Thursday, March 28, 2024
art catsblack catsdaily sketchinkmewsettemimiwatercolor

Daily Sketch Reprises: In Afternoon Sun and A Tangle of Cats at the Door

ink sketch of two cats
“In Afternoon Sun”, ink brush pen and watercolor, 8″ x 10″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mimi enjoys her daily sunbath while Mewsette watches the birds from my studio window on the second floor.

One more experiment with this brush pen, partly just because it was there. I love it when the cats are partly lit by sunshine, and dramatically. Here it pours in the window from nearly directly above, just enough to highlight them where they are near the window but leaving the rest in silhouette.

I didn’t want to leave out their mahogany highlights, so I’ve added those. Because the second floor window looks right out into a maple tree from this angle, I wanted to catch the dappled and speckled effect with watercolors. Not sure how well I like the speckles, perhaps I’ll try a bigger brush next time to get bigger blotches. And the paper buckled in that odd darker area above Mewsette, common with watercolors.

. . . . . . .

black cat with garden flag
Mimi poses with her favorite design, featuring her, of course.

Last year I wasn’t sure about the speckles and droplets in the background, but this year I like them very much; I think they truly capture the fluttering sparkling effect of the sun on the leaves in the maple tree, and I like how their random shapes and patterning contrast with the very stylized sketch of Mewsette and Mimi. It was another where I sketches the cats and really liked how they turned out, but was frightened I’d screw the whole thing up if I spattered on the background as I was envisioning. Practicing art gives me many gifts, and the courage to take risks is one of them.

Find this art as a garden flag

I’ve been surprised at the popularity of this sketch, both on its own and on products, like keepsake boxes. It’s actually become one of the most popular garden flags, in part because of the two black cats.

You can also find it as the May featured artwork in 12 Sketches of Cats Calendar—see below.


A Tangle of Cats at the Door

pencil sketch of five cats
“A Tangle of Cats at the Door”, pencil, 10″ x 8″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Back to good old drawing pencil, my first and favorite medium.

Not that they’d all keep still while I sketched them, instead I wanted to catch their energy, not sure how many or how detailed I’d get I let the sketch build itself and drew them one by one as they moved around at the basement door, looking out at the garden in the morning while I did some work in the basement.

Fun, all five in a row, I believe it’s Mewsette, Giuseppe, Bean, Mimi and Mr. Sunshine.

. . . . . . .

sketch of cats
A Tangle of Cats at the Door

I’ve been surprised at the popularity of this sketch as well. I can only guess that my sketchy pencil lines really did capture their energy while they watched at the door. It’s one of the most often-viewed sketches of all time and gets at least one view per day, often as many as ten. This sketch is available as a digital print and as a wood-mounted print in my Etsy shop.

You can also find it as the bonus sketch in 12 Sketches of Cats Calendar—see below.


12 Sketches of Cats Calendar

"12 Sketches of Cats Calendar"
“12 Sketches of Cats 2014 Calendar”

I’ve always admired oversized “art calendars”, the ones where the art is foremost and the calendar just an incidental means of presenting it. Calendars are printed on quality text or cover stock and are only printed on one side of the page with plenty of clear space around the artwork because the image is intended to be framable with nothing printed on the back.

And so 12 Sketches of Cats is digitally printed in the same archival inks and acid-free natural 100# smooth cover stock I use for the digital art prints I sell. Each page is 11″ x 17″ so there is plenty of space to have the art at or near its native size with room for the name and information about the art with the calendar at the bottom. The calendar is spiral-bound at the top with a hole drilled just beneath the spiral so you display one page at a time.

In addition to keeping art near its native size I’ve also sized most of the artwork so it will easily fit a standard frame size. Some images, such as “Shades of Gray” and “World Cat” are smaller than the originals to fit the page. I chose sketches for popularity and narrowed them down for a variety of style and medium. All of the images but one are in color; none of the pencil, charcoal or ink sketches seemed to fit with the color art in the calendar, so of course that might be a calendar of its own someday.

And there are actually 14 sketches if you count the cover, and there’s a bonus sketch on the title page that’s the one pencil sketch, but because covers see more wear and the title page image is a little small I’m keeping the title at 12. The art included in the calendar is:

Cover: Mimi’s Sunbath

Title page: A Tangle of Cats at the Door

January: Winter Light

February: Shades of Gray

March: Catamount Brushmore

April: Two Cats After van Gogh

May: In Afternoon Sun

June: Lazy Saturday Afternoon

July: Stanley with Geraniums

August: Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol

September: Three Warm Cats on a Cool Ground

October: Two in a Basket

November: Vigilant Nap

December: World Cat

This calendar costs a little more than the typical calendar because of the size and quality, and the value of what’s in it—I generally sell my prints for $10.00 to $25.00 each depending on the size, but in this calendar you get 14 prints if you count each image, for one price—$2.50 for each of 14 prints plus $10.00 to help FosterCat, Inc. house and support the cats in their system of foster homes, find homes for the cats they’ve rescued and help sponsor many cats rescued by Pittsburgh Feral Cat Movement.

Order a calendar now

Calendars are $45.00 and as mentioned above I will donate $10.00 of each sale to FosterCat, Inc. Not only has FosterCat been doing its typical wonderful work in rescuing and finding forever homes for cats of all ages through its foster home-only all-volunteer organization, they have also been helping kittens and cats find homes who have been rescued by Pittsburgh Feral Cat Movement, which allows all those who volunteer as a rescue to foster more cats and kittens.

Click here to order a calendar through my Etsy shop.

Click here to order a calendar through PayPal


NOTE: I will continue to sell this calendar until all I printed are gone, but because of the value of the art within it I will not discount it after the beginning of the year as I do others. The purchase price will always generate a $10.00 donation to a specified cat rescue or assistance organization.


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Petties 2014
Petties 2014

Read more about the Petties in this post.


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Treats For Homeless Cats And Caretakers


Click here to see other daily sketches.

For a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Cat Art and Prints” section.

Read about the reason for the daily sketches in Two Years of Daily Sketches.

And download your free desktop wallpaper calendar for computer or mobile, usually based on a daily sketch.

White Cat Reflecting, 1280 X 1024.


"Feline Style Sampler" book of sketches and portraits.

A collection of 34 images of feline artwork

Feline Style Sampler

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 in my Etsy shop.


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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.


© 2014 | 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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