Tag Archives: pastel paintings

A Very Special Commissioned Portrait, and a Review from the Recipient

I painted a very special portrait recently, special because it was commissioned as a gift for a friend’s significant birthday, a friend who I know as well, and because it was to include all the cats with whom she had shared her life to date AND include the red maple outside the window seen in […]

The Sense of a Summer Field

"Summer Field", pastel, 10" x 12" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s not about the trees and grass and sky, it’s not about what you can see, it’s about what you can’t see–the hush of a hilltop field on a summer afternoon, the whisper of a breeze as it cools your sun-warmed skin, rustles through the tall grass which ripples like waves, one bird whistling, the […]

A Great Rescue and Commissioned Portrait: I’ll Be Seeing You

"Cooper", 1996, pastel, 22” x 17” © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

CAN THE SUBJECT of a painting communicate through his image? One of the dearest stories from any of my portraits is the one of Cooper, a “first cat” who turned his people into rescuers but who left far too young though he was never far from the memories of his people and the other rescued […]

The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: My First Solo Exhibit, 2000

The post card invitation to my first solo exhibit.

“The Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Celebrating the art in everyday life” In every moment of every day, everywhere I go, I see something extraordinarily beautiful and inspiring. When I left my day job to work at home as a commercial artist, fine artist and writer on January 1, 2000 I had worked as a freelance […]

Choosing Art to Submit to a Group Show

The deadline is tonight at midnight to electronically submit to an international exhibit and it’s always so hard to narrow down choices. In this case the maximum to submit is three, but I’ve still got more than that on my list and only hours to go. I am not a member of the Pastel Society […]

Along the Trail in the Spring Woods

The Spring Woods, 8” x 12”, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Off in the woods in early spring to photograph the fresh new wildflowers, I love the woods itself, damp, muddy, brown and green, the sunshine suddenly muted by young leaves, the very air a pale green, the water far below running fast with spring rains. And you have a discount until the Summer Solstice: 25% […]

Three Spring Originals as a Group or in Pairs

Brighten up an area that needs a little springtime all year round! I love that bright spring green and the way shadows are shaped as the leaves begin to fill out the trees. I painted these three small pastels en plein air, in my back yard and walking around Carnegie. From the left they are: […]

Spring Cleaning, a Little Magic and Memories in the Air

"Spring Cleaning", pastel on self-prepared board, 14" x 20", 2006 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

I regularly passed the backyard of an old farmhouse near me, and was drawn at first by the forsythia, which was right on the edge of the road as I drove past, then as I slowed down I saw the colorful hanging laundry, always a favorite subject. That hazy spring sunlight with long shadows on […]

Tired of Winter, Join This Gull

Observant Gull uncropped version © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

What can you say about gulls that is unique, since this is pretty much what they do all day? I’ve done a few other gull paintings and intend to do a few more, but unless I start numbering them I have to find something about this gull, “[Adjective] Gull”, that will make this painting different […]

#30paintingsin30days, Day 24: Dusk After the Storm

Dusk After the Storm, 9 x 12, pastel © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

A storm overtook us as we paddled canoes and kayaks down Chartiers Creek one July evening. We took out and watched it from among trees on the bank as the world turned black then fogged with rain, lightning struck just over the hills around us and the creek ran faster and faster and rose foot […]