Featured Daily Sketch: Wood and Cardboard and Cat, 2013

April 3, 2026 Bernadette

charcoal drawing of cat on floor — “Wood and Cardboard and Cat”, black and white charcoal pencil on toned paper, 5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

From 2013: Jelly Bean settled down for a nap on the beat-up piece of corrugated cardboard they are still torturing on the landing. The light was muted coming in the window, and the corrugated and the floor were just about the same color in that light, just different textures (you can also see this in today’s photo of Mimi playing though the lighting is a little different). I hadn’t intended to do a sketch right then, or to spend as long as I did on this one, 15 minutes, but all those tones with Bean’s shape and shadow were just too enticing.

This is black and white charcoal pencil on kraft-toned drawing paper. Bean had at first been crouched with his elbows in the air which was a slightly more interesting shape with more detail, but by the time I decided to sketch him he had gotten to Step 3 of his morning nap, Step 1 being a having a bath sitting up in the chosen nap spot, Step 2 being crouch in the nap spot to check for air currents and lighting, Step 3 being getting into a loaf position in the nap spot, and there was no turning back. I knew I had eight to ten minutes before he moved to Step 4, which was to sag over onto one side and curl paws but with head still upright. I did manage to get most of him before the mail came downstairs and everyone got up and ran down to look at the mail delivery person, and he never got to Step 5, which is to stretch out on his side and lay his head on his paws, or Step 6, which is to curl in a ball and turn his head at least sideways, if not upside down.

After checking the mail I put a little more work into defining the corrugations of the cardboard, even without Bean.

From 2026: Thirteen years later, I still knew it was Bean as soon as I looked at the sketch. When I sketched them I rarely captured the subjects’ names in the title or anywhere else but the in the post here on The Creative Cat, but most of the times I’m looking at them they are in the folder on my computer or in the original sketch books. It has always been fun to see if my sketches in all their variety of style and medium, captured enough of the essence of the subject for me to identify them later without looking at the post because I’m usually abstracting so much of the detail, capturing the scene and action quickly. This time I knew exactly who this little bundle was. A couple years after losing them, it’s a little unnerving if the identity doesn’t always come to mind as quickly as it used to.

See other sketches on “toned paper”.

At one time I included the sketches from other years in my daily sketch post and stopped at some point, but for some reason I had the sketch below included in this post. Interesting because I was debating between this sketch of Bean and this brush marker sketch for today!

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What else was I sketching on this date?

“Together, 2015”

"Together", brush marker, 8" x 6" © Bernadette E. Kazmarski — “Together”, brush marker, 8″ x 6″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

From 2015: Mimi took my seat in the studio, then Bean settled on the seat with her. They were curled almost like yin and yang but not quite, since yin was so much smaller. But still I could see the flow of shapes between them. I like a nice single varied line, just couldn’t decide what to do with Bean’s ear! I think with another try I might lift my pen there and skip that part of the line. Maybe next time.

Shortly after I finished this, Mr. Sunshine thought the party looked like so much fun that he joined it, and Mimi left. Now there is a totally different dynamic on the chair! Maybe another day I’ll catch them.

From 2026: I really enjoyed the challenge of capturing one or more cats all in one line! I remember some time in high school working a sketch of something, I think it was a beat up hiking boot, all in one line, without lifting whatever you were drawing with, preferably an ink pen of some sort so you couldn’t go back and change it. Most often you could work back and forth over lines, but you couldn’t cross a line. The exercise was to develop your hand and eye coordination so that you’d follow your thought and just keep moving instead of stopping and starting and that you’d study your subject and plan ahead for where to go with your line. It really made you study the structure of your subject in a way you might not if you were to work in pieces, like setting out an outline and then filling in details, or blocking in colors then working on top of them. Cuddling cats was a purrfect subject for that study, and once I got my brush pen, before the brush markers, I moved to it naturally.

See other line art sketches in brush marker and brush pen.

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

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Originals and Prints of Daily Sketches on Portraits of Animals!

This original sketch is still available. Please let me know if you are interested.

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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.