Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Daily Sketch: Laundry Day

sketch with watercolor of cat in laundry basket
“Laundry Day”, 6.5″ x 5″, graphite drawing pencil and watercolor pencils © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Today was a busy day around the household with several weekends taken up with activities and busy weeks in between recently. Though I’d planned some yardwork when warmer weather was forecast for today, it turned out cold and rainy with dangerous roads in the morning, a great day to do an extra load of laundry, take care of some cleaning and make a pot of soup and bake a couple loaves of bread, all of which warmed up the kitchen, steamed up some windows and kept us busy for hours.

What’s a kitty to do? All that activity and then a warm kitchen with neatly folded laundry warm from the dryer? Mimi couldn’t believe her luck. A few others tried to join her, since she only takes up about one-sixth of the basket, including Smokie and Giuseppe, but in the end Mimi had a really good bath, made a nice nest and curled up for a long afternoon nap. What an inspiration.

I knew I wanted watercolor in here somehow but wasn’t sure exactly how, so I sketched her in pencil on watercolor paper. Later I pulled out my watercolor sets, but then remembered my watercolor pencils which I haven’t used in a while, since I found a few other sets of watercolors that I like a lot. But I wanted to continue with the pencily feel and just brush some water over the watercolor pencil areas to blend the color. It worked just as I had envisioned.

. . . . . . .

What was I sketching a year ago today?

Mewsette and Her Apples, 2013
marker sketch of black cat with apples
“Mewsette and Her Apples,” brush markers, 4.5″ x 4″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mewsette really does look as if she has some relationship with the apples since she went to sit right next to them. She was so cute turning to them, then looking around the room as if she was seeing it through their eyes. Her little red and green kittens, purrhaps.

This was fun to incorporate a cat sketch with a still life as well.The light green marker was not the color I expected it to be, but maybe the apple just has different highlights. I did finally find my nice new and juicy black brush marker, and oh, how sweet it was to have a solid black on hand that didn’t dry out as I was working. The red apples also have a mid-range shadow in marker, but I think this is lost on anyone not looking for it. Happy with my new markers!

. . . . . . .

Mewsette is sitting on the white enamel table in the kitchen, and the lights are all above her, one reason for the darker shadows below and the reflected light on the apples. I had placed the apples at the corner of the table to carry upstairs to the studio, and where she settled that wonderful red enamel trim on the table swung around her and the apples in a rounded corner. I had originally intended to include it for the color and the composition it made, but for the sake of this sketch I liked the simplicity of Mewsette with her baby apples.

That red edge, or red, generally, appears in a few other sketches in my kitchen, always in marker, and I’m really liking the composition it makes. One thing I’m considering, whether it be with this sketch or a print of it, is to add that red edge, and create a series of a sort including those with the enamel table with its red edge and others featuring tiny bits of red trim with white enamel and black cats. See “On the Chair” and “The Dishtowel Drawer”, though this second is not the table but the cabinet with the red Bakelite handles and the red gingham dishcloths. There’s also “Lounging on the Dishtowels”. Hmmm…

. . . . . . .

Sun Puzzle, 2012
charcoal sketch of three cats
“Sun Puzzle”, charcoal pencil, 9″ x 6″ © B.E. Kazmarski

Sun came streaming in the back door this morning creating brilliant white highlights on very densely black cats. Mimi, Giuseppe and Mewsette looked like interlocking puzzle pieces.

Just keep looking, it will come together.


Click here to see other daily sketches.

For a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Cat Art and Prints” section.

Read about the reason for the daily sketches in Two Years of Daily Sketches.

And download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for computer or mobile, usually based on a daily sketch.

"After Dinner Nap" desktop calendar for HD and wide screens.
“After Dinner Nap” desktop calendar for HD and wide screens.

"Feline Style Sampler" book of sketches and portraits.

A collection of 34 images of feline artwork

Feline Style Sampler

Daily sketches, illustrations, commissioned portraits all in a small coil-bound gift book.

Click here or on the image to read more

or find this book in my Etsy shop and on Amazon.com.


Gifts featuring cats you know! Portraits of Animals on Etsy.

AfterDinnerNap-Etsy


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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 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.


© 2014 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

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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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