Thursday, March 28, 2024
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A Special Print, and Another Place to Find My Art

pastel painting of cat looking out window
Winter Window, pastel, 8" x 8", 2002 © B.E. Kazmarski

I’m so excited—I sold a framed print of this painting to a friend who’s been trying to decide what she wanted, from my Fine Art America profile. This is especially touching for the subject of this painting.

About Winter Window

Kelly pauses in the stark pastel light of a winter afternoon through the big north window in my studio, absolutely still in contemplation as she watches birds flit about at the feeders or Buddy the squirrel making a fool of himself. Kelly is petite for an adult cat, making the window seem vast, and the light is so diffuse that nothing has a hard edge. It is a scene I remember even in the heat of summer.

In 2002 I was casting about for a holiday card image, saw little Kelly quietly looking out the window as she often did; silently so not to startle her I grabbed my pastels and a piece of sanded drawing paper and got to work, standing right in the middle of the room to quickly capture the essence of the scene I visualized in that instant: the pastel winter light, different in each pane of the window, the muted shadows, the softness of the overcast snow light. But it was all inspired by Kelly’s particular quiet and contemplative nature, I just loved her little shape, her petite figure in the midst of that vast light, and even then I remembered her early history living outdoors with a stray/feral colony; I had always wondered, in these moments, if she thought about those experiences that had so marked her cheerful and affectionate nature with timidity. For me, this has always been a portrait of the Kelly I knew who lived in her happy world with me and her feline siblings, but with part of her still in that other life.

Ten years later, and with her recent loss, it’s very sweet to revisit this painting, still hanging here in my office where I look at it frequently. Who would know that in one quick visual and a 15-minute sketch I would be able to capture all that? But as always, I’m glad I took the time, and now I have this wonderful memory.

And selling the image as a print or gift item ensures the memory of one of my best friends is out there in the world, and helps me help other animals in shelters and rescues all over.

pastel painting of white cat
White Cat Reflecting, pastel, 15" x 11", 1998 © B.E. Kazmarski

About Fine Art America

I love to share my art and always look for ways to reproduce it that people would like to have, whether it’s a print on a wall or a tote bag or a coaster. While I can have a custom product made and or make it myself I also look for ways to make the choice and purchase easier for those interested.

A few other artists I know also have profiles on Fine Art America and are pleased with the system and with moderate sales, it’s not terribly expensive, so I thought I’d observe it for a while and then give it a try. It may not seem like much of an effort, but setting up and maintaining yet another profile often simply makes me roll my eyes and walk away because I have so many already and I always feel the time taken away from my art and my cats for efforts that often don’t prove fruitful. (Imagine if I had decided to upload art to one of my profiles instead of stopping to create this painting? It’s happened!) Each profile has different requirements for file type so the art often needs to be modified to meet those requirements, then all the information about it gathered as well; individually, it’s not a problem, but over time it is tedious and adds up.

Unlike my Etsy shop where I sell things I have made and ship them out, Fine Art America creates a variety of high-quality prints from the image you choose on canvas, acrylic, metal or archival stock, will frame the art print in various styles, or you can have a 5″ x 7″ greeting card made from it. They produce these things in their own print production facility in North Carolina, and helping to support professional and skilled jobs in the US is also very important to me especially since these people are often artists themselves—jobs in the art field are hard to come by.

As the artist, I simply upload the art and choose which products will be available and at what sizes. Unlike many other free sites, I receive a greater share of the selling price (you get what you pay for, completely free profiles rarely pay much), and I can determine sales or specials if I choose. I can even offer original art through here since many buyers are specifically looking for artwork, and the potential buyer contacts me directly. Of course, the gift items I’d like to offer aren’t available, but I’m working on that.

One of the benefits of their production is that I tend to produce oddly-sized and shaped artwork which can be difficult to produce as prints without extra expense, like the one of Sally in White Cat Reflecting, at right. I love this painting and it’s very popular, but such an odd size always means custom framing or custom something, or cropping the shape to fit a standard size. A shop like Fine Art America does this all day long so the cost of custom work is absorbed into the volume of custom work they do.

And so far, in just about one month, I’ve had two sales. That’s more than I’ve had from some profiles, ever.

I have a link to my profile at the bottom of my main page here on The Creative Cat. I’ve also added a link to it at the bottom of every image post so that you can check to see if an image you may be interested in purchasing is available in a format you’d like in my Fine Art America profile or in my Etsy shop, and if not you can always inquire about a custom product.

And while I sometimes donate a portion of sales to a cause, I usually instead offer an individual product or service as an auction item to raise money, such as the recent online auction for Are You Watching Me? which sold to the highest bidder for $125.00, which was in turn entirely donated to Black Cat Rescue. Greater sales of all products enable me to offer more valuable items for my own and for shelter/rescue auctions, which I’ve found generates a higher donation for animals overall. It’s also much easier for me to manage in practical day-to-day paperwork!

And it’s wonderful to know that these images of my feline family are out there in the world, my best way to ensure they and their stories are not forgotten.

Fine Art America Profile

Fine Art America Feline Artwork Gallery


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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 my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.

Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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