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October Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar: “Allegro Moderato”

Allegro Moderato, pastel, 14 x 20 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Allegro Moderato, pastel, 14 x 20 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Some paintings wait decades to be painted, and when they have their chance they press on until they are fully realized. This was one of those paintings, one that monopolized the last four days of my life. I am not complaining in the least.

My orange boy Allegro came to me in 1986 and left in 1996. I probably took the reference photos of Allegro napping on my piano bench in winter 1988 and intended to paint it right away, as I had painted Fawn in “Waiting for Mom” and Moses in “Sunday Morning” in 1988 from recent photos. Once I’d started painting cats, I wanted to paint cats all the time, and thought I should always have a sketch or painting in the works to keep myself learning and progressing in my skills. In fact, I know I’d planned some sort of painting of each of the cats in my life at that time, and from that concept I’ve built my own personal collection of portraits of my cats, mostly large, usually detailed and scenic, capturing a moment, including “Are You Looking At Me?”, “Peaches and Peonies” and “Sleeping Beauty”, and smaller paintings like “After Dinner Nap”, “Darling Clementine” and “A Warm Bath”.

But in 1989 I learned I had to move from my rented house and after looking for other rentals I decided my best deal was to buy a house instead, and so I moved here, which occupied my time for almost a year. Everything was packed up, including my photos which were not unpacked until years later. I began painting again, but using newer photos. And I sold my piano because this house was so small, an act I regretted even before the piano was sold.

But I never forgot this image. About a decade ago when I pulled out all my older photos and organized recent and older I found the reference photos and vowed I would paint Allegro, napping on the piano bench when I’d gotten up from playing to do something, intending to come back since my music was still out. You know how cats are. I loved him for what he’d done, and for the inspiration of that moment, and ran to get my camera. The lighting, the deep shadows that I so love to fill with colors, I loved to play the piano, and sharing that with the cat who had a musical name was so perfect I knew I had to paint it.

Allegro Moderato, detail.
Allegro Moderato, detail.

I named him Allegro because, as a kitten, he was. As an adult he moderated a bit, so he became Allegro Moderato. Also, while he was tall, rangy and muscular, he could be amused for hours by a speck on the wall or a short line I drew on a piece of paper in marker, and he really couldn’t figure out the first cat track toys available, so other parts of him moved a little more slowly as well. He had no idea of his size, and no concept of personal space for me or other cats, and was often soundly chastened by cats much smaller than he was. But there was never a nicer cat than Allegro.

I created a composite from the photos, and determined that I would paint this painting. Allegro is an October cat because he is orange and I lost him in October, and because of the feline imagery of the yellow fog which T.S. Eliot, a favorite poet and author of Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which was also adapted into the musical Cats, had written into his poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock:

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

But one October after another has come and gone, and I’ve painted other paintings, but not Allegro. Each year I decide I’m going to paint this painting, October comes, and I run out of time and decide not to rush it. “I have a whole year to do it for next October.”

I did that this year too. Last year I ended up painting a small painting of Allegro for the September painting challenge and decided that would suffice for last year. This year my September was too complicated for the painting challenge, but I decided I would spend the month on this painting. I did not. I wanted to use it for my monthly featured artwork and desktop calendar, but told myself I’d have to choose something else, and I could do it for next year.

But this year something indicated to me that I wasn’t going to pass it by once again. The last days of September came and I decided, yes, I not only should do this painting, I needed to. I create so many other images and portraits but I really needed to do a painting for me, just for me to enjoy the act of creating, and enjoy having the memory, revisiting and building the image of a precious moment with one of my cats, done by my hand. I couldn’t choose another piece of artwork. I would do this painting.

So that was last weekend, September 29. I might not get it done because these paintings typically take me weeks of small work periods among other things, but this one wasn’t going to happen that way. I was apparently going to put everything aside and work on this painting. I’ve never done that. I looked forward to it.

But the biggest hurdle, taking more time than the painting itself, was deciding on which image to paint. I had always remembered the vertical image, but at some point in the past I had created a horizontal image, a little more intimate with Allegro and the piano. Which one did I like better? Allegro and the piano and the light? Or the whole scene that had inspired me in the first place?

For the next three days, I kept looking at one and then the other, deciding on one and then the other, and letting it take the time it needed. I know better than to start on a painting when there is the least little bit of indecisiveness in me, because if I’m not fully committed I will remain indecisive and regret it. At one point I had the horizontal image ready to go, then changed my mind again. In the end, the image that kept coming to mind whenever I thought of painting this painting was the one you see here.

And actually painting it was very different too. My typical style of painting is to work out the entire thing at once, to possibly sketch out the scene, then start filling in with areas of color and value, or just to start blocking it in, no matter the medium. I then work my way over it in layers of detail so I keep it consistent all across the image. And I rarely work more than four hours on a painting—that seems to be about as much as my back, eyes, hands and shoulders can take, and also my creative intellect and color sense. I have to go off and recharge.

Allegro was so determined not to be left out once again that I sketched out the scene, then started at the top of the painting and worked my way down to the bottom in full detail one sweep, and yesterday put eight hours into it, then today I put four hours.

I began to add the figures on the sheet music after determining that I would add legible text, and thought how years ago I had thought I’d compose a little piece of music to accompany the painting. Maybe someday I will.

Allegro, detail of music.
Allegro, detail of music.

Just as I began adding the text to the music book this afternoon a storm came up and before I could close my windows it sprayed the painting with little dots of water leaving dark spots in the dry pastel, which needed to dry completely before I could go on. After an hour and the storm just about over, I brushed out the little dark dots and repaired any areas that needed to be repaired, and finally, it was done. Even last night, I couldn’t wait to share it. I’m not sure this scan of the artwork is the best, so I’m going to try it again tomorrow, or have it professionally done.

 


A New Member Thank You

You can get a free matted print when you register for an account on Portraits of Animals.

Register for an account on Portraits of Animals and get a free double-matted print of “Evening in the Cat Book Library” or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.

The New Member print is a signed digital print of “Allegro Moderato”. This print is 8 x 12 matted to fit a 12 x 16 frame.

This print is only available as a new member gift during this month while it’s the featured artwork and desktop calendar, so make sure you sign up before the end of the month!

Or purchase the original or a different print or item

I also offer a variety of digital and canvas prints, a greeting card and a note card, find this on Portraits of Animals.


This month’s desktop calendar

I’ve worked this image into a desktop calendar for you to enjoy and use for the entire month. Looking at the downloads from previous months and averaging out which dimensions fit which devices, I have reduced the number of variations from 12 to three. It was very time-consuming to create all the variations with new devices arriving all the time, so I have one for horizontal monitors/screens, one for square monitors/screens, and one that should fit the dimensions of nearly all mobile devices.

If these sizes don’t work for your device, or if you have problems, please let me know. Often I can troubleshoot the reason an image won’t download or won’t load on your device, but if I just can’t figure it out I can just email it to you and hope that works.

 

How to download and use your desktop calendar

  1. Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
  2. For desktop computers and laptops, right-click on that image and on a desktop computer choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this. You may also simply save it to your hard drive and set it as your background from there.
  3. For mobile devices, download the image to your gallery then choose it as your wallpaper—this is slightly different on all devices.

Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

Desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.
Desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.

. . .

Square monitors and screens

Allegro, detail of music.
Allegro, detail of music.

. . .

Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.
Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.

. . .

Cell Phones and Smartphones

Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones
Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones

Take a look at other featured artwork and desktop calendar posts.

Each month I feature a piece of feline artwork from the archives to the present day, discuss its history and process, and set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.


Click here to see daily sketches, click here to see daily photographs

click here to see other artwork featured on The Creative Cat

or visit Feline Artwork on my main website.

If you are interested in a print of this image, check 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.


Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

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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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