I Will Always Walk With You Pet Remembrance Gift

March 8, 2020 Bernadette

You may remember this from my February Creative Challenge, when I’d designed the remembrance with three different finishes. I put all three variations in front of a bunch of friends, and chose the one with the most “likes”, and the contest really wasn’t close. I’ve been wanting to offer this, but had two more ideas for it—closing in the back to store ashes or keepsakes, and customizing the side with a name—but that will come in time. Friends have already purchased a few so I want to offer this now and catch up with the variations later. Thanks to everyone for your feedback and suggestions!

I pulled away the winter cover and photographed it atop the very stone where the pawprints were. My little cell phone isn’t entirely accurate with lighting and color, but I’ll soon have my camera repaired and be able to take better photos.

About the artwork

This particular design was based on a chance photo from a June morning in 2009 when Cookie and Namir and I were out in our back yard, each doing our thing, they smelling and tasting and stalking, me racing from flower to glistening dewdrop with my camera. They often followed or preceded me as I wandered, and I happened to see the stepping stone at the bottom of the steps with my wet footprint and two pawprints, a faint third above them. We lost Namir a few weeks later, and when I reviewed the photos from that morning I found this one, and immediately knew it had to be one of the set of sympathy cards I was designing and what text I’d use.

I Will Always Walk With You Animal Sympathy Card

The card has continued to be popular and I’ve also sold a few prints of it. It’s one of three in the dozen that are non-species-specific, so can be used for any pet with paws; in some cases those distinctive pawprints stand for animals in general.

This year I’ve been designing and creating keepsake items to be used as memorials to pets. I designed animal sympathy cards in 2009 and have always wanted to add to gifts to what I offer. In 2018 I made my first votives including “Star of Wonder” intended as holiday items, and to my surprise people purchased “Star of Wonder” to give as a gift, or to use themselves, to remember beloved pets. That confirmed for me that my idea for memorial gifts was valid.

pet loss memorial gift — I Will Always Walk With You pet memorial gift

These items are called “shelf-sitters” today, but ten years ago when I made a series of them with just my art I called them “wood-mounted art”. They can sit on a shelf or table, or because the “cradles”, or wooden frame backing, can be used for hanging like a canvas print, they can also hang on the wall.

I had intended to make the sides look like faux stone mimicking the stone from the design. I added a soft cool gold transparent glaze to the wood, then originally created three different finishes and asked local friends for feedback about which one they liked best because I couldn’t decide, and that turned out to be the pale green and copper with the pale gold glaze on top.

In time I will add to this remembrance, to close in the bottom to be able to hold ashes or keepsakes, and also to customize the side with a name.

Purchase a Remembrance

This remembrance is a print of my design “I Will Always Walk With You” on a cradled wood panel, and a combination of finishes around the sides to coordinate with the image and appear like stone. The size is 5″ x 7″ x 1.5″. They are $20.00 each with no customizations, including taxes, shipping and handling. Visit Portraits of Animals to find this and other Pet Remembrance Gifts.

Read other stories and essays about Pet Loss as well as my Pet Loss in the First Person series. Also read other Essays.

Art and Gifts featuring cats you know! Visit Portraits of Animals

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Pet Memorial and Sympathy Gifts on Portraits of Animals

In addition to my commissioned portraits and Animal Sympathy Cards, I’ve been working out both standard and customized memorial items for you to remember your pets and to give as gifts to friends who have lost their pets. Click here to read more.

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.