Daily Sketches: the Idea, Most Popular, Awards and a Discount

The first sketch, and how it began

While these three slept through it while providing the inspiration, on December 4, 2011 I stated my intention to present a sketch of my cats nearly every day. I’d been tentatively sketching every day or so and decided to try sketching every day, as I had once done with general subjects including my cats, like when I walked or rode my bike for errands. In cleaning out and renewing my old studio in 2011 I’d found sketches and sketchbooks and studied and scanned and shared the images I’d found, quick daily sketches from years before with a different household of cats, bringing back memories of those days. Readers still enjoy those original sketches, and the positive reception and my own appreciation of them gave me this idea. Here’s one of them, below.

Also, catching memories. The sketch above, “Pawse,” is of Moses napping on the bed. In that moment I was able to capture Moses’ familiar posture, her nature, her soft gray tabby fur, so it’s not just any cat napping on the bed to me, it’s Moses, but it still works for others.

In the sketch at the top, “Three Cats”, signed and dated 12/3/11 of three of my kitties curled together on the bed, was the one that made me decide to begin the series here on The Creative Cat. I could picture this one as soon as I saw them, and it was all I could to to sneak soundlessly away so I didn’t wake them to get my drawing pencil and pad. It’s still one of my favorites, too, and even now I can still identify which cats are which, Jelly Bean, Mewsette and Guseppe, so I’d captured something essential about them.

Inspired by Steinlen

I was also inspired to keep sketching cats and to share them by my copy of Steinlein Cats, a Dover large-size paperback including just pages from Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen’s sketchbooks featuring his sketches of his own cats. A few of his poster designs from before the turn of the last century are iconic, and looking at his sketches I can see the basis of the cats on those posters.

Practice, practice, practice

Remembering the days I had sketched something each day just as a matter of course, and how it was literally practice for my art as you’d practice music or long-distance running, I’d provided myself with convenient pencils, charcoal, ink and more and took them up whenever possible to catch my cats in action along with my camera.

This was to “give me the incentive to do more and different work, to experiment, to be inventive and ‘in the moment’ with the subject and also with my ideas, something that’s rare in my daily tasks of commercial art,” as I stated then. And it was and is important to me to produce creative work each day, both for my personal and professional development and to share the ideal that not only magic can be found in everyday things and events, but it’s all around us, all the time.

But a sketch each day? I’d debated the daily photo the year before but I’d no doubt I could produce a quality, interesting photo each day after looking back over weeks and months of photos…except, the time? I worked it into my daily schedule because the joy of sharing both my cats and my photos was immense.

Losing my touch with different styles and media

The sketches were different from photos, created by hand, then scanned and touched up if necessary because basic scanners are meant for documents and photographs, not drawing media—time-consuming, and I still wasn’t certain of my consistent ability. For the previous decade I’d spent so much time with non-art-related things while photography had filled the empty spot for my daily inspirations, I found I’d lost touch with some of my art materials and had lost confidence in my skills. Would I just embarrass myself with awkward pencil drawings with no sense of perspective or proportion? Many people think art is entirely inborn talent, but talent doesn’t necessarily ensure skills with any media, and these things need to be regularly practiced as the afore-mentioned music or running. So I did. And to reignite my spark I returned to what set it off in the first place—my cats.

New media skills and new styles

Some of the media I developed entirely or improved during my daily sketches were ink sketches with watercolor washes, oil pastel, freehand watercolor, brush pens and markers. I developed particular and consistent styles in some as well, like “Cats After van Gogh” in oil pastel, “Cats After Steinlen” with brush pen and watercolor, and “Cats After Warhol” in ink with watercolor or marker.

A unique addition to online image sharing and conversation

And while I present my finished paintings all the time I decided it was important to present the underpinnings of that finished piece, the humble sketch, and let readers in on a little more of an artist’s creative life. I also felt daily sketches of cats could provide a unique offering by The Creative Cat and add another element to the online conversation and image collections among pet bloggers.

The rules for daily sketches

By December 3 I was satisfied that I could actually produce and present a simple sketch each day:

• no masterpieces,
• 15 minutes maximum
• scan it and post it, no excuses.

I stated my intention on December 4, and on December 5 posted my first sketch created that day, “Boys at the Sink”. I was hooked.

 

Since then I’ve documented the daily activities of my household in ink, charcoal, pencil, marker, gel pen, oil pastel, watercolor and more, discovered new media in watercolor pencils and rediscovered media in oil pastels, developed new styles, explored favorite and new artists for inspiration and brought my skills back to a level I can feel confident about.

I went on to create about 800 sketches in many different styles and media posting at least five days each week through the following three years.

I think I accomplished what I’d set out to do with my daily sketches back in 2011, a challenge to me and entertainment and enjoyment for you. I’ve grown as an artist as a result, tutored other artists in the background, and if your comments are any indication also brought you entertainment and enjoyment!

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Memories

I am glad I had the chance to catch Cookie and Kelly in their last few months in sketches that in many ways capture more of them than my large finished works—because I am right there with my subjects, and I remember those moments of inspiration, of standing there and sketching them, these sketches are much more personal in some ways.

One that I treasure, that I wanted as both a photo and a sketch, “Dinnertime,” Kelly, Mimi and Cookie having dinner on the cabinet. It was just six weeks before we lost Cookie and I knew it was coming, I planned it while I was out running errands and had my pencils and sketch pad ready to draw as soon as I served the household their dinner n the kitchen.

And now, of course, they are a record of memories of Mimi, Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine, Giuseppe and Jelly Bean because for more than half of the time of the daily sketches they were the whole household, and the five were a huge inspiration together and individually.

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Top five daily sketches

I had to search several ways because I’ve posted the same daily sketch in multiple posts and uploaded updated images where one was mysteriously lost, or I posted about using it for a handmade gift item. I gathered stats about them, some were immediately popular, some became popular over time. I took an average. But “Two Cats After van Gogh” was a leader in each search.

In 2013, one of my most treasured daily sketches, “Two Cats After van Gogh”, won the President’s Award in the 2013 Cat Writers’ Association Communications Contest, and I’m also very proud my overall series of daily sketches from that first full year won a Certificate of Excellence for a Set of Illustrations in the 2012 Cat Writers’ Association Communications Contest.

My, how time flies, just like Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine on that magic carpet, above! That watercolor and ink sketch is in the top five most popular daily sketches of all time on The Creative Cat, and it also represents a journey into a style I’d visualized from several influences over the years and put to paper as part of my daily creative efforts.

Jelly Bean considering the view out the window, it was his shape that inspired me—I want to cup my hands around his sides, and apparently so do many others.

It’s Mewsette, Mr. Sunshine, Jelly Bean, Mimi and Giuseppe at the basement door on a lovely June morning. I sketched them as they were milling around and jostling each other, a real task!

Also included on the list are “Kitty Shape” ,“Alert”, Walking Toward Me, Birdwatching: A Family Activity, and Kelly Napping.

Once again I notice that, though works in color have a great impact when first posted, it’s been the monochromatic works that have staying power, and especially works in pencil which is, as I always say, “my first and favorite medium”. All rankings are taken from my stats on WordPress.

Awards

In 2015, “Snowy Morning” won a Certificate of Excellence and a Muse Medallion as an illustration. I love this little painting. It’s right out of my heart as I watched little rescued Bella watching snowflakes falling past the window on a cold snow morning, thinking how she’d be out there if someone hadn’t cared enough to bring her in.

In the 2014 contest, two of the anthologies I self-published won Certificates of Excellence along with a number of daily sketches:

12 Sketches of Cats
Calendar; Annual or Long Publication

feline style sampler
Books: Gift

“Purring Points”
Cartoon

“Saturday Morning”
Cartoon

“The TNR Story”
Illustration (Single)

The other award for me is your feedback. It’s a joy each time I hear from a reader who sees their cats in these sketches, or who buys a print as a gift because a loved one “has a cat just like that”, or for themselves because it reminds them of a cat they love.

Being compared to artists Warhol and van Gogh and Monet and Rembrandt and illustrators like Clare Turlay Newberry is a compliment beyond compare. I have treasured each comment from both long-time and newly-exploring artists, those who’ve dropped the brush for decades and been inspired to pick it up again, young artists raised with electronic creativity and understanding the reason for putting a pencil to paper to create a single, unique, tangible object.

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Merchandise

And the sketches themselves have inspired me to follow through with some long-time ideas of creating unique items with my artwork on them, like the keepsake boxes and trays and coasters, and the wood-mounted art. I can use the sketches as they are, build from them, or create others in similar style to create a set.

They also give me smaller items to sell as originals. Not everyone has 24″ x 36″ of wall space for a finished framed pastel, and that’s not necessarily what everyone wants. These small sketches usually frame up to be 16″ x 20″ at the most, though many are 11″ x 14″. I’ve been happy to frame several originals to send home to customers. Below are a few examples; click on each to read more about the sketch.

Original Art and Prints

Click here to see other daily sketches, and for a gallery of the ones available for sale visit Portraits of Animals. Not all of my sketches are listed there because there are just too many of them, but if you see one that you like that’s not listed there, just ask me.

As for Mimi, she thought I spent entirely too much time on this because the more I made, the more she had to inspect. Here she stands defiantly (for Mimi) on one of my sketchbooks and demands dinner before any more of my personal fun.

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12 Sketches of Cats 2014 Limited Edition Calendar

Before we begin, let me note that this is a 2014 CALENDAR. Why am I trying to sell you a 2014 calendar? Because it was printed so that each image in the calendar is of framing quality. The calendar is outdated, but the 14 pieces of artwork will never go out of date, and if you’d like to have prints of 14 of my daily sketches for gifts, for donations to benefit cats, for craft projects, $20.00 is a great price for a whole series of prints! Find it here on Portraits of Animals.

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feline style sampler

I love to use selections from my portfolio of artwork to gather into a collection of some sort, finding a theme and then a likely way to present the collection, like my calendars. In my “inspiration collection” I have calendars and art and photography books on all subjects that I enjoy simply pulling out to study, and a few friends and readers have asked if I ever planned to do a book of my artwork.

I created this little portfolio piece, Feline Style Sampler, sketches and portraits, to include in presentations to prospective illustration customers to both show a variety of styles of illustration and my ability to design a little book like this and have it printed and bound. I was very pleased with the way it turned out and enjoyed the response when I presented it and showed it around to friends. When a friend admired it and wanted to purchase some for gifts, I thanked her for an idea I hadn’t even considered, though once she mentioned it the idea was a natural. In fact, I had such an enthusiastic response to it on all accounts that I decided to offer it for sale.

Feline Style Sampler is simply a collection of 34 images, no text or narrative, though each image has the name, medium and size of the image inconspicuously added at the bottom of the page. The book is little, only 4.25″ x 5.5″, and coil bound. All pages are printed on 100# gloss cover rather than text weight stock to stand up to handling and to ensure opacity.

The images I’ve included run the gamut from quick and simple ink sketches to highly detailed commissioned pastel paintings. They are a mix of daily sketches, commissioned portraits and a few of my personal works all jumbled together instead of categorizing them by medium or style. They even span my entire career as an artist with a few of my earliest included as well as very recent daily sketches. You can see a few more samples here. Click here to order a book on Portraits of Animals.

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A Discount for You

Until the end of December 2025, I’ll give you 25% off the purchase of any original framed daily sketch—that’s available, not already sold—listed on Portraits of Animals or found here. This time I can’t give you a coupon code to shop on my website because I can’t list all the sketches available in the coupon! To avoid confusion let me know which one you’re interested in and I’ll give you the coupon code to order.

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Marketplace

At right Mr. Sunshine appraises my work. Apparently he is not impressed. Or perhaps he doesn’t like the way he appears in this painting. “I’m not all lumpy and bumpy like that, and I’m not brown, don’t you humans have eyes?” he asks. Nothing like being put in your place by a feline art critic.

Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.

Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.

Read about creating custom items

Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.

Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.

Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!

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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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© 2009-2025 | 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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