Tri-color Girls Settling Down for a Nap, Pastel

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

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.

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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.