Tuesday, March 19, 2024
black catscat artworkcharcoaldaily sketchgiuseppejelly beanmr. sunshine

Daily Sketch Reprise: Chillin, 2015

"Chillin", charcoal pencil, 10" x 7" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski charcoal pencil sketch of three cats
“Chillin”, charcoal pencil, 10″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Bean, Sunshine and Giuseppe were just hanging out on the cabinet after dinner, not sure what to do next. Bathe some more? Nap? If so, where? Ask for more food? What was the human having for dinner? Amazing what the feline mind could work out while sitting purr-fectly still. I could feel a kind of impatient energy as they struggled with their decisions.

I also wanted to capture the feeling of space around them on the cabinet and in the room so they seemed more solid with quick horizontal and vertical strokes that distinguish two separate areas.

. . . . . . .

What else was I sketching on this date?

(I’m going to catch up on a few days!)
.

Mimi in the Middle, 2012
marker sketch of four cats
“Mimi in the Middle” brush markers, 6″ x 4″ © B.E. Kazmarski

This sketch is the very first time I worked out the “Warhol Cats” style using the simple bright marker colors with black marker outline, something I’d been visualizing and always wanted to try as an illustration style, even before my daily cat sketches, but never found it successful for me. This time it worked well, and became one of my favorites.

This is the final version of what the four cats were doing on the box today. After the pose for a portrait, Mimi bath and using Mr. Sunshine as a pillow, Mr. Sunshine, Mewsette and Jelly Bean had settled into sleeping balls on the box. Mimi had tried to settle down behind them, but there just wasn’t enough space, even for a little kitty like her.

And a little kitty like her would hardly be noticed if she…walked on her children and settled down where she was comfortable. None of them even flinched. All settled in for a nice colorful nap.

This is the fun thing about working with four black cats. It began as a pencil sketch because I liked their shapes, but it was difficult to distinguish them in pencil. I can tell them apart by details you can see—if you can see details. But in these sketches you really can’t, so I decided to devise a way to tell them apart and used the colors I associate with each of them, the yellow-orange for Mr. Sunshine, purple for Mimi, magenta in this sketch instead of red for Mewsette, and a light green for Bean. Giuseppe Verdi is usually green, but Bean is green as well, and more of the mint green of the bathroom. Mewsette is typically red, but in this case the magenta came in handy.

. . . . . . .

Monday, 2013

colored pencil sketch of cat
“Monday”, orange and purple colored pencil, 6.5″ x 6.5″ © B.E. Kazmarski

We had a great time over the weekend with lots of play and impromptu naps in new places and not keeping any schedule at all, but today it was Monday and kitties must get back to their daily schedule and the serious business of eating and sleeping lest they lose their youthful figures and sweet dispositions.

Mr. Sunshine throws his paw over his face during a mid-morning nap to block me out as I was typing too loudly.

I was about to do this in black pen, but decided I saw far too much color in Mr. Sunshine’s fur as he napped in a sun puddle. Orange is one of his colors, yet I also wanted the stronger outline and chose a close color complement.

. . . . . . .

Stalking the Sparkle Ball, 2014

brush marker sketch of cat
“Stalking the Sparkle Ball”, brush marker, 4″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mr. Sunshine got himself all in a bunch about the sparkle ball.

That little sparkle ball was so completely exciting, quietly sitting there, obviously with no idea that a large black house panther was stalking it that Sunshine wiggled and wiggled and wiggled himself at the thought. each time bunching himself into a tighter ball, all the better to fling himself. The sparkle ball had no idea what hit it.

. . . . . . .

Someone is Watching, 2012

charcoal sketch of cat sitting on steps
Someone is Watching, charcoal © B.E. Kazmarski

With six cats in the house I am certain to feel eyes on me most of the time, yet Jelly Bean always gets me when he does this. He is directly behind me on the steps, in a little bit of a shadow, and I need to spin 180 degrees in my chair to really see him.

He’s cute because he’s up to something. Anyone can tell he has a little bit of the devil in him by the slanted, shifty eyes. But it’s not me he’s interested in when I notice there is a bit of subtle feline conversation with at least one of the other cats who is in the room, just a tiny shift in body language and movement of the ears, then suddenly one of them leaps for the stairs and JB is gone! The race is on.


Click here to see other daily sketches.

For a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit Portraits of Animals in the “Daily Sketches” section.

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

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

Desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.

"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 on Portraits of Animals.


Gifts Featuring Cats You Know!

Inspired by felines you know! Visit Portraits of Animals!

Buy an Original or Print of a Daily Sketch from Portraits of Animals!

charcoal sketch of cat kneading socks
“A Pile of Socks”, charcoal pencil, 9.5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

“Oh, thank you,” said Mr. Sunshine as he happily squinted and stepped into the pile of socks I was sorting and folding. “This is just…so nice…purrrrfect,” he said as he began purring loudly and kneading slowly and thoughtfully with both front paws. Read more and purchase.



Copyright

All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals 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.


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Weekly schedule of features:

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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