canvas prints are available.



About Big Blue

 

pastel wildlife painting great blue heron pond lily pads marsh

Big Blue, pastel, 13.5″ x 19.5″, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

We have a rookery of great blue herons not far from me and I see them all the time flying overhead and fishing in the creek sometimes right in the middle of town. The fact that a creek that had once been as polluted as Chartiers Creek was for decades could today host great blue herons is actually pretty surprising and it’s still exciting when I see what looks like a big pterodactyl flying through the middle of town.

We don’t have any water lilies on Chartiers Creek so this is obviously not from downtown Carnegie. In fact, it’s not even in Pennsylvania!

In 2016 I visited my niece in Savannah, Georgia. She is very familiar with all the wild and conservation areas and took me on a whirlwind tour of what felt like everything but I know there was a lot more to see. I photographed everything I could, lots of photos, knowing I’d want to create some artwork. In fact, I decided right then and there that I was going to go home and start painting and title my next solo exhibit “My Visit to Savannah Georgia” or something like that. I did not start painting then, but In the intervening years I did a small pastel marsh sketch and two small paintings of seagulls on the beach from my photos. The big show had to wait.

Until now. I have a dozen images in mind, each different, lots of water, other birds, and plants, and the Atlantic Ocean. I might not paint them one after another, but if I get half of that dozen finished I’ll be really pleased with myself.

I’m not thrilled with the title, but in all the years I’ve been thinking about this, and the week I took to paint this, I haven’t come up with anything else. “Big Blue” is the silly name I call them when I see them, not that they respond or even care, but I stop what I’m doing, if I can and watch it and photograph it if I have something on hand to do so.

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.

 

These 4” round coasters are made from terra cotta polymer clay and impressed with a real leaf from one of the trees on the Panhandle Trail: sycamore, oak, maple and beech. NOTE: This dish is not safe for food or water.


Temporarily sold out!

I am currently sold out of these coasters and I guess I’ll have to wait for spring to have more leaves to make them! I will post about them when I make new sets, so check back here or follow my blog.


Trees of the Trail coasters

“Trees of the Trail” coasters, terra cotta polymer clay with the imprint of a real leaf that’s from one of the trees growing on the trail—in fact, the sycamore leaf is from the sycamore tree I sketched in “Sycamore Moon” and the maple leaf is from the tree that holds “The Rope Swing.

I roll and cut the 4″ circles, press the leaf into the surface, bake the coaster and let it cool, then wash natural white acrylic paint over the surface, wipe it down, wash it again, and repeat until the leaf impression holds enough white to be distinguished and the surface has a light patina.

This is a brand new design and an experiment with the technique to get what I was visualizing with actual living leaves, and it worked! Another experiment earlier this month did not work, so this makes me very happy, and I have four sets of these coasters for my 2018 Panhandle Trail show.

More like this

Find more Tiles and Coasters in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

"Bath, Interrupted", pastel, 13" x 10" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Bath, Interrupted, pastel, 13″ x 10″, 2021. The original is available and digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Bath, Interrupted", pastel, 13" x 10" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Bath, Interrupted”, pastel, 13″ x 10″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Yes, it’s my little butterfly Mariposa giving me that “I’ve so got you wrapped around my fluffy tail” expression as she pauses in her toilette to pose for yet another photo.

I’ve been planning to paint her as she is, not as I imagine or would like to pose her. I’ve been just waiting to get to know her a little better by constantly studying her—oh, please, twist my arm, make me stalk one of my cats and take endless photos. They enjoy all the attention and praise for permitting me to get a good photo. The continued study is to find the habits, postures and expressions that really belong to Mariposa. And also to see her in the places she likes best, and she loves the bed.

Detail of "Bath, Interrupted"

Detail of “Bath, Interrupted”, Mariposa’s face.

I took these photos last spring, knowing I’d love to paint this, but she was still maturing into her favorite places and habits around the house. I love cats taking baths, and cats on quilts, especially this colorful vintage postage stamp quilt, and the lifted paw with the toe beans really got me. But it was also the golden evening sunlight as the sun approached the horizon flowing fully in the window at just the right angle to illuminate Mariposa’s most notable qualities: her white mittens, her tipped ear with deluxe earhair, her exceptional eyes and her magnificent whiskers. Almost a year has gone by and several gigabytes of Mariposa pictures, but this one still has all the features I wanted.

 

Detail of "Bath, Interrupted"

Detail of “Bath, Interrupted”, toes

As much as I loved the quilt, though, after I had painted in all those little patterned and color squares I kind of lost Mariposa! The painting was just as pretty as I had imagined, but Mariposa is the main point, and she needed to stand out. So I softened and blurred out all the little patterns and kept her in sharp focus, and I darkened some of the areas behind her a little more than they had been. It was exactly the best way to feature Mariposa.

Detail of "Bath, Interrupted"

Detail of “Bath, Interrupted”, quilt

It’s for paintings like this one, and the one of Sienna, with all those patterns and shapes and details that I love to do the watercolor underpainting. I enlarge the photo to the size I want to paint it, print it out, and put it on my light table with a piece of my watercolor paper that also works for pastels. I sometimes make outlines in pencil, but for these two I actually laid down colors with no shading so I had an indication of where things were when I started with my pastels. I work with my big soft pastels to start with, then work down to my pastel pencils. Whiskers, however, are always done with a well-sharpened white charcoal pencil reserved for that honor—because all of Patricia Fry’s book covers have white whiskers too.

What did Mariposa think of it all? Here was her reaction.

Is that another cat?

Mariposa looks at her painting

Is that another cat?

She looks familiar. But she doesn’t smell like anything.

She looks a lot like me…

Mariposa looks at her painting

She looks a lot like me.

It is me!!!

Mariposa looks at her painting

It is me!!!

Mariposa is so fun. I still can’t believe she was a year old from a feral colony and she so easily adapted to living indoors, almost as if she wanted it. I’m so glad we “test” as many ferals as we can, and since her colony had to be moved, then all needed to be fostered until I could take them out there in two or three shifts. There was something about her the next morning when I saw her in the trap.

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 print the smaller ones myself, 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.

 

Handpainted Woodland Sunflowers Votive

This glass votive is etched by hand and finished with a handpainted design of woodland sunflowers based on one of my photos. It’s made from a repurposed glass roasted red pepper jar 5″ tall x 4″ in diameter.

This jar includes a string of 20 LED fairy lights. It can also be used with a shorter LED pillar candle, and with a timer it can become a little nightlight on a table.

Price includes shipping.



Handpainted Woodland Sunflowers Votive

Handpainted Woodland Sunflowers Votive

I etched the inside of the jar to better diffuse the light from the candle, then painted the entire design in alcohol inks, including gold metallic ink for the centers of the flowers to add a little reflective interest.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Woodland Sunflowers

I love woodland sunflowers. No matter how many I see, or how many photos I have, I can always find another interpretation of their exuberant yellow expansiveness. The day in 2009 I photographed these woodland sunflowers along the Panhandle Trail I was captivated by fields of them leading off into the woods among the trees. Later, looking at photos, there was just something about this one that captured what I envisioned of the photo I wanted. Visit the photo here.

OTHER VOTIVES

Find other votives featuring cats, butterflies, flowers, nature and wildlife in my Handmade Gifts Gallery or search “votives”.

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.

garden flag with flowers

Garden Flag, Bloom Where You Grow is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton twill fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



garden flag with flowers

Bloom Where You Grow garden flag.

Flags are printed on cotton twill with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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

Evening Wildflowers, pastel, 10 x 14 © 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.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

garden flag with flowers

Garden Flag, Welcome to My Garden is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



garden flag with flowers

Welcome to My Garden garden flag

Flags are printed on cotton twill with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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

Geraniums and Parsley, 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.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

garden flag with flowers

Garden Flag, My Garden is My Perfect Place is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton twill fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



garden flag with flowers

My Garden is My Perfect Place garden flag

Flags are printed on cotton twill with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

The Perfect Place, 10 x 12, pastel, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The Perfect Place, 10 x 12, pastel, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Just one little careful study of sun on the bench and flowers, from anothers’ garden. My own garden bench should be so well landscaped. I loved this scene and the way I managed to capture it with the coarse board I had prepared, but in the years since then I have found this little painting to be so versatile in prints and gift items. It has outlasted my own garden bench!

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

garden flag with flower and monarch butterfly

Garden Flag, Garden for Wildlife is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton twill fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



garden flag with flower and monarch butterfly

Garden for Wildlife garden flag

Flags are printed on cotton twill with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

monarch on milkweed

Monarch on milkweed illustration

I created this illustration for a set of interpretive signs for a conservation area years ago using pencil and watercolor.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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 little short story is essentially free—I have the text below, a recorded version and all the download formats here for you to use. If you’d like to support me by “purchasing” it, I’d totally appreciate that and it would help me carry on with more stories. Purchase here or scroll down to read more about it.



About the story and the illustrations

This is a true story, from the early 90s, written in 2012. I’ve remembered it all these years because I was so moved by the growing relationship between the woman and the cat. But I also had these illustrations in mind all these years as well. This apartment building is still there, still blue, still has a deck with doors at the backs of the apartments and two cats who live there; I think of it every time I look at the building. I’ve always wanted to share this story and the images I’d visualized all those years ago. I’d intended all along, from the time I witnessed this rescue, to write the story and illustrate it, and so I did in May 2012 to celebrate officially moving The Creative Cat to a self-hosted platform so I could offer my work in many more formats.

I also learned to design and format e-books for my own sake and professionally—I’m a designer, I had designed books for two publishers years ago, this is another exciting skill to learn and to offer to commercial customers as well as for my own writing. This book is available on Amazon.com, but I’d love to share it with those of you who have electronic readers of any sort.

And for the 2016 anniversary of sharing this story, I finally recorded it. Some day I’ll have to get a real microphone so please pardon a few little blips, but I enjoyed reading it with you listeners in mind.

The cover design is for the e-book, and I’ve never been really happy with it. One of these days I’ll actually publish it in a small volume and create the cover I want.

And now for the downloads

This story is essentially free. If you want the Kindle version you have to buy it from Amazon.com (their rules, link below), but all the others are open. Creative work may seem to be free, but writing takes time, and printing and promoting take money.  You can support my work by “purchasing” this story for $5.00. If not, just enjoy!



I don’t have any e-book devices but I can read them on my computer. I use both Kindle Previewer and Kindle Cloud Reader to read books intended for Kindle, and a program called Calibre to read e-books in other formats.

Most electronic readers can open an EPUB file.

Kindle readers work best with a MOBI file.

Find it on Amazon.com.

Download it as a PDF

And for the 2016 anniversary of sharing this story, I finally recorded it. Some day I’ll have to get a real microphone so please pardon a few little blips, but I enjoyed reading it with you listeners in mind. Click here to see the video on YouTube, or watch it below.

 

Witness to a Rescue

The little girl cat waits for her chosen person to appear.

The little girl cat waits for her chosen person to appear.

A little tabby and white kitty had joined the varied clowder that roamed in the back yards, often leave-behinds from renters who moved on without their feline housemates. As the brilliant leaves fell from the trees and brush between our yards I noticed her bright white legs while she hopped uncomfortably about like a bunny on the detritus of summer now sodden and brown with November rains. I saw her again a day or two later when the rain had stopped hours before and the weather was quite nice for early November. She was obviously not accustomed to being outdoors, and far too clean to have been outside for long. I noted the direction she was walking and went outside to introduce myself and assess the situation.

Was she an indoor-outdoor kitty taking a walk on the wild side, was she a leave-behind, was she lost? Why didn’t they come with a little note hanging on their collar? I knew I always risked “rescuing” a cat who belonged to a neighbor so I got to know as many as I could; this little girl was unfamiliar.

But I was too late to catch her. Before I even left my deck I saw her purposefully continue across the neighbor’s yard directly behind mine to the house next door to that, a four-apartment rental. She trotted easily up the steps to the porch at the back of one of the second-floor apartments as if she belonged there and greeted the woman who was sitting on a chair, reading a book. I heard a faint “meow” and saw her rub against the woman’s legs and then jump up onto her lap.

I knew the woman as another cat owner who had lived in that apartment for at least two years. She had a little black and white kitty who always sat in the west-facing windows of her apartment in the afternoon and evening, dozing in the sun. I had spoken with the woman a few times about cats in the neighborhood, inquiring if she had ever seen them or knew who they were, but we had never exchanged our names or our cats’ names. She never minded discussing our neighborhood cats but seemed to want her privacy and anonymity, and I understood her need to be able to step outside on her porch and read a book without being interrupted by a neighbor unless it was absolutely necessary. Finding out information about a lost cat was apparently a necessary conversation.

Was the tabby and white cat her cat? But she had insisted she was a one-cat person, and that her cat never went outdoors. I doubted that this cat was hers unless she had had a big change of heart and decided to keep an indoor-outdoor cat, and if that was the case, I doubted she’d be ignoring the cat’s fervent though wet and muddy greeting.

The woman does her best to ignore the girl kitty's advances.

The woman does her best to ignore the girl kitty’s advances.

And she was doing her best to ignore it, putting the book between her face and the cat when the cat got between her face and the book, gently picking the cat up in one hand and placing her on the wooden floor of the porch only to have the cat leap nimbly onto the arm of the chair, then onto her shoulder and walk around behind the woman’s head. When the cat got up onto the woman’s head, trying to keep a footing on her hair, the woman patiently put down the book, picked up the cat with both hands, and set her on the porch once more.

Her black and white kitty was in the window right next to her, watching everything.

I had walked across my yard to the corner where I was a relatively short distance away from the second-floor porch, and things were not so overgrown then. I gave a hearty “hello” as the woman was setting down the cat and the woman looked up at me and waved. I asked if the cat was hers and she said it was not, but that it had been coming to visit her when she sat outside to read. She had no idea where the cat had come from and it had not been around for long; it was the woman who identified the cat as female. I told her the cat had every intention of being adopted into her household, and the woman said the cat was very nice but reiterated she was a one-cat household and was sure the cat belonged to someone, she was too nice not to.

I thanked her for her time and decided just to monitor the cat’s activities and ask a few of the neighbor kids if they knew anything about her.

Over the next couple of weeks I saw the cat a few times, not always heading from the same direction as if she was wandering, and looking a little more tattered each time. I would stop her and offer food and she ate it hungrily but always continued on to the woman’s porch. I remembered that we’d first seen her at the beginning of the month and it seemed someone had likely left her behind when they’d moved, intentionally or not. On warm or sunny weekend days the woman often spent a hour or so outside with her book and the kitty happily, a little desperately, perhaps, laid on the affection, performing metaphorical kitty headstands for the woman. When the woman was not outside the cat would stand on the railing of the porch, long legs straight and tail in the air and look in the window, or stand up and slap her paws against the wooden screen door, or sit on the woman’s chair. The black and white kitty would lie in the window, squinting and impassive.

Desperate, girl kitty simply clings to the screen.

Desperate, girl kitty simply clings to the screen.

On yet one more rainy day later in the month as I was working in my kitchen I saw the kitty on the porch and somehow, from that distance, felt her desperation. It was a cold and dark Saturday, slipping back and forth from rain to sleet and even a few wet snowflakes now and then. No little explorations or visits to my yard, I could see her legs were muddy and her fur clumped and wet.

She hopped onto the railing and walked back and forth, meowing, then jumped onto the chair, stood up with her paws on the sill and looked in the window. As a last measure of desperation, she climbed the screen door so she could see in the window of the interior door and clung there at an angle, meowing.

I saw the interior door open and light shone onto the porch. The screen door slowly opened far enough for the woman to come outside, put both hands around the cat’s torso and gently remove her from the screen. The woman opened the screen door and disappeared inside holding the cat. I watched the screen door close behind her, then the brown interior door closed leaving just the yellow square of light.

I had just witnessed a rescue, but who had rescued whom, only time would tell.


I never did find out where the cat came from, but I don’t think it mattered because she was apparently meant to be with my neighbor. I never got to know the woman any better, respecting her privacy. Better to keep good relations with neighbors in the first place, and people set boundaries for a reason. We spoke often enough that if she had wanted to be more social she had the opportunity. If not for the cat’s insistence on being part of the woman’s life I probably would have taken her in long before that, giving her veterinary care and fostering her to find her a new home, as I did with many cats in similar situations who showed up in my back yard in those days.

I will add that when I watched her peel the cat from the screen and take her indoors, I simply started to cry. I have no idea if she kept the cat or not because she moved soon after, but I think the cat finally convinced her that she belonged with the woman. These sorts of rescues often have a touching or dramatic back story, but that part I can only guess.

One of the reasons for my Daily Sketches has been to practice, just practice—sketching my cats in various poses and activities, working in different media and different styles; through this I grew to enjoy working with watercolor pencils, which is the medium I chose to use for these illustrations. The daily sketches are experience in working quickly from life, but I also want the experience of working with a visualized image with no live models, though I’ll admit I did stretch out Jelly Bean to get a better idea what the kitty would look like clinging to the screen. Illustrating one of my stories gives me this experience in working from a visualized image.

. . . . . . . .

Read a review by Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat.


“Purchase” to make a donation if you’re so inclined

Creative work may seem to be free, but writing takes time, and printing and promoting take money.  You can support my work by “purchasing” this story for $5.00. If not, just enjoy!




Read more stories in my weekly Rescue Stories series
and read about my Rescue Stories series on The Creative Cat.

Also find other recorded works as poetry, and visit my YouTube page for all my videos and recordings.


Help me publish my poetry and anthologize my rescue stories

I’m very excited to have finally recorded this after years of thinking about it. It’s really my beginning plan for recording all my books, and this one I’ll expand to include other stories I haven’t yet written about. But to do that I’ll need to purchase a better microphone and a quieter chair! Between that and printing and the time it takes to create these things, so I’ve set up a Patreon page through which patrons can pledge a certain amount each month to support these projects. You can read about it here or visit my Patreon page.

Read more in this article on The Creative Cat and Visit my PATREON page.

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.

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“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.

 

painting of cat and chickens

“Witness Purrtection Program” is a pastel on Pastelmat card, 12 x 16, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski.



About the artwork

painting of cat and chickens

“Witness Purrtection Program,” pastel, 12 x 16, 2023 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The April exhibit at the North Hills Art Center each year is Art for Animals, and the 2023 exhibit  benefits Hope Haven Farm Sanctuary. I have plenty of new animal artwork already, but I decided I had to do a painting including farm animals from some reference photos I’d taken. Oh, the sheep in their stalls, the little herd of goats, the chickens! But while I’m all about the dignity of sentient creatures and take their images seriously I remembered this photo and knew I had to paint it. Kitty has his back to us but his ears are turned our way. Did his cover somehow get blown? Should he hit the road?

One of the times I went to my friend’s farm with a delivery of feral cats I took the reference photo for this painting. Of course I would photograph any cat I saw, and I love the chickens, so when I saw this group of chickens in the green green grass….hey, one of those things is not a chicken. I laughed that the cat was the same color as the chickens and immediately thought something about a “witness protection program.”

It’s a pastel and I wanted to keep it loose and active, as if the breeze is rippling the grass and the chickens are moving. I framed it without a mat in a dark rough plank wood frame that coordinates with the old fence boards. I’m so happy with it.

Purchasing prints

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.

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. The giclees have 2″ of white around the outside edges.

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.

CANVAS PRINTS

I have canvases printed as they are ordered so I rarely have any on hand. 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.

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 Window, Autumn Garden Flag

Garden Flag, Studio Window, Autumn is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Studio Window, Autumn Garden Flag

Studio Window, Autumn Garden Flag

Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

“Studio Window, Autumn”, 5.5″ x 8.5″, watercolor © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Studio Window, Autumn”, 5.5″ x 8.5″, watercolor © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I’m so excited to offer an image that is so dear to me—one of my cats on my studio windowsill. All the years I’ve been here I’ve loved my time in my studio, which was also once my foster room. I often remark how my cats enjoy spending time with me in my studio because they sense my own enjoyment of what I’m doing, and for frightened fosters not only can they sense that but I’m also in a typically non-verbal space, something they and all cats find very comfortable. Sharing my non-verbal self with animals, especially cats, has been one of my lifelong joys, and often a great comfort. My memories of cats sharing my studio with my felines, especially seeing them enjoy the view out the window, are very special. So for all those reasons I’m so happy to share this painting for the month of October.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Studio Window, Autumn

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 tote bag detail

I create my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on medium-weight cotton fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage, then stitch up the rest of the bag with natural white trim, backing and 24″ twill woven handles. Bags may vary slightly in size, but are just about 17″W x 13″H.



About the artwork

Greenhouse Gerberas tote bag

Greenhouse Gerberas tote bag

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 also 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.

Here’s a detail of the bag and the design.

Greenhouse Gerberas tote bag detail

Greenhouse Gerberas tote bag detail

See other Tote Bags.

See other hand-printed items.

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.

Garden Flag, Out the Front Door

Garden Flag, Out the Front Door is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Garden Flag, Out the Front Door

Garden Flag, Out the Front Door

Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

"Looking Out the Front Door", Watercolor, 6" x 9" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Out the Front Door”, Watercolor, 6″ x 9″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This sketch from Halloween night in 2012 as I handed out my candy and all the knocking got to be a bit much for these four was destined to be a Halloween design. I put together my desktop calendars, but when I designed the card the sketch needed a little something extra so I drew a pumpkin to add to the design.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Out the Front Door

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

Market Flowers tote bag detail

I create my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on medium-weight cotton fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage, then stitch up the rest of the bag with navy blue trim, backing and 24″ twill woven handles. Bags may vary slightly in size, but are just about 17″W x 13″H.



About the artwork

Market Flowers tote bag

Market Flowers tote bag

Such a huge variety of flowers in buckets at the market! I visit many farmer’s markets through the summer now that every community seems to have one at least once a week, to purchase what my garden is not producing. All the farmers are local and are small family farms and I enjoy meeting the people who grow my food, and who took the time to pick it and sort it and wash it and pack it the day of the market. This particular farmer had buckets and buckets of flowers and in the light from the sky all the flowers were so vibrant I couldn’t pass them up.

Here’s a detail of the bag and the design.

Market Flowers tote bag detail

Market Flowers tote bag detail

See other Tote Bags.

See other hand-printed items.

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.

Garden Flag, Birches 1 Autumn Showers

Garden Flag, Birches 1 Autumn Showers is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Garden Flag, Birches 1 Autumn Showers

Garden Flag, Birches 1 Autumn Showers

Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Birches 1, Autumn Showers, oil pastel, 24.5 x 18, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Birches 1, Autumn Showers, oil pastel, 24.5 x 18, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The original of this painting was oil pastel, 24.5″ x 18″, on 300 lb. smooth watercolor paper. From the time I met the paper birch in our front yard I have always been attracted to the delicately detailed white bark of birch trees which seemed to emit its own faint light in any season. Here, in the darkness of the woods, the grouping of white trunks looks like a crowd clustered for discussion, decorated by a maple branch.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Birches 1: Autumn Showers”

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

Poppies tote bag detail

I create my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on medium-weight cotton fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage, then stitch up the rest of the bag with black trim, backing and 24″ twill woven handles. Bags may vary slightly in size, but are just about 17″W x 13″H.



About the artwork

Poppies tote bag

Poppies tote bag

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.

Here’s a detail of the bag and the design.

Poppies tote bag detail

Poppies tote bag

See other Tote Bags.

See other hand-printed items.

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.

Garden Flag, Birches 1 Radiance

Garden Flag, Birches 2 Radiance is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Garden Flag, Birches 1 Radiance

Garden Flag, Birches 1 Radiance

Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Birches 2: Radiance, watercolor, 22 x 23, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Birches 2: Radiance, watercolor, 22 x 23, 1998 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

The original of this painting was 22 x 23, ink and watercolor. We have lovely birch groves here in Western Pennsylvania, and this image was reminiscent of one I had encountered while walking through the woods somewhere near me. Not just the white bark, but the contrast with the thin dark twigs and ripples in the bark, is eye-catching, and that autumn display of yellow leaves is nearly blinding. Add a few other leaves to the mix and it becomes a classic autumn scene.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Birches 2 Radiance

Find other gift items with this image.

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.

 

Star of Wonder Ornament.

Each of these 3” round ornaments is handmade from a purchased wood circle, ready with a hanging hook.



Star of Wonder Ornament.

Star of Wonder Ornament.

My “Star of Wonder” ornament is designed from my original “Star of Wonder” holiday card in 2012, more on that below. I handmake each ornament on a wood disk with a silver star, a light blue background and a navy blue cat silhouette, and trim the edge with silver.

All these elements have been consistent, but I make the ornaments in a different way each year. Some years the wook disks are 3″, some years they are 3.25″—this year, I have some of both. Initially, I handpainted the entire design on each ornament with a primer coat on all sides, then two coats of the background color, and I handpainted each cat and each star, but the star was white, more like the original design, and the edge was the color of the background. The next year I changed the star to silver and added the silver edge. The year after that I stenciled the cat and handpainted the whiskers and the star.

In 2020, the Homeless Cat Management Team requested an eartipped version of the ornament to give to volunteers, and that was so very popular that this year, 2021, I produced both regular and eartipped versions for them and for sale here. In addition, to save time with the extra volume, I tried out cutting vinyl to speed up the process and put less strain on my hands and eyes, and give more clarity to the design, and I love it! The two ornaments in the photo above are the 2021 versions.

And because I produce a limited edition of them each year, my label on the back lists the the year it was made.

The genesis of this design has a story, which you can read in its original post, as a holiday greeting card. I also offer this design on a votive, a garden flag, and a gift bag.

The two "Stars" cards.

The two “Stars” cards.

More like this

Find more Ornaments in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

Garden Flag, Evening Wildflowers

Garden Flag, Evening Wildflowers is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton/bamboo fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



Garden Flag, Evening Wildflowers

Garden Flag, Evening Wildflowers

Flags are printed on cotton muslin with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and never curls from wetness or cold like other fabric transfers.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

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

Evening Wildflowers, pastel, 10 x 14 © 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.

More like this

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

Read more about Evening Wildflowers

Find other gift items with this image.

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 3” round ornament is made from a purchased wood circle, the painting impressed on the surface, ready with a hanging hook.



Dusk in the Woods ornaments

Dusk in the Woods ornament

My painting “Dusk in the Woods” is impressed onto the wood disk with a fabric transfer and finished with an iridescent matte varnish. The edge is detailed with silver and the back is painted solid medium blue.

More like this

This painting has a story, which you can read here. I also offer this design on a votive, a tray, and a gift bag.

Find more Ornaments in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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.

 

Waiting on Christmas Night, pastel, 10" x 12", 2021© Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Waiting on Christmas Night, Pastel, 10″ x 12″, 2021. The original is available and digital, giclee and canvas prints as well as greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Waiting on Christmas Night, pastel, 10" x 12", 2021© Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Waiting on Christmas Night, pastel, 10″ x 12″, 2021© Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mewsette always sat in the window and waited for me in those days, holidays or not. I took a bunch of photos of her at the window when I had my holiday decorations up over several years from 2009 to 2013, and shared them on my website, The Creative Cat, After that year I quit with the candles because my fosters and my cats had too much fun, all I did was put them back in place, even though I had them taped to the windowsill.

I always loved this one best, her expression, the drape of the curtains, taken on Christmas night in 2010, hence the title. I’ve wanted to paint this for years. but I had to put a bunch of photos together because the shots were so difficult, at night, and in some Mewsette was clear, in others the candle or the lights. And then, I have two front windows and only one had the colored lights underneath. So I made a composite of photos that I like.

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 print the smaller ones myself, 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.

Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “The TNR Story” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a white zipper.



The TNR Story small accessory bag.

The TNR Story small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my daily cat sketches I titled “The TNR Story”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “Smiling Ginger Batik” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding an orange zipper.



Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

Inscrutable Patterns small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on a batik I created in sixth grade! Read about Smiling Ginger Kitty Batik here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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 small accessory bag.

I imprinted the design “Evening Wildflowers” onto reclaimed cotton fabric using a fabric transfer and made the 5″ x 7″ bag, adding a colorful zipper.



Evening Wildflowers small accessory bag.

Evening Wildflowers small accessory bag.

I created my own “fabric” swatch by printing the pattern on fabric using a commercial quality fabric transfer and my heat press to ensure even coverage. The transfer gives the fabric a little stiffness that works well for these little bags.

I use reclaimed fabrics from cotton, linen and other non-synthetic fabrics like tablecloths, draperies, bedspreads, even clothing, so fabrics vary. I use various color zippers for this design.

About the artwork

This pattern is based on one of my floral paintings titled “Evening Wildflowers”. Read about the pattern here.

Find similar items

You’ll find all my accessories, totes and other bags on Tote Bags

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.

Slava Ukraini, oil pastel, 22.5 x 16.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Slava Ukraini, pastel is 22.5″ x 16.5″, framed with a distressed pine wood frame and narrow white mat. Prints are available on paper and canvas.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Slava Ukraini, oil pastel, 22.5 x 16.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Slava Ukraini, oil pastel, 22.5 x 16.5 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I actually took the reference photo for this while walking on a local trail in 2020, but even then I wondered, as I always have, why one of the places I have always sought has been an open field of ripe grains with a big blue sky above.

I had intended to paint from the photo I’d taken in 2020, but I had no time for painting that year. But when the war began in Ukraine I knew the time had come and I painted this at the end of March 2022, a month after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wasn’t sure if I would what I would do with it or even what I’d title it, but it was such a strong visual I practically had no choice but to paint it. After a few weeks and the war continued on I decided I would title it by the phrase that began and/or ended all remarks from Ukraine, and a phrase I’d heard growing up among second generation Ukrainians: Slava Ukraini, Glory to Ukraine.

My mother’s parents emigrated from Ukraine and while I never had the chance to get to know them I have always felt a connection with the country and her people. Read my essay here.

The Ukrainian people are intensely creative as artists, musicians, writers and performers who turn their feelings into art. I feel that creativity is my heritage for all I do today.

Below is the framed painting.

Slava Ukraini framed.

Slava Ukraini framed.

SHIPPING

Shipping within the US is included in all the prices listed. The original is shipped via FedEx using their proprietary Art Box. All prints are shipped Priority Mail. Prints are shipped flat in a rigid envelope. Canvases are shipped in a box to fit with padding.

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 painting wraps around the edges.

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.

cat garden flag

Garden Flag, A Wonderful Gift is 11″ x 15″, design imprinted on one side of a cotton fabric panel with a 1.5″  rod pocket sewn across the top. Bracket is not included.



cat garden flag

A Wonderful Gift garden flag

The image above is temporary until weather permits better photos, so please excuse the quality.

Flags are printed on mid-weight cotton with a light fabric transfer finished with a “hot peel”, which means I peel the backing off of it within seconds of opening the heat press, leaving minimal plastic coating on the fabric. Because the transfer is intended for light fabric it covers the fabric well and holds the art well, but doesn’t coat the fabric with vinyl the way the opaque transfer does. It leaves a little bit of body but no real stiffness, and only occasionally curls in rain or cold weather.

The flags are printed on only one side. Though I can’t print on both sides, you can see the design really well from the back anytime during daylight.

I typically stock all garden flags, though I only print smaller quantities, usually no more than six at a time. If you’d like a quantity of flags, or a custom flag, please send me an email.

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

A Wonderful Gift

A Wonderful Gift

This image was a commissioned portrait, a gift from one friend to another, of a dilute calico kitty named Peaches (yes, another Peaches). Here is the beautiful story of Peaches and her amaryllis.

“For a period of several months in her 17th year, Peaches became very withdrawn, she stopped sleeping with her person, and spent most of her time in a guest bedroom. At the time, we thought this was it. Then a friend gave her this flower, and Peaches became fascinated with it, and would check progress every day. As the flower started to bloom, Peaches ended her phase of withdrawing. It will always remind us of the happy time when Peaches became herself again.”

The gift is both the portrait and Peaches’ recovery.

You can also read about the portrait and watch its progress on my site, The Creative Cat. Read “The New Portrait Final” to read the final entry with links to the first and second posts on the subject. And many thanks to Peaches’ person for permitting me to have her portrait on a greeting card and garden flag!

More like this

To find other gift items with this image, search “A Wondeful Gift”.

Find more Garden Flags in my Handmade Gift Gallery

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.

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“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.

Grape Jelly Bean

This art is “Grape Jelly Bean”, 5″ x 7″ oil pastel on textured paper, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski, signed and dated 12/21/11. The original is sold but various prints are available.



Grape Jelly Bean

Grape Jelly Bean

 

ABOUT THE ART

In oil pastel, but predating “Cats After van Gogh”, this was officially the first oil pastel of all my daily sketches.

I have more art materials close at hand in my studio and I’ve had this idea for working in oil pastel and Jelly Bean was the intended subject. Jelly Bean settled himself under my work lights as I had envisioned and voilà, there is a Grape Jelly Bean.

I frequently work in chalk pastel, especially for commissioned portraits, because of its versatility in application and range of colors from delicate to vibrant to deep. Chalk pastels are made from pure pigment in a binder ranging from fine clay to gum arabic or cellulose to form a shape to be held in hand to draw and are, as the term “chalk” would describe, a dry medium.

Oil pastels may have a similar name but that’s about the end of the similarity. A relatively new medium at less than 100 years old, the pigment is combined with a non-drying oil and wax which makes it more like a soft crayon, and that was exactly what it felt like when I first began to work with it years ago, a crayon! I put it aside, disliking the feel of it and my lack of control, but when I worked in an art supply store and frame shop, I framed an oil pastel drawing that absolutely fascinated me with how it had been applied with abandon, layered, and even had areas carved out of it nearly down to the paper to create visual and physical texture.

Where chalk pastel is blended like a powder, oil pastel is much more difficult to blend but may be done by drawing one color atop the other, using a burnishing tool or paper stomp or even using a solvent medium like linseed oil or turpentine, so I put all the techniques to use.

What I wanted to use was the way the colors do and don’t combine, using just about every color in the box to create the highlights and shadows. And though the Bean is a little black cat, there is not one dot of black anywhere on here. That was the other part of the assignment for me—non-representational color! After nearly a month of these sketches I feel a little more confident about loosening up, and in fact just dropped what I was doing, grabbed the little sketch pad and the red violet pastel and started sketching, adding other colors, layering, and overlaying.

The regular drawing paper I use would work okay for this, but that paper is rather thin and working heavily as I had intended with this would stretch and wrinkle the paper. I found a stack of little 5″ x 7″ sketch pads at, of all places, JoAnn Fabrics for $1.00 each. Who would be afraid to experiment with that kind of an investment? Intended for acrylic paint, this is thicker and has more texture than the usual sketch paper I use. This sketch is also smaller—the actual image is only 3.5″ x 5.5″; not sure why, that’s just the way it worked out.

I love Jelly Bean’s very roundness. While he is probably just a little rounder than he should be, he also has stocky characteristics and likes to bunch himself up so that he looks like a bunch of balls of yarn perhaps, all stuck together. In fact, I did an earlier sketch of him today entitled “Circles” which I will save for a day when I don’t have one where he is sitting crouched on the top of the stool at my easel just being very round from his head to his paws.

ABOUT MY WORK IN OIL PASTEL

This sketch predates this, but led directly to it. I’ve been working out this style now following Two Cats After van Gogh. I traveled with a friend in April 2012 to see the “Van Gogh Up Close” exhibit. All the way home on the Megabus I remembered the colors and shapes and textures, and wanted to work the same energy and form I saw in his brush strokes, visualizing oil pastel to layer and blend the strokes as an experiment. Arriving home in Pittsburgh just a few hours later I saw Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine, just quietly hanging together on the landing, Giuseppe sitting upright, Sunshine loafing, and visualized exactly what I would sketch, and posted Two Cats After van Gogh as my daily sketch that very day.

After seeing so many van Gogh paintings up close in the exhibit my goals in working “after van Gogh”, or in the style of van Gogh, are to be aware of the colors he used, and why, and to use the textures to build the image, so that every color and stroke, and the shape, direction and energy of the strokes, would be important to the painting. Like poetry, nothing is extra, nothing is wasted.

Mimi is the subject of another oil pastel, In Window Light, and also participates in yet another oil pastel with Mewsette, Kitty Spoons.

You can see other oil pastels in Two Cats After van Gogh and you can also see other feline artwork in the following galleries:

ABOUT MY 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.

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Cookie With Daffodils

Cookie With Daffodils, Feline Photo prints are made in archival inks on Epson Silky Photo Paper, Cold Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas and available framed and unframed.

About the artwork

Cookie With Daffodils

Cookie With Daffodils

From several years ago, one of those mornings, I think Cookie is watching Namir. I like the odd angle, the blur and the crop. It’s as if I’m standing right there with Cookie, looking over her ear as I often did.

Because Cookie was outdoors with me for so many years and loved the spring garden especially I have many photos of her in the daffodils. We went outdoors every morning, and as the sun began rising earlier I started working outdoors for a little bit each day though I still did most of the garden readiness on the weekends until May.

SHIPPING AND CHARGES

Shipping 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.

FRAMED PRINTS

Print are framed with a white acid-free mat and a 1.25″ matte black solid wood frame. I do the framing in my studio.

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.

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 of each side.

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 3/4″ in depth, Canvases 12 x 16 and larger are 1-1/2″ in depth. On these prints the image wraps around the edges.

I sign all prints next to my original signature.

GREETING CARDS

Greeting cards are printed on 12 pt, stock, coated outside, uncoated inside, and come with a choice of envelopes.

  • Card is blank inside but can be customized with your message for an extra charge.
  • Feline Photo 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.

Also see other feline photos in my photo gallery of Cats.

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.