Featured Daily Sketch: First One Side, Then the Other, 2014
From 2014: This is two studies of Mewsette washing her face, specifically when she runs her paw all the way over her ear. I love watching cats wash their faces, and watching them with their varied swiping strokes and drawing them from life takes a lot of watching, and a lot of deciding which view I’d like to sketch. Sometimes they swipe their paw over only their nose, sometimes across their whiskers or forehead, and sometimes they dip their head way down and wash behind their ears. This was the view I decided I liked best.
I sketched the top right view first, where she has her ear flipped back with her arm to wash the inside, then she moved to the other side so I decided, now that I had actually mastered how far she was leaning forward, what her back was doing, and especially what her arm was doing, I’d also do the other side. In that case I liked the view where she had her ear pushed down against her head.
That’s harder than it looks! But it turned out okay.
From 2026: I still love to watch cats wash their faces! They are so diligent even if it’s just a cleanup but if it’s an after-dinner bath that diligence is just the beginning of a very long and detailed process. I especially love to see kittens wash their faces for the first time, like little adults, doing something all cats of all sizes and ages do. I knew this was Mewsette because of the roundness and she was the one who dipped this low into her face wash, but I think I still have little bits of memory of standing in the kitchen with my sketchbook open and my drawing pen at the ready, just watching her actions as she sat on the cabinet under the light. She was the best for multiple sketches on one page because she tended to stay in place though she swiveled around in all directions.
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.
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.
A collection of 34 images of feline artwork
The award-winning* Feline Style Sampler
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.~~~
*Certificate of Excellence, Cat Writers' Association 2014 Communications Contest
Originals and Prints inspired by rescued cats from Portraits of Animals!
This sketch is still available, and we may see Mewsette on some gift items as well. Let me know if you are interested.
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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I like it! Catching them at their daily ablutions.
Nice sketch.