Friday, March 29, 2024
cat artworkcatsDaily Featurefeatured artworkWednesday

Featured Artwork: “They Miss You When You’re Gone”

 They Miss You When You're Gone, colored pencil on coquille, 5 x 7, 1989 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
They Miss You When You’re Gone, colored pencil on coquille, 5 x 7, 1989 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Years ago the owner of the veterinary hospital I used suggested he’d like to have customized sympathy cards. The project never came to be but I kept the ink and monochrome drawings I did in working out ideas for those cards and printed my own first set of note cards in 1992 (more about those cards below).

I liked this image of the two tabbies looking out just the hint of a window. Their attention is away from us; they are doing something that is typically “cat”, and others like it for the same reason I did.

This sketch is drawn on “coquille board”, an illustration board covered with a tiny raised pattern that would capture a drawing material like colored pencil, creating a sort of halftone pattern that could be used as line art instead of the continuous tone of a photo when making actual printing plates for a printing press. This was used far more often when line art was required for printing in black and white, but I still like textured boards for things like this. These sketches are black and white yet techniques like this sketch on a textured surface can carry the feeling of the light and of the scene well.

This image is one of the originals I sold during my 50% discount sale on artwork at the end of March. It’s interesting to think of something I did that long ago, at the beginnings of my career as an artist, sold all these years later. I discovered something about the artwork at that time—the framed “original” I had on my wall was actually a 5 x 7 print to fit in a frame as a set with other smaller sketches, but the actual original was closer to 10 x 12. Looking at the texture now, I can see that.

Where to find this art

I did sell the original, but I also have prints available in various sizes and styles.

Note Cards

kitties being kitties note cards
The logo I designed for these note cards.
notecards with cats
“Kitties Being Kitties”, four simple sketches in black and white.

Sometimes the simplicity of a single color line or tone on a beautiful paper stock tells the story more expressively than a full-color, scenic rendering.

You can read much more about these note cards and each of the designs in this post, but the basics are below.

Cards are 4-1/2″ x 6-1/4″ with matching envelopes, $12.00 for a box of one dozen:

  • in packs of 12 with the four images, three cards of each, or
  • in packs of 12 cards in one design

In the image below you see the color coding system I also began in 1993 when I began selling these the burgundy ribbon indicates a mixed set and the green ribbon indicates a set of all one image. I have each box labeled on the side, but when I’m at a show or even when I’m packing things at home I know right away what’s in the box.

sets of cat note cards
“Kitties Being Kitties” in two different sets.

Packs or boxes of different combinations are available on request. They are available in my collection of Feline-themed Sets and Note Cards on Portraits of Animals.


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.


Take a look at other featured artwork.

Each Wednesday I feature a piece of feline artwork from the archives to the present day, discuss its history and process, and often set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.


"Feline Style Sampler" book of sketches and portraits.A collection of 34 images of feline artwork

The award-winning* Feline Style Sampler

Now in its third printing, and its sixth 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!

Inspired by felines you know! Visit Portraits of Animals!

Fine ArtPhotographyGiftsGreeting CardsBooksCommissioned Portraits & Artwork



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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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.

2 thoughts on “Featured Artwork: “They Miss You When You’re Gone”

    • Thanks, Vicky! I learned so much then too. I remember pausing before a group of dots and wondering where to start. Seems like yesterday sometimes.

      Reply

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