Featured Daily Sketch: Kelly Relaxing, June 19, 2012

June 22, 2026 Bernadette

sketch of tortoiseshell cat on stool — Kelly Relaxing, red and brown conté and charcoal © B.E. Kazmarski

From 2012: The top of the stool is apparently the perfect circumference for Kelly as she relaxes there while enjoying the fan in this hot weather, one leg and a tail dangling off the edge. That is one relaxed Kelly.

From 2026: My red conté crayon isn’t quite the color of a tortie or the light maple of the stool, but still gets the idea across. Cookie and Kelly were still with us when I started my daily sketches December 4, 2011. We lost Cookie on February 2, 2012, but I managed to get her tortieness into several sketches before that. We lost Kelly in August 2012, but I captured Kelly many times in those few months. All those speckles and two colors were quite a difference from sketching solid black cats! But most of all it’s that visceral memory of watching her side slowly rise up and down as I marked off her black areas and orange areas, the familiar napping pose with positions of each of her legs, and the dangling tail. And the back of her head. So nice to see Kelly relaxing.

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.

"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 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

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This original sketch is still available. Please let me know if you’re 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.