Studio Guardians, watercolor pencil, 7 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Studio Guardians, Watercolor Pencils

This art is “Studio Guardians”, 7 x 10, watercolor pencils with washes on multi-media paper, signed and dated 7/8/12. The original is available and prints are made in archival inks on Epson Cold Press Watercolor Paper, Hot Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas.



ABOUT THE ART

Studio Guardians, watercolor pencil, 7 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Studio Guardians, watercolor pencil, 7 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Since I’ve been spending more time in my studio in the past few years, photos and sketches of my studio cats have become a thing. This little sketch from five years ago is still one of my favorites, in part because it’s bright and colorful and also because it’s very specific for place, but it’s timeless. The old casement with the vase of paintbrushes on the windowsill has been there a long time, the bright green trees outside the window, and many cats have spent time in the sun on the windowsill so it’s timeless. Funny that I painted this so early in my daily sketches series, five years ago. It was almost prophetic.

This is what I wrote about this little painting when I painted it in 2012, five years ago: Yesterday I actually did a painting of Giuseppe and Mewsette guarding my studio, and took photos for reference, and just to have them. I didn’t get the chance last night to post the painting, though I like the photo and posted that as yesterday’s daily photo (actually seen below), intending to just show a comparison of two different media, and what I often do to sketches to simplify them and focus on the subjects.

If you look at yesterday’s photo (actually seen below) you’ll see there’s much more stuff in front of and around them. While this does look like my studio, it’s distracting, and I don’t like to include unnecessary details in my paintings. What I was seeing was what you see here, Giuseppe and Mewsette, the vase with brushes, the window with the green outdoors, and a few miscellaneous shadows. What you don’t see is what I either literally did not see, or simply ignored. I’m good at that. So are my cats.

Studio Guardians, 2012

two black cats on windowsill

Kelly took the day off as my studio cat today, at least so far, so Giuseppe and Mewsette took their places on the cool marble windowsill. Surely I am well supervised, and no evil spirits would dare pass my guardians.

One drawback was that they were a little too far away for me to touch, so all I could do was look a them, a pleasure. I also photographed them repeatedly, and painted them as well, scan coming later.

See more photos of art cats and studio cats.

SHIPPING

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

PRINTS

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

GICLEE PRINTS

The giclees are printed on acid-free hot press art paper for a smooth matte finish using archival inks. Giclee is the highest quality print available because the technique uses a dozen or more ink ports to capture all the nuances of the original painting, including details of the texture, far more sensitive than any other printing medium. Sometimes my giclees look so much like my originals that even I have a difficult time telling them apart when they are in frames.

I don’t keep giclee prints in stock for most of my works. Usually I have giclees printed as they are ordered unless I have an exhibit where I’ll be selling a particular print so there is a wait of up to two weeks before receipt of your print to allow for time to print and ship.

DIGITAL PRINTS

Digital prints are made on acid-free matte-finish natural white 100# cover using archival digital inks. While digital prints are not the quality of a giclee in capturing every nuance and detail of color, texture and shading, I am still very pleased with the outcome and usually only I as the artist, could tell where detail and color were not as sharp as the original.

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

CANVAS PRINTS

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

FRAMED PRINT

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

DAILY SKETCHES

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

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

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

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