Daily Sketch Reprise: Gentle Highlights

Bernadette September 18, 2018 0 Comments black cat, black cats, cat art, cat artwork, cat sketches, cats

pastel sketch of two cats sleeping — “Gentle Highlights”, pastel on black paper, 9″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

My fine felines happily spent supervisory time with me in my studio, mostly napping but I’m sure they could have awakened at any time to give me whatever direction I might need. I took plenty of photos of sweet, sweet naps of one and two, as well as an important meeting among the four, but there was just something delicately inspiring about Mewsette and Bean, backlit by my work lights, with gentle highlights on their faces and whiskers. Mostly soft and grayish and just a touch of their mahogany but lots of delicate whiskers, I could picture a soft sketch on black paper using just the pastel I had layered on my fingers from the portrait I was working on yesterday and gentle touches of white charcoal or pastel pencil. I could also feel my fingers applying the pastel to the paper and see the marks I’d leave that described their noses cheeks, ears using the shapes of my fingertips…heck, if I was that distracted by this sketch and visualizing that fully, I might as well do it! So I did.

I’ve done a few of these before—why waste the pastel, and the inspiration?

In truth, this was almost another scratchboard, except for catching that softness, and all that pastel on my fingers…

Where to find this artwork

I have sold the original but offer giclée, digital and canvas prints of this painting, and can always have prints made for you in other sizes. I can also custom frame your print or custom cut a mat for a frame you already own.

You can also purchase a single card or a dozen in a box on my website, and I’d be glad to make up a special box for you, just ask.

Click the links below to find more.

Prints of “Gentle Highlights”

Greeting cards of “Gentle Highlights “

Merchandise featuring “Gentle Highlights “

If you’d like to request something special you can email me or comment when you order.

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.

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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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.