Daily Sketch Reprise: Kelly in a Ball, 2012

Bernadette February 12, 2019 0 Comments cat art, cat artwork, cat sketches, cats, tortoiseshell cat, watercolor

colored pencil sketch of tortoiseshell cat — “Kelly in a Ball”, Colored Pencil, 10″ x 8″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

After Cookie left us on February 3, 2012, I took a break from blogging for a week. When I came back one of the first sketches I posted was “Kelly in a Ball”, above, celebrating how relaxed she seemed for the first time after losing her big sister, Cookie. It was also a moment for me to accept and share my loss in the way I do, in writing, photos and paintings. I still remember those moments of feeling as if I was starting over and it still surprises me that I’ve come so far when I felt so sad. It’s a testament to healing, especially now as we remember others. To my friends out there who have recently lost a precious animal companion, be kind to yourselves and let time work its healing.

. . . . . . .

Kelly has been sleeping a little more comfortably on my desk, right on top of everything. And there’s a lot there to sleep on.

But she has a totally endearing habit of rolling herself up into an ever-tighter ball of tortie spots with her legs all tangled and her tail twisted in there and her head turned sideways or upside down. Cutest of all, which you sadly can’t hear in her sketch, is how she talks to herself and to me, making little happy Kelly sounds, chirps and soft mmmrrrrrrrs, now and then a real meow, and lots of purrrrs.

And I nearly always take a reference photo even of my sketch subjects. In this case, I knew she wasn’t going to hold the pose for too long so I could work from the photo, and in some other cases I might want to use the reference photo for something more finished at another time. It never hurts to have more photos of cats around.

Colored pencil again; it’s become a convenient way to use color with shadings I can’t get in marker and I don’t have to worry about the mess of chalk or oil pastel, and no special paper for watercolor. I’ve never felt I handled colored pencil well, but after all these sketches of my cats I feel much more confident about them.

Click here to see other daily sketches.

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Colorful Kelly Prints from Portraits of Animals!

"Colorful Kelly" orignal matted and framed. — “Colorful Kelly” orignal matted and framed.

This art is “Colorful Kelly”, 5″ x 7″, watercolor pencils with washes on 40 lb. watercolor paper, © Bernadette E. Kazmarski, signed and dated 2/27/12. The original is sold but prints are made in archival inks on Epson Cold Press Watercolor Paper, Hot Press Digital Giclee Paper or Artist Canvas. Visit my gallery of daily sketches to see what’s available.

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.