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January Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar: Cool Morning Bath

oils pastel sketch of cat
“Cool Morning Bath”, oil pastel, 5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Mimi twisted and turned in the diffuse morning light at the door, all those delicate shades reflecting warmer on the floor, cooler on her, but still all in greens and blues and a very pale yellow, the light swirling around her. I liked this sketch a lot a year ago when I painted it in 2013, and I like it even more every time I look at it.

Oil pastel again, for the strength of colors and the texture, but here the delicacy of the mixed pale yellows, greens and blues carries the idea of cool winter morning light that I wanted, the shadows deeper and just a bit warmer, Mimi’s black fur turned blue and green in all the reflections. Mimi, so inspiring!

ABOUT MY WORK IN OIL PASTEL

I’ve been working out this style now following Two Cats After van Gogh. I traveled with a friend in April 2012 to see the “Van Gogh Up Close” exhibit. All the way home on the Megabus I remembered the colors and shapes and textures, and wanted to work the same energy and form I saw in his brush strokes, visualizing oil pastel to layer and blend the strokes as an experiment. Arriving home in Pittsburgh just a few hours later I saw Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine, just quietly hanging together on the landing, Giuseppe sitting upright, Sunshine loafing, and visualized exactly what I would sketch, and posted Two Cats After van Gogh as my daily sketch that very day.

After seeing so many van Gogh paintings up close in the exhibit my goals in working “after van Gogh”, or in the style of van Gogh, are to be aware of the colors he used, and why, and to use the textures to build the image, so that every color and stroke, and the shape, direction and energy of the strokes, would be important to the painting. Like poetry, nothing is extra, nothing is wasted.

Mimi is the subject of another oil pastel, In Window Light, and also participates in yet another oil pastel with Mewsette, Kitty Spoons.

You can see other oil pastels in Two Cats After van Gogh and you can also see other feline artwork in the following galleries:

A New Member Thank You

oils pastel sketch of cat
“Cool Morning Bath”, oil pastel, 5″ x 7″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

You can get a free matted print when you register for an account on Portraits of Animals.

Register for an account on Portraits of Animals and get a free double-matted print of “Winter Sunbath” or choose from several other sketches, paintings or photos of cats and other subjects.

The New Member print is a signed digital print of “Cool Morning Bath”. This print is 5 x 7 double matted to fit an 8 x 10 frame.

This print is only available as a new member gift during this month while it’s the featured artwork and desktop calendar, so make sure you sign up before the end of the month!

Or purchase the original or a different print or item

I also offer a variety of digital and canvas prints, find this on Portraits of Animals.

Greeting Cards

“Cool Morning Bath” can be found in two of my sets of cards.

Gift Items

“Cool Morning Bath” is included in the art on my “Winter Cats” Cube Keepsake.

“Cool Morning Bath” is also one of the many gift bag choices, printed on a blue bag.

If you’d like to request something special you can email me or comment when you order.


This month’s desktop calendar

If these sizes don’t work for your device, or if you have problems, please let me know. Often I can troubleshoot the reason an image won’t download or won’t load on your device, but if I just can’t figure it out I can just email it to you and hope that works.

How to download and use your desktop calendar

  1. Click on one of the images below that matches the dimensions of your monitor to open the image in a new page.
  2. For desktop computers and laptops, right-click on that image and on a desktop computer choose “save as desktop wallpaper” or “save as background” or whichever option your operating system gives you to be able to do this. You may also simply save it to your hard drive and set it as your background from there.
  3. For mobile devices, press on the image to bring up a menu and choose “open in new window”. Go to that window and press until a menu appears and choose as “set as wallpaper” or “set as lock screen” or whatever you’d like—this is slightly different on all devices.

Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

Desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.

. . .

Square monitors and screens

Desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.
Desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.

. . .

Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.
Desktop calendar, 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.

. . .

Cell Phones and Smartphones

Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones.
Desktop calendar, for 400 x 712 for mobile phones.

Take a look at other featured artwork and desktop calendar posts.

Each month I feature a piece of feline artwork from the archives to the present day, discuss its history and process, and set it up as a free downloadable desktop calendar for just about every electronic device available.


Click here to see daily sketches, click here to see daily photographs

click here to see other artwork featured on The Creative Cat

or visit Fine Art and Portraiture on my main website.


"Feline Style Sampler" book of sketches and portraits.

A collection of 34 images of feline artwork

Feline Style Sampler

Daily sketches, illustrations, commissioned portraits all in a small coil-bound gift book.

Click here or on the image to read more or find it on Portraits of Animals.



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.


Subscribe to my e-newsletter

Subscribe to The Creative Cat Preview E-newsletter.


© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

Weekly schedule of features:

Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life

Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters

Tuesday: Rescue Stories

Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork

Thursday: New Merchandise

Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy

Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats

And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!

 
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Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

4 thoughts on “January Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar: Cool Morning Bath

  • I love this painting of Mimi. The colors are so calming and you definitely capture the essence of Van Gogh. So lovely!

    Thank you for visiting our blog this morning. I am glad you enjoyed the post. I wish you a very happy and healthy 2018!

    Reply
    • Thank you so much! Calming, happy, that’s the idea. This year I may try to translate my connection into acrylic paint, but I love my oil pastels.

      I am hoping this year will have more time to visit and actually comment on the blogs I read, so you may not have seen the last of me 🙂 .

      Reply

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