Thursday, March 28, 2024
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June Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar: “In Afternoon Sun”

ink sketch of two cats
“In Afternoon Sun”, ink brush pen and watercolor, 8″ x 10″ © Bernadette E. Kazmarski

For me June is a celebration of sunlight, and the more the better. Add in all those green leaves on the hillsides all around me—and on my own trees right outside my windows—and that’s what I think of for this month. Even though I try to mix up the media each month I really wanted a watercolor, so after narrowing my choices down to about six I debated for days and am very happy I chose “In Afternoon Sun”, featuring Mewsette and Mimi at my studio window from 2012, much as we are today, though. The rich black in of my brush pen describes their highlighted silhouettes just the same, and spatters of watercolor capture the leaves outside in sun and shadow.

Here’s what I had to say from 2012:

Mimi enjoys her daily sunbath while Mewsette watches the birds from my studio window on the second floor.

One more experiment with this brush pen, partly just because it was there. I love it when the cats are partly lit by sunshine, and dramatically. Here it pours in the window from nearly directly above, just enough to highlight them where they are near the window but leaving the rest in silhouette.

I didn’t want to leave out their mahogany highlights, so I’ve added those. Because the second floor window looks right out into a maple tree from this angle, I wanted to catch the dappled and speckled effect with watercolors. Not sure how well I like the speckles, perhaps I’ll try a bigger brush next time to get bigger blotches. And the paper buckled in that odd darker area above Mewsette, common with watercolors.

Initially I wasn’t sure about the speckles and droplets in the background, but in time I came to like them very much; I think they truly capture the fluttering sparkling effect of the sun on the leaves in the maple tree, and I like how their random shapes and patterning contrast with the very stylized sketch of Mewsette and Mimi. It was another where I sketches the cats and really liked how they turned out, but was frightened I’d screw the whole thing up if I spattered on the background as I was envisioning. Practicing art gives me many gifts, and the courage to take risks is one of them.

. . . . . . .

black cat with garden flag
Mimi poses with her favorite design, featuring her, of course.

Where to find this art

I’ve been surprised at the popularity of this sketch, both on its own and on products, like keepsake boxes, which I’ll be producing again soon. It was such a popular garden flag, in part because of the two black cats, that I’ve completely sold out.

But I do have prints in various sizes and styles in my Etsy shop.


This month’s desktop calendar

I’ve worked this image into a desktop calendar for you to enjoy and use for the entire month. Looking at the downloads from previous months and averaging out which dimensions fit which devices, I have reduced the number of variations from 12 to three. It was very time-consuming to create all the variations with new devices arriving all the time, so I have one for horizontal monitors/screens, one for square monitors/screens, and one that should fit the dimensions of nearly all mobile devices.

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, download the image to your gallery then choose it as your wallpaper—this is slightly different on all devices.

Horizontal and HD monitors and screens

"In Afternoon Sun" desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.
“In Afternoon Sun” desktop calendar 2560 x 1440 for HD and wide screens.

. . .

Square monitors and screens

"In Afternoon Sun" desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.
“In Afternoon Sun” desktop calendar, 1280 x 1024 for square and laptop monitors.

. . .

Small Mobile Devices and Tablets

"In Afternoon Sun" desktop calendar, for 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.
“In Afternoon Sun” desktop calendar, for 600 x 800 for iPad, Kindle and other readers.

Click here to subscribe to The Creative Cat on your Kindle.

. . .

Cell Phones and Smartphones

"In Afternoon Sun" desktop calendar, for 600 x 800 for mobile phones and Smartphones.
“In Afternoon Sun” desktop calendar, for 600 x 800 for mobile phones and Smartphones.

 


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.

If you are interested in a print of this image, check my Etsy shop 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

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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile 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.


© 2015 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski

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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.

One thought on “June Featured Artwork and Desktop Calendar: “In Afternoon Sun”

  • Lovely image of the girls for your June calendar 🙂
    Nice to see Charm’s kitties growing and getting adopted.
    We purr they all get homes,Charm too!
    Purrs Georgia and Julie,
    Treasure and JJ

    Reply

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