Best Friends, pastel on burgundy Canson Mi Tientes paper, 9 x 24, 1992 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Best Friends, Pastel

This is an original pastel painting, 9 x 24. The original is sold, but prints on paper and canvas and greeting cards are available.



ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Best Friends, pastel on burgundy Canson Mi Tientes paper, 9 x 24, 1992 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Best Friends, pastel on burgundy Canson Mi Tientes paper, 9 x 24, 1992 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Moses and Fawn were inseparable when Fawn was a kitten; here they are relaxing after a strenuous wrestling session, close enough friends to settle their differences and share the one spot of sunshine in the room. But who needs all that garbage in the background? I just wanted to show the attachment between these two. The sun on them is like a spotlight holding the two of them together against the darker background. It was drawn on burgundy paper to match the decor of the recipient.

That’s what I had to say in the early 90s when I painted this and also set up my portfolio album.

I know that I was very inspired by the contrast of the sunlight and darkness on these two, and the way the two were spotlighted by it. I had wanted to use a sketchy style, not a smooth one with a lot of blending, but one where you could see the diagonal lines I’d used to stroke the color onto the paper. I can see the awkwardness of my inexperienced strokes, of the shapes of the cats, of the lack of proportion, but it all still works. Moses was a solid gray tabby and Fawn was a torbie. Moses’ marks were regular and symmetrical and Fawn’s were anything but. I had fun tackling a torbie for the first time, and their naturally graceful composition whet my appetite for other similar portraits.

And it’s my yittle girls. Moses was the first feral cat I rescued, and didn’t even know it. Fawn was the kitten not adopted from “my first litter”. They were only a year apart in age, and after the other kittens and mother were adopted I was so happy to see Fawn found a friend in her shy “big sister” Moses, and Moses responded by actually playing, the first serious play I’d seen her engage in. The room they are in was my foster room at that time as well as my sewing and craft room, and Moses had been in there the year before and still considered it her “safe room”. When I took in Fawn’s mother I installed her in there and closed the door, much to Moses’ consternation. But she patiently waited through the gestation and kittening and nuturing and then adoptions, and as soon as the door was permitted to be open again, she was back in there. I would guess Fawn always felt an affinity for that room too, since it was the first she’d remembered, and so the two encountered each other frequently. Seeing them wrestle just made my heart sing. And settling down like that was pure joy for me. When we moved here two years later the two remained friends but not playmates anymore.

I painted it as a thank you gift to a friend who had come to my house to feed and play with my cats while I was away for nearly a week (for my first ever trip to the ocean, the only thing that could get me away from my cats for that long). She didn’t want any money for what she’d done, so I fixed her with something that wasn’t money. She liked these two the best and told me about petting them, interesting since Moses had been a feral kitten who vaporized when other humans than me were around, and Fawn was too busy to be petted.

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.