Featured Artwork: “Window Kitty, Snowy Night” Seasonal Card

December 26, 2018 Bernadette

Kitty is waiting in the window for you to return home.

I designed this linoleum block print for my holiday card in 2001. The design is based on the actual scene that met me many snowy nights when I came home from my day job and seeing one of my kitties in silhouette, Sally for many years, then Sophie, then Kelly, sitting on the windowsill at the big casement window facing north, the light falling across the snow on the ground below. I like to design cards that are versatile and this can be used as a general note card. Also, Jewish friend have bought them for Hanukkah because the colors match with the holiday for them.

Where most of my other cards are printed commercially, each of these cards is hand-printed by me on my little Speedball printing press. I usually print a run of 12 cards at a time for lack of space for them to dry, so each set is in its own way a limited edition.

linocut of cat in window — “Window Kitty, Snowy Night”, linoleum block print with iridescent finish © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

It’s printed in cobalt blue ink on smooth yellow card stock, and the ink wraps completely around the back. It’s then lightly rolled with iridescent glitter in a clear base to simulate the sense of falling snow at night as you move the card. Unfortunately, it doesn’t scan or photograph well, you’ll just have to use a little visualization…

I had no reference photos for this image, but drew the illustration I used to cut from the block freehand just by working with what I was visualizing.

lino block — The block for Window Kitty, which is unmounted, just a sheet of lino.

This entire design, the window and the light on the “snow” all fits in a 4.25″ x 5.5″ area, and it’s so tiny it was difficult to cut well. I had to make sure I cut out the windows deeply enough so they wouldn’t fill with ink, and the little kitty shape is nearly abstract when you look at it.

Here’s another view of that area that may give you a better idea of the size and placement of everything.

I had initially used all sorts of other glitter to achieve the effect, dusting it on when the ink was wet, but it either obscured the design or just fell off in the envelope when it was mailed. Each year for four or five years I experimented with another type of glitter, unsuccessfully. The design still looked attractive with the cobalt blue of a winter night and the yellow light, but I wanted that last detail, the fine airy glitter of snow falling on a very cold night. I put it away for several years until 2012 and decided I’d revive the design somehow, even if it just meant printing the design on the paper in blue. I realized there were many new glitter paint products since I’d designed the card and tried all I found, ending up with the one that actually works. So it took over a decade to achieve that final idea, but it was well worth it.

I have the blocks carefully wrapped with a sample of the design taped to the outside, below. And here you can also see one of the other glitter possibilities, and while I really loved it for its rainbow effect and the fact it looks like nice big snowflakes, it was one of the ones that obscured the design a little too much. I considered recutting the design a little larger to use this, and to have a 5″ x 7″ card, or larger, but in the end decided to stay with the original block.

As with the “Meowy Cat’s Mess” card, I print these cards one dozen at a time, let them dry, then roll on the iridescent finish and let that dry, add a little label to the back with my information, then finally fold it.

This card is an A-2, or 4.25″ x 5.5″, and printed in water-based acrylic ink on yellow card stock, iridescent glitter finish hand-rolled onto the paper as described, and hand trimmed and folded. It includes a matching envelope in your choice of yellow or white on Portraits of Animals. Card is blank inside and can also be framed. A few times I made wood-mount versions of this, and am considering adapting the design as an ornament.

Just in case you haven’t read this in prior posts, block printing is a technique wherein the artist carves the surface of a piece of linoleum, leaving raised areas which will become the image. Ink is rolled onto these raised areas, then a piece of paper is pressed against the block and when it’s lifted away the ink remains, leaving the image on the paper. Because of this process, each print is slightly different and therefore unique. You can see a little slideshow of the process in a recent post, “Featured Artwork: “Fawnball”. Because the block is inked before each card and individually printed, each card is slightly different.

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Other holiday cards

I have a large selection of other holiday cards featuring cats, of course, pets, birds and nature.

cat and art materials on table — All materials ready to start printing.

Marketplace

Mewsette is ready to supervise my printing efforts!

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”, whether that’s here on The Creative Cat, in my Etsy shop, on my main website or even at one of the bricks and mortar shops that carry my work.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!

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.