Thursday, March 28, 2024
cat artworkcolored pencildaily sketchkelly

Daily Sketch Reprise: Kelly Has a Drink, 2012

sketch of cat drinking water
Kelly Has a Drink, colored pencil © B.E. Kazmarski

So I’m kind of remembering Kelly a lot this weekend…

What legs! Kelly really does have long legs, especially when she does her drinking dance, solidly planting all four paws, then prancing her hind paws and waving her tail while she drinks. There’s something so precious about Kelly drinking; I think it has to do with her timid nature, yet she totally enjoys her water so I enjoy her enjoyment.

This was done in steps as we spent time in the studio upstairs, similarly to one I did of Cookie the previous December. This bowl is on my work table because Kelly has always preferred to drink from a bowl on a surface above the floor. In the heat, she marches back and forth to it through the day, and always stands in the same spot in the same position. Kelly is a creature of habit, so I can anticipate her actions and keep my sketchbook handy, drawing the outline one time, adding her black markings another, then her orange.

. . . . . . .

This is the last sketch I did of Kelly while she was still with me, ironic that I would catch one of the poses I really wanted to be sure to catch before it was too late. It’s one of those poses I’d watched Kelly take for years, her little drinking stance, leaning way down from those long legs and lapping noisily at the water; for such a fastidious and rather timid kitty, she made noises drinking and bathing that I could hear two rooms away, and they always made me laugh.

But there is always something like this that we remember about our animal companions, something that makes no sense to anyone else. You know, the odd bathing position, the awkward sleeping habit, the strange toy, all these things are what show us they really are individuals and are often the things we remember the longest about them.

I had the sense on this day in 2012 that something serious was happening with Kelly, but I didn’t realize how serious. She died August 11, but on this evening, August 8, when she hopped up onto my work table to have her drink in exactly the position I remembered her, it was a sketch I had decided I wanted to get. Sometimes we pass up a photo thinking we’ll have another chance, and I’ve passed up sketches thinking the same. On that evening I decided I wasn’t going to trust this to chance and I’d get this sketch right then, even if I didn’t finish it right then.

Looking at her legs, the arch of her back, the curve of her tail, the position of her ears, her chin, and the black and orange of her markings, the backs of her legs looking as if she’d sat in paint, the wide areas across her back of black fur then orange, her one pale orange toe, all so familiar even now, and at that time and still I could apply them without even looking at her.

I knew when I finished it that this sketch captured more than a sweet and familiar visual memory I wanted to make sure I’d captured. It captured a lot of Kelly too, and I can still feel her presence when I look at the sketch. This was the last time I saw her drink at that bowl, or saw her drink in anything near the position I’d always wanted to remember. I’m so glad I took the time.

It’s another celebration of Kelly on a day to remember her.

Where to find this artwork

Prints on paper and canvas as well as framed prints are also available on Portraits of Animals.

Kelly Has a Drink placemat, large and small.
Kelly Has a Drink placemat, large and small.

I’m so excited that I’ve purchased a laminator! I’ve long wanted to make placemats, coasters and other items that would work well as laminated items in addition to prints and greeting cards.

I added a border to the artwork to give it a little more color and interest on the edges, pulling the shapes and textures from Kelly’s markings. I offer these placemats in a small 8.5 x 11 size and a larger 11 x 17 size in singles and sets of two and four.


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.

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

And don’t forget that each month’s Featured Artwork is also one of the free prints available on Portraits of Animals when you sign up for an account.

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

The award-winning* Feline Style Sampler

Now in its third printing, and its fifth anniversary!

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.

*Certificate of Excellence, Cat Writers’ Association 2014 Communications Contest


Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

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Fine ArtPhotographyGiftsGreeting CardsBooksCommissioned Portraits & Artwork

Feline Artwork on Portraits of Animals

sketch of cat drinking water
“Kelly Has a Drink”, colored pencil, 6″ x 6″ © B.E. Kazmarski

The original and prints are available. Read more and order.



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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