Featured Daily Sketch: Morning Window, 2012

November 11, 2025 Bernadette

ink sketch of cat sleeping by window — “Morning Window”, ink, 5″ x 7.5″ © B.E. Kazmarski

Jelly Bean settled down in the wash of sun on the wardrobe after breakfast, sun streaming through the casement and filling the lace curtain with light.

I have always enjoyed building up the shadows with cross-hatches, but looked forward to working out the pattern in the lace curtain.

The secret is often simplicity, like the window, just two heavier bars and three vertical lines.

2025: I sketched in ink before this, but usually subjects that naturally worked in ink like bare trees and such. As I worked my way through my sketches of the cats in various places around the house I encountered patterns that confounded me, like the lace curtain. How do I capture the sense of all that detail in something that’s basically nearly transparent? This was nearly a year after I’d started my daily cat sketches and my hand was finding ways to work it out in ink, the same way I’d always worked things out in pencil and pastel. The scribbles captured the lacy pattern and the scallops on the edge captured that pretty simply. I learned so much during those years, techniques that I still use today, and I thank those five wonderful black cats for inspiring me to sketch every day so that I had the creative exercise to build my skills.

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.

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

Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

Fine Art • Photography • Gifts • Greeting Cards • Books • Commissioned Portraits & Artwork

Feline Artwork on Portraits of Animals

I still have the original sketch and I can also produce prints on paper and canvas as well as various cards. I don’t have it listed on my website but if you are interested please let me know!

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.