Monday, March 18, 2024
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Featured Artwork: Four Original Paintings to Forever Homes

Four original cat paintings on their way home.
Four original cat paintings on their way home.

Four original cat paintings will be heading off to their new homes, two older, two newer; two watercolors, two pastels; Stanley, Sophie, and two featuring Mimi! I’m so happy they’ll be going to loving homes that will cherish them. Clockwise from the top: “Interior With Cat”, “Afternoon Nap”, “Mimi in the Laundry Shade”, and “We’re Going Outside, Right?”

I love each of my paintings, but this leaves me room in my home and in my heart to paint more. I do paint what inspires me, but my goal is to share my inspiration. My engagement in a creative pursuit is the one thing that can make the hours fly by, release me from daily stuff and send me to a higher plane for the period of time I’m working. Each painting has a little bit of me as part of it. Of course, each also has a bit of my cats too, especially the ones featuring cats!

I’m excited that two of my older paintings are finding new homes. With promotion on social networks my newer paintings just have more presence than the ones I painted when all we had were websites and possibly a profile or two on rudimentary selling sites, and maybe ebay.

Here they are, from oldest to newest.

Interior With Cat

watercolor of flowers and cat
“Interior With Cat”, watercolor, 9″ x 12″, 2000 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It was just meant to be the flowers and the cloth, but around my house it’s hard to keep the cat out of the picture.

Those calendulas, which had braved a pretty hard frost, opened fully when the sun shone in the windows the next day, and that was the first inspiration for this piece. I photographed the calendula, intending to paint only them, but when I looked over the photographs in preparation for painting, I noticed the cloth, the paperwhites in the pot, the light glare on the table, and of course, the cat. It developed into a much larger work than I had wanted, but it was a real challenge to create something from a different perspective than I usually have. And since I create so many other works involving my cats, I really tried hard to keep the cat out of it, but it just wasn’t complete until I painted Sophie in. I’m glad I have this memory of her longtime habit of sitting in that corner of the door, looking out on the deck and yard.

You can read more and find this painting:

~~~

Afternoon Nap

"Afternoon Nap", pastel on hand-finished paper, 7.5" x 7.5", 2004 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“Afternoon Nap”, pastel on hand-finished paper, 7.5″ x 7.5″, 2004 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

A Portrait of an Old Cat: Afternoon Nap

An old cat, a gentleman,
he has found a quiet spot, upstairs in the afternoon,
and has so perfectly placed himself a little off-center
on the expanse of white bedspread,
illuminated by stark winter light through the window.
(Stanley finds all the best places.)

 

You know those moments where you walk upon a scene of your cats doing something that you always want to remember, whether it’s a regular habit or a one-time thing? This scene was one of Stanley’s regular habits during his last few years; every afternoon he’d head upstairs with intent and I’d find him curled in the same spot on the bed.

You can read more and find this painting:

~~~

We’re Going Outside, Right?

"Mimi is Ready for Spring", pastel on pastello paper, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
“We’re Going Outside, Right?”, pastel on pastello paper, 8 x 10 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s the first day of spring and a gorgeous morning. Mimi waits by the door, keeping an eye on me over her shoulder so I don’t wander from the kitchen and forget the importance of getting outside before the busy part of the day begins. It’s a position and an expression I see on her face most days, even cold or inclement ones, and I also saw Cookie and Namir and Kublai in the same position with the same expression at the same back door, waiting to go out on the same deck into very similar sunny mornings.

You can read more and find this painting:

~~~

Mimi in the Laundry Shade

Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Mimi in the Laundry Shade, watercolor, 6 x 6 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

This was painted just three months ago in September, from a photo I took in August 2015. I’ve always wanted to do a simple little painting of it: my colorful dresses and skirts moving gently in the breeze, the bricks in the patio outside my basement door, the bright sun and shadows, Mimi relaxing on the concrete step in the shade of the laundry. Just a nice memory of a simple summer morning.

You can read more and find this painting:

~~~

25% Discount on Original Art Through the Winter Solstice

Don’t forget I have my annual 25% discount on all original artwork from the Vernal Equinox to the Winter Solstice. Use the code SPLENDOROFAUTUMN25.

You can find original art:

We’re getting more artwork framed up in preparation for my upcoming Open House Studio Sale, date TBD! I haven’t done one of these for about 20 years and I’m really looking forward to it!

Bean and Mimi check how they look in these frames.
Bean and Mimi check how they look in these frames.

 


Featured Artwork

Each week on Wednesday I feature a piece of artwork, sometimes a current or historic portrait, sometimes an illustration or an art project from years ago, usually cat-themed, but sometimes wildlife or even non-animal subjects, and even projects from my commercial art life. Read other Featured Artwork posts.


Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

AfterDinnerNap-Etsy

Fine Art • Photography • Gifts • Greeting Cards • Books • Commissioned Portraits & Artwork

AND

25% off

all Original Artwork, all Subjects

Just use the code SPLENDOROFAUTUMN25 for your special discount on Portraits of Animals.




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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© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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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