Featured Daily Sketch: Mewsette’s Nap, and in Blue, 2014
So plushy Mewsette was napping on the bed with the diffuse light from the window, which faces northwest. All her soft edges were even softer, and I loved the angle at which I’d first seen her, from the top of the head down, so that her face was foreshortened and all her paws were together.
I grabbed the multi-media sketchbook with white paper and my compressed charcoal pencil first, knowing she could move at any moment and those are always in easy reach. I captured those lines and curves on her face, forehead, nose and even her oddly flattened ear, then the plushy paws and tail, but all the while thinking I wished I’d grabbed the Canson sketchbook with the blue paper, I was really envisioning this on blue with white highlights and black sketchy lines.
The black and white sketch was done. Should I do another? Mewsette had moved a little but she was happily napping. Unless a naughty brother jumped up and decided to pull her hair she was napping.
So I ran to get the blue paper and got the conté crayons rather than the charcoal pencils so I could include wider lines. Two sketches in one day! I decided I’d choose the one I liked better to lead in, and that was my first idea, in blue. But I also like the strong lines and scribbles in the black one, below, and the cool thing is I can make the background of that one any color I want.
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What other sketches did I share around this date?
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Garden Sprite, 2013
It’s raining today, and neither Mimi nor I is happy. We both wanted to be out in the garden after a very long week with only a few minutes here and there out in the greenery.
And after observing her outdoors as the garden is changing, I’d wanted to do a particular watercolor sketch, much like one I’d done earlier this summer, now with different flowers and colors and composition. After a while of cleaning the house and waiting for the rain to let up a bit we sat down for a bit, and I played around with some of the photos I’d taken last week that gave me the idea for the sketch. Sometimes this is a good warmup if I have a sketch in mind, opening up the palette I will use and, depending on the medium I want to use, I can plan out the work itself to a certain extent. I always do this with larger and more complex works, but especially when I’m painting en plein air, the more prepared I am with light that’s constantly changing, a kitty who keeps moving around and even a slight breeze that moves the greenery and flowers, the more quickly I can get a start and the more successful I am in capturing what I see.
But it was not to be. The rain only fell harder and the temperatures dropped, and all the geraniums and phlox and asters drooped, leaning way over to even touch their heads to the ground with the weight of their saturated petals. Even if the rains did let up, the entire atmosphere in the yard was sodden and misty now, not the clear and sunny autumn afternoon we’d been looking forward to. So, Mimi and I went back to the computer and played around a bit more, and chose one of the images I’d put together using the “cutout” filter. I’d wanted her as a solid outline, plus mottled greens as a pattern, and at least the pink of phlox blotted in here and there. In this one, Mimi turned up in the darkest green, which I think is pretty cool since it looks as if she emerges from the landscape itself. The bricks faded away, though.
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.
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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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Both sketches are still available, framed, each for $125.00 or the pair for $125.00. I have too many to list all of them so I just mention them here when I can. Please get in touch if you’re interested! Email bernadette @ bernadette-k (dot) com.
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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.
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That is such a cool sketch!
I really like the one on blue paper with the white highlights. I was pleased with the charcoal on white but I’m really glad I took the time to try it another way too.
Beautiful and inspiring work! Great idea keeping your art tools close by. I usually grab my camera but never thought of doing a sketch. Thank you.
Thanks so much! During the era when I did these daily sketches I had to intentionally set myself up for them. I occasionally created one of my larger paintings but in the past I’d done sketches of my cats and nature and walks around town fairly frequently just for some art in between that was just spontaneous. But self-employment and family members with medical issues…so I set myself up with a bag of the usual materials and set some guidelines–15 minutes, no masterpieces, let my inspiration come forward and focus on that, then scan and share it here, no excuses. Before I knew it I was moving on to new media and techniques and styles and experimenting. That’s how I managed to do sketches at least five days a week for two years and two or three times a week for another two. I never had the chance to really study art, and this was the best “art class” I’ve ever had. Try it, set yourself up for success, and get that bag of art materials ready.