Featured Daily Sketch: Chillin’, 2015

March 11, 2026 Bernadette

"Chillin", charcoal pencil, 10" x 7" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski charcoal pencil sketch of three cats — “Chillin”, charcoal pencil, 10″ x 7″, 3/7/2015 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

From 2015: Bean, Sunshine and Giuseppe were just hanging out on the cabinet after dinner, not sure what to do next. Bathe some more? Nap? If so, where? Ask for more food? What was the human having for dinner? Amazing what the feline mind could work out while sitting purr-fectly still. I could feel a kind of impatient energy as they struggled with their decisions. They ended up just chillin’.

I also wanted to capture the feeling of space around them on the cabinet and in the room so they seemed more solid with quick horizontal and vertical strokes that distinguish two separate areas.

From 2026: I’ve often said “I think in pencil.” It’s very intuitive for me and partly because it’s forgiving and can be erased I’m a little bolder with experiments. The three of them were just fine on the paper and that’s how I often left my sketches, but this time I wanted more of a scene. Without trying to draw everything that was in my kitchen, how do I add a background? It was evening, they were under the light over the cabinet in a very bright space, but the rest of the room was dim, so I added the shadows underneath them and some shading around them at the top. That seemed to suffice.

Daily Sketches 2011 to 2015

I think I accomplished what I'd set out to do three years ago today, a challenge to me and entertainment and enjoyment for you: to create a quick sketch of my cats each day as a way to practice and experiment, and present the sketch on that day with no editing, no waiting, no excuses, just to do the sketch and share it.

Read more about the reason for the daily sketches in Daily Sketches: the Idea, Most Popular, Awards.

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Now in its third printing since 2013! 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.

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*Certificate of Excellence, Cat Writers' Association 2014 Communications Contest

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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.