Thursday, March 28, 2024
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August Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar

watercolor of three cats
Lazy Saturday Afternoon, watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski

When I thought about which of my pieces of artwork I’d like to feature for the month of August and use for the desktop calendar my first thought was “Lazy Saturday Afternoon”. I admit I made it the desktop for one of my computers, and I thought others would like it too. But when I thought of August and the colors and shapes and other visuals I associate with the month, this painting was the first one to come to mind. It has been a hot summer all over and this was actually painted in June so August isn’t the only month this year that feels bright yellow with sun and draped with faded colorful cats, but hopefully after this it will be cooler and we’ll be tending to autumnal colors, so this is the last chance for summer colors until next year.

While I am proud of this painting and I think I’d like it no matter who had done it, it was also a milestone for me as an artist. About this artwork, from my original post on June 8, 2012:

It’s Giuseppe in the front in teal, Mewsette draped off the edge in green, and Jelly Bean in purple. Rather than use the colors I associate with each of them, these colors came about because of the reflections on each of them from the window light, the mirror behind them and the walls. I hadn’t intended to do them in different colors though! This time I actually wanted them to be purple, maybe, with tints of other colors, but here we are again.

No watercolor pencils this time, no pencil lines, just the colors and a brush and three cats having a really good afternoon nap on top of the wardrobe—so good they stayed still long enough for me to paint the basics before they moved. This is a first for me (not them, they nap all the time)—I have never been able to watercolor without an underlying pencil sketch. I’ve never put the brush to paper and felt I had enough control to just paint in watercolors. I have to credit all the daily experience of my daily sketches with giving me this confidence and control. My goal was this loose quality, though, just enough to indicate their shapes and positions, no more.

And congratulations on a sale of the original

I am also pleased that I sold the original of this painting! The buyer, who has also purchased another daily sketch, e-mailed me with her interest pretty much right after I posted it. I always say I look for good homes for my artwork as I always have for homeless cats, and when I think of the positive results of those calls I received from someone who saw the flyer or the e-mail or the post that they needed to have that kitty, I would say it works the same for artwork. I know it’s sincere, and it’s happy ever after.

Below is the original with its mat and frame. I’ll also be offering a print framed with this same frame and, because I could only find two of these frames, I’ll also be offering framed prints with a slightly different whitewashed barnwood frame, as well as unframed prints. And for other prints in various sizes and greeting cards made from this art, visit my page on Fine Art America and the page for this painting where you can find various sizes of canvas prints, acrylic prints, framed prints and more. I set the price for my merchandise there, and you pay just about the same purchasing from them as from me, but I am still offering digital prints and framed prints—see below.

matted and framed watercolor
Lazy Saturday Afternoon, matted and framed watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski

Purchase a print from me, framed or unframed

I like the quality of the digital prints I have made with my printer, and they are quite inexpensive for me and for you. And because Fine Art America only offers one style of mat and frame, I still offer actual-size prints and framed prints of certain pieces of artwork in my Etsy shop. And you can always purchase other custom-printed items from me such as canvas prints, giclées and greeting cards if you’d prefer. Each of the prints I have made is signed by me.

Prints

I offer digital prints at the actual size of the original in my Etsy shop for $15.00 each. If you are interested in a giclée or a canvas print, please ask! The giclees and canvas prints are more expensive and created by a different process, but well worth it not only for its clarity and precision but also because I can order only one print at a time instead of ordering dozens or hundreds, and it costs the same per print no matter how many I get. For that reason, I order them from my printer as I receive orders.

Framing

I have one print framed in the frame you see above for $50.00. The mats look slightly different just because of the photo. The top mat is a natural white, not a cream, and the bottom blue mat is a little darker than it appears.

Shipping

Within the United States I ship the prints flat for $5.00, but the framed artwork is $25.00; in Canada it’s $15.00 and $50.00; other countries, I need to check.

Ordering

You can also visit my Etsy shop.

Download a desktop calendar featuring Lazy Saturday Afternoon

And to give you something both colorful and restful to look at for all the month of August I’ve designed a simple desktop wallpaper calendar featuring Lazy Saturday Afternoon. It’s too darned difficult to create one that fits everyone’s desktop, so I’ve created three basic shapes—full size, wide and square—that will probably adjust to fit most desktops with a little bit of adjustment. Choose the one that most closely matches the shape of your monitor, follow the instructions, and let it adjust the art to fit without tiling. I can give you some help with this if it’s not working quite right.

  1. Click on one of the images below to pull it up in a new page.
  2. Click on the image on that page to pull up a full-size version of just the image.
  3. Right-click on that image and choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this.

desktop calendar watercolor of three cats
Regular size desktop calendar, 1000 x 697 pixels.

desktop calendar watercolor cats
Wide desktop calendar, 1000 x 592 pixels.

desktop calendar watercolor cats
Square desktop calendar, 1935 x 697 pixels.

See more Daily Sketches.


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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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.

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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