September 2016 Feline Sampler Box

September 2016 Feline Sampler Box

Mimi checks out the new Sampler Box.

Mimi checks out the new Sampler Box.

My September 2016 Feline Sampler Box is shaded to late summer and early autumn colors and contemplative views, plus a special new product that makes its debut in this very Sampler Box.

Contents

Click the photo to see an enlarged version.

I choose contents to give you the most variety in each item. I take into account not only item but style, medium, size, subject,—even a particular feline subject, color or coat pattern, or a particular anniversary with one of my feline family—as well as season, holiday, color palette and the message it sends, as with greeting cards. You’ll see a good sample of not only my work but also the beauty and inspiration of felines so that, whether you keep the contents for yourself or give them as gifts or donations, you’ll find something that fits nearly every occasion.

Below the list of contents you can read more about each of the items and why I chose them for this Sampler Box, and a link to the item on Portraits of Animals.

SELECTED PRINTS

Featured print: “Autumn Afternoon Bed”, pastel, 5.5” x 7.5”, matted for 8” x 10” frame

Counter print: “Catamount Brushmore”, charcoal and pastel on toned paper, 5” x 7”

SELECTED GREETING CARDS

GIFT ITEM

Feline Art Chalkboard, “Stanley With Apple”, 5” x 6” wood panel chalkboard, a new item

About the contents

Featured Print:“Autumn Afternoon Bed

The maple outside the window that casts green tones on my bed all summer now casts shades of yellow as the leaves begin to turn on a sunny autumn afternoon; the bedspread is actually solid white. Some other cats had their way with the covers, leaving a rumpled mess that added character to the simple scene.

I think this little sketch is one of the undiscovered gems of my collection of Daily Sketches and generally my cat art. Mewsette’s contemplative shape, such a common feline posture for a quiet rest, the slightly tousled covers and the play of light and shadow make it almost abstract, and yet we are right there with the subject, watching our cat have a nap on the bed on a cool-ish autumn afternoon when the leaves are green and yellow and the sun is bright.

It’s a Daily Sketch and I don’t usually go for a scene this complicated on a weekday afternoon, but I just couldn’t let it go. It’s the same bed and reminds me of “Afternoon Nap”, and I’m oh, so glad I took the time to capture that one.

The art is 5.5” x 7.5” and I’ve matted it with a simple black core pale yellow-green mat to fit into an 8” x 10” frame.

You can also find “Autumn Afternoon Bed” in my gallery of feline artwork.

Counter print: Catamount Brushmore

I mean no disrespect to these four presidents, but when I looked down from my computer screen at the four, this is what I saw. Well, this was what I immediately visualized. This art is always popular when I share it and I’ve been looking forward to including it in one of these sampler boxes. It’s from September 2013, and you’ll have to visit the post about it to see the reference photo that inspired me , but you’ll see the inspiration right away!
The art was included in my “12 Sketches of Cats” 2014 calendar which was printed so that each piece of artwork could be removed and framed, and the print included in this Sampler Box is taken from that calendar.

You can also find Catamount Brushmore in my gallery of feline artwork.

Greeting and Note Cards

The sympathy card for this month, “Morning Tea With Peaches”, features little Peaches on a sunny autumn morning in the kitchen, on the cabinet next to the vintage enamel teapot. Her little dilute calico self fit into any composition, transforming it into a sweet and welcoming scene. That’s just how Peaches was. I finished off the design with a sepia collage of lace background and border.

The art card is “Interior With Cat”, which really began not as a cat painting but as just an interior watercolor of the calendula on the table with the hand-painted cloth, but then when I noticed Sophie looking out the back door I couldn’t “not” paint her in. Somehow cats get into everything I do, and I’m usually glad for that.

The photo card is “Composition in Black and Green” from ”Compositions in Black and Green”, the photo that inspired the set. They can work for family, friends, co-workers as a friendship, sympathy, thank you, thinking of you card, or could be a small framed print on your wall.

Rather than including two notecards in this month’s Sampler Box I’ve included “Feline Pencil Sketches” notepaper I had printed at the same time as the notecards. The design is the playful “In the Bag” sketch of Sally, and the set includes a half dozen each of 5.5” x 8.5” sheets of ivory Strathmore cotton fine writing paper with the design, blank second sheets, and matching A2 envelopes for you to use for your fine correspondence. I sold most of the packages I had printed and have not printed more, at least not yet, and I don’t have the notepaper listed on this website right now. Fine writing paper isn’t as popular as it once was so I’m not sure if I’ll be carrying it anymore.

This month’s non-feline card is “Follow the Wind” from my “Inspired by Flowers” collection. It’s a thistle letting its fluffy seeds loose to the wind, something we see out in nature at this time of the year, and symbolic of the Pet Memorial Month of September and Pet Memorial Sunday, of returning to school or leaving home to seek an education, of moving with the cycles of nature.

GIFT ITEM: Feline Art Chalkboard, “Stanley With Apple”, 5” x 6” wood panel chalkboard,

I am so excited about this little project, partly because it actually worked out as I’d planned on the first try! I have always seen the little sketch, “Stanley With Apple”, as a “back to school”  thing because the combination of the apple and the way I’d worked the background always looked like a chalkboard, and used it for my “back to school” garden flag “Impressionist Cats”. I’ve always wanted to make little chalkboards too, and when I saw chalkboard paint I had to try it with the next idea I had.

So here we are at back-to-school time and I found the perfect little wood panel, fitted the art onto it, painted it with the chalkboard finish (the back is painted forest green in case you want a non-cat area to write notes), and gave it a try with a piece of chalk just to see if the painted surface worked…and it did! After the recent disappointments with the rubber stamps and other projects this just made the month for me. I drilled holes and added the twine hanger and the chalk on a piece of twine. You can hang it on the wall or on a hook on a refrigerator or other surface. Wipe off your notes with a dry or slightly damp soft cloth or sponge.
I always like feedback on new products, so let me know what you think!

Packaging the Sampler Box

Three Orange Cats wrapping paper.

Three Orange Cats wrapping paper.

The packaging is another portion of what comes in the box: wrapping paper, of a sort! Usually I use sheets of my art paper which are heavy enough to withstand a little taping, and that gives you two 11” x 17” sheets of cat-themed wrapping paper. This month it’s another test print overall pattern of “Three Orange Cats”, a marker sketch of just that because the color works for the season. Let me know what you think of this pattern and whether or not I should have it printed and offer it for sale.

FOR YOU, FOR GIFTS, OR FOR DONATIONS

Use the prints and cards for yourself, gifts or donations to help cats. Any of the prints, whether the main print or a framed note card, can be given as a gift to a family member or friend, or as a thank you to a veterinarian or veterinary technician, pet sitter, groomer or anyone else in your life who would enjoy a cat-themed gift. They can also help other cats by being donated to online auctions or shelter and rescue events to help raise much-needed funds.

A NOTE ABOUT PACKAGING

I use as many environmentally friendly and fully non-toxic materials as possible in my packaging so I use as much recyclable paper as possible, which includes the glassine bag holding your cards. However, on the chance that you may donate or give one of your prints as gift, they are packed in a clear print bag or cellophane wrap depending on their size, and this is not recyclable but you may be able to reuse it.. I both recycle any packaging I get that is clean and reusable, and use as many recyclable materials as possible. Read more here.

Once again, Mimi was instrumental in preparing our presentation of this Sampler Box.

Mimi has a good scratch on the bench prior to setting up all the items.

Mimi has a good scratch on the bench prior to setting up all the items.

Reviews

Read a review of my May Sampler Box from Melissa Lapierre of Melissa’s Mocha’s, Mysteries and Meows! Of course, my house panthers are all lying around here like, “of course!” http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/07/fun-feline-finds-creative-cat-sampler.html

Read a review of my May Sampler Box from Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat! Yes, they are still applauding themselves! https://portraitsofanimals.net/sampler-box-review-ingrid-king-conscious-cat/

Order your own Sampler Box

I’m offering a sampler box with a single box or a three month box subscription to each of the lists—visit this page to read about it and sign up for your box or sign up below. Each box will include the following items in a design appropriate to the audience, cats, nature, or specialty animal professionals or wholesale:

  • a 5″ x 7″ or 8” x 10” print matted and ready to frame OR a small framed print, either an existing piece of artwork or a new one
  • an alternate print of any size, unmatted, different from the main print in media, style, subject, etc.
  • several greeting cards: a sympathy card, feline art card, feline photo card, non-feline greeting card and two or more note cards, current designs and new designs
  • a handmade or other gift item—a small keepsake box or a little art sampler book, a polymer clay or ceramic item, screen-printed dishtowel, tote bag, crocheted item or rubber stamp, new art paper, for instance
  • the “boxes” are not boxes at all because they vary so much in content so they are carefully wrapped with wrapping paper made from my designs that you can reuse

As mentioned above, these can be things your use for yourself or give as gifts or donation items to shelter or rescue or other fundraisers. Sometimes they’ll be little experiments and I’ll be asking for feedback. I’ll be happy that you get to see art you may have never noticed, and little handmade goods that work so much better in your hands than a photo on your computer.

[ss_product id=’c101d8ee-df8b-11e5-ba6a-0cc47a075d76′ ]Sampler Boxes[/ss_product]

Mimi introduces the September Feline Sampler Box.

Mimi introduces the September Feline Sampler Box.

Read about other Feline Sampler Boxes on Portraits of Animals.

Order a Previously Distributed Sampler Box

You can purchase any prior Feline Sampler Box. When I send them originally I only put together as many as were ordered, but unless I am completely out of a special handmade item I usually have all the contents here in my studio, though I do have to cut new mats for the artwork and print the wrapping paper. They cost a little more than the original because the extra time it takes to put one together, and when I ship several similar packages at once I get a discount.

Choose the sampler box by month.

[ss_product id=’f5799b54-2056-11e7-9321-002590785994′ ]Purchase a Prior Feline Sampler Box[/ss_product]

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

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© 2016 | www.PortraitsOfAnimals.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.

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