Peach Begonias, Watercolor - Portraits of Animals

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.

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.

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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.