Friday, March 29, 2024
animal artworkcat artworkcat photographsfeline artworkkellylinoleum block print

Kelly’s Morning Bath

cat in front of window
Kelly at the Window, Morning.

A morning like this reminds me of the original inspiration for my linoleum block print, Kelly’s Morning Bath. I’m teaching a little class in linoleum block printing today, so perhaps that’s why I’m seeing the world from this perspective!

I really loved watching her bathe enthusiastically every morning in front of this window where the morning sun shines through the leaves at a wonderful angle, silhouetting her and the window itself, visualizing a finished work as a block print to capture the stark dark and light and using various colored and patterned papers to capture the leafy shadows.

I did several sketches and had the idea I’d like to do a multi-frame image to capture her action as a process rather than a just one view; anyone who’s ever watched a cat bathe knows that just one view doesn’t capture the whole sense of the cat bath. I knew I wanted that lovely graceful curve and the silhouette of her looking at me in one frame, and I had to have a “leg in the air” frame of Kelly washing between her toes, and Kelly also has a sweet habit of pausing in the middle of a face wash as if she’s hit a point of meditation—this is the first frame.

Once I decided on the three frames I wanted to use I placed them in various orders, but there was only one sequence that I liked best. Here is my first design for Kelly’s Morning Bath.

block print on green background
Kelly’s Morning Bath 1 on green leafy paper

That looked a little stark, though it was what I’d been visualizing. Then I cut one with a more decorative border, added more of the window and eliminated the shading across the middle keeping it stark black and white, and I liked that design too! They officially became Kelly’s Morning Bath 1 and 2.

block print of cat in front of window
Kelly’s Morning Bath 2, peachy speckle paper

I print them both, and I’ll often print just one panel at a time on items such as gift bags or other small things.

More than ten years later and Kelly is still bathing on that windowsill!

You can find these two prints in my Etsy shop as well as all the block print designs of my cats on my website.


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 or Fine Art America profile 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.

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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