Featured Artwork and January Desktop Calendar: Winter Afternoon
The inspiration for this sketch was that black cats are easily camouflaged on the old wool afghan, and it made me laugh. Look closely and you’ll see four cats in this sketch. Basil, Bella, Bean and Mewsette spent the entire long, quiet winter afternoon on the wool afghan my mother made in 1946. The light caught each of their coats in different tones and textures: Basil at the top left is very mocha, and in the top right Bella is only shades of blue, while Bean and Mewsette, tucked up against each other and facing opposite directions, are combinations of both colors.
I sketched them from life, as they napped, on January 23, 2015. I had finally put the wool afghan on the bed and they loved to nap on it during the day. It looks like that at night too, but the lights aren’t on to see. They do enjoy sleeping there at any time, but wool is special and they’ve been attached to it for years. Typically I fold it at the bottom of the bed, but on some of these cold and damp days they get back up to the bed before I get a chance to fold it and make the bed, and of course I can’t move them after that!
On the day I sketched this, I walked past several times and looked in on them, photographed them, and decided to finally sketch from life what I visualized. I did have to finish some of the placement of the afghan square colors from a photo because I only had so many fingers to hold pastel pencils. But I’m so happy to catch a scene I see every day. I’ve never left the afghan on the bed all day, but during that particular winter, that particular family of cats collects there nearly every afternoon, and I will always remember that.
Hint: to find the cats, look for curved lines and ears.
Where to find this artwork
A New Member Thank You
Register for an account on Portraits of Animals and get a free matted print of “Winter Afternoon” or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.
The New Member print is a signed digital print of my pastel painting “Winter Afternoon”. Prints are made in archival inks on Epson Velvet paper. This print is 8 x 11 and matted to fit an 11 x 14 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!
This month’s desktop calendar
I’ve worked this image into a desktop calendar for you to enjoy and use for the entire month.
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
- Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
- 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.
- 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
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Square monitors and screens
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Small Mobile Devices and Tablets
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Cell Phones and Smartphones
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.
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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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Delightful image!
I at first could only figure out three cats, then upon reading your comments, saw the two cats in the lower right.
That’s why I figured I had to give clues!
Very pretty art. Wishing you and your kitties a happy and healthy new year
Kitties are so inspiring!