The Artist’s Life: Sold Original, “Sunday Morning,” and That Exhibit

January 29, 2023January 29, 2023 Bernadette

painting on wall — The sold original, “Sunday Morning,” on the wall.

You may have noticed one of the paintings I shared in my last Artist’s Life post, “Sunday Morning,” a sold original. The woman who purchased it sent this photo of it on the wall and it looks like a catalog photo, it matched everything so well. Plus hanging art around my home, and recent exhibits.

About “Sunday Morning”

Most of the time I never see my original art after I sell it, and that’s okay. I have prints and I have the digital files, and as I’ve said before I need to let them go before I can create more. It’s just as much a joy when a painting goes to a good, loving him as it is when one of my foster cats do. But there’s a part of me in each one of them and it’s great to see them again in a new space. Also, it gives me a new perspective on my art when I see it in a new space outside of my crowded little house.

pastel painting of cat on bed — “Sunday Morning”, pastel on canson paper, 19″ x 26″ © B.E. Kazmarski

She purchased “Sunday Morning,” a pastel that I painted back in 1989, which I recently featured here. It was an experimental sketch in a style I wanted to work out, and mostly done from life, which I’d never done before at that time. I had recently painted “Waiting for Mom” and was shocked at what I could produce, but I also wanted to loosen up from that photorealistic style and get a little Impressionism in there. So that morning when I saw Moses on the bed (she never did that, sleeping out in the open!) I ran and got my (film) camera and took photos for posterity and reference, but then I decided to work up a painting right then and there, got some paper and a drawing board and my pastels and got to work.

“You have a real piece of my history! You know Moses was my ‘first feral’ rescue, before I even knew what a feral was. That’s a real connection too,” I emailed her when I received her order. She’s also been TNRing cats in her neighborhood and has had them living outdoors in her yard for years. She’s always one to support me when I do a big TNR project, and I’ve been loaning her my traps to trap this mom and litter of kittens in her yard.

It’s quite a big pastel sketch, 19″ x 26″, with a big mat around it in a 30″ x 36″ frame. I was doing crazy things with mats in the early 90s, and this one is 5″ wide and has colors inlaid on one layer and a top mat in white with sections cut out to show what was underneath. This painting is too big for any other spot in my house so it was hanging in my studio where the ceilings are 10 feet high for nearly all the years I’ve lived here, so Moses could watch over me as I worked up there.

I never really promoted it because I had been sharing it in so many ways for so many years.

Aside from “Sunday Morning” I have a lot of my early works in there, both large and small, all media. They were the ones in which I felt I’d reached a milestone in the development of my skills and my insights to create a visual work. They are not masterpieces, but they are the ones where I achieved a certain level in creating an image.

So now I have that 30″ x 36″ space where the painting was and I’m not sure what I want to put on that side of the room.

Rehanging my artwork around the house

Most of my artwork is hanging in my narrow and steep stairway, but it makes a great gallery! I can only fit a small portion of the wall in most of my photos, but you get the idea.

The nature and wildlife paintings are on the left. I also have a dozen or more hanging in my office right at the foot of the steps but they are spread around the room so difficult to photograph.

And prints of those paintings are on the right at the top, my feline block prints are at the bottom.

All my framed original feline artwork is in the kitchen.

Now I’m working things out between my studio and my bedroom. But it’s very gratifying to walk around my house and see my artwork, whether it’s originals or prints.

Cat Paintings in the “Warm in Winter” exhibit

two cat paintings — Two of my cat paintings were accepted into an exhibit.

I didn’t win any awards, but please visit the online exhibit, it’s absolutely beautiful, lots of cats and dogs and some really beautiful paintings. Click here to visit the organization website and see “Warm in Winter.”

Where to find this art

Click each image below to read more about it.

Chocolate Bath

Late Winter Sunbath

Sunday Morning

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If you’ve made it this far through all the art in this post, thanks for reading, and I’d like to share my January Creative Cat Preview Newsletter with special savings on original feline artwork, which is where my customer saw the painting she purchased. Click here to read more and take advantage of the savings. Also, sign up to receive the newsletter monthly or so, so that you can see what’s new before everyone else and have the first chance to purchase, and discounts on other items.

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.