Kelly in Forget-me-nots
Posted: May 3, 2012 Filed under: cat photographs, cats, daily photo, kelly, photographs, senior cats, spring, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cat with flowers, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat 16 Comments
Kelly in forget-me-nots.
Kelly has been stepping out into the back yard with me now and then, even asking at the door to go out. She’s never shown any interest in the 15 years she’s been with me until this spring, and I can’t help but think she associates the outdoors, and the spring forget-me-nots, with Cookie, as I do. Kelly is now the lone senior cat, and she’s very lonely without an older kitty to cuddle with and protect her; she’s a little intimidated by the gregarious black cats. Observing what she does, I think she’s looking for and communing with Cookie, again, as I do.
This is a kind of an odd angle—I had my zoom lens as I’d been photographing details of forget-me-nots and buttercups together and the cranesbill geraniums and columbines with raindrops from last night’s storms. Kelly’s a little foreshortened, but it’s a good view of her face and those brilliant green eyes; even without the reflection of lush vegetation, Kelly’s eyes are like gems. It’s hard to believe she is 18 this year because she is still active, lithe and graceful, and because she was the youngest for 11 years I still think of her as the little one.
Read Kelly’s story in five parts: A Little Bit About Kelly.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Daily Sketch: Kelly on the Windowsill
Posted: April 29, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cats, daily sketch, kelly, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat art, cat sketches, cats, charcoal sketch, ink and watercolor, sketch of cat, watercolor, watercolor pencil 8 Comments
Kelly on the Windowsill, ink and watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski
Kelly enjoys the sun on her back on the bathroom windowsill, and also likely the reflected heat from the deck roof, just below. It’s not all that warm, but just warm enough to have the windows open in mid-afternoon. The pussy willow is right outside the window and the dappled leaves were charming, and the blue sky beyond.
Another combination of media that I enjoy, ink and watercolor. In this case I did the ink sketch first, then scribbled into it with watercolor pencil. The watercolor pencil is a two-part technique, first the drawing, then the watering. In this case I knew I’d want to leave some of my sketching lines and in other cases I wanted to obliterate them.
In other cases, such as the sky and the wall beneath her, I wanted both and I was very pleased with what happened when I just brushed a water-filled brush over my lines. I could achieve a multitude of techniques this way, with just random washes in the sky where I used the brush on its side, but patterned washes in the shadow on the wall where I used the tip of the brush (that’s a white sable no. 4 round, students, you know who you are) in straight parallel lines running through the angled watercolor pencil lines in green and blue.
This is the first time I’ve used this new set of watercolor pencils, Prismacolor 12-color set water-soluble colored pencils. The Derwent set had an excellent reputation, but I found them to be kind of weak in color, especially the darks, once I got the washes on it. I had also used them for a huge illustration for a sign I just finished and had to go over and over areas in order to get them as dark as I wanted, which took away from the feeling of freehand sketching.
In the Prismacolor set, the colors dissolved and blended easily though I’m not sure why the dark green in the leaves did not; it did where I used it in Kelly’s shadows. I had wanted to brush the two greens together to look more random and leafy.
I should have done some color test swatches with the pencils before I began to be sure what shades they would end up. The sky and the shadow on the windowsill behind Kelly are two different shades of blue, but they certainly don’t look like it and kind of blend together.
But so far, I like this set much better than the other two.
________________________
Click here to see other daily sketches, and for a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Daily Sketches” section.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Sophie in Evening Contemplation
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: cat photographs, cats, daily photo, photographs, senior cats, sophie, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cat still life, cat with curtain, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography 1 Comment
Sophie in Evening Contemplation.
Just a nice photo of Sophie from long ago which I desaturated and applied a diffuse glow filter and a violet photo filter. Sophie knew just what to do with a lace curtain.
And now the purple dusk of twilight time steals across the meadows of my heart…
From “Stardust”, Hoagy Carmichael, Mithcell Parish.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Kelly With Grapes and Apples
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: cat photographs, cats, daily photo, kelly, photographs, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cat still life, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat Leave a comment
Another Kelly Still Life.
Kelly is on a roll with these late afternoon baths on the cabinet in front of the window. She is lovely in all her poses, long legs dancing around, tail curving gracefully, her very shape a focal point.
Here I really did try to get one of her similar to Kelly with Squashes and perhaps even Kelly with Apples and Scale, prowling around the kitchen with my camera to get just the right angle. Because it’s not just the shot but what’s in the background and I really didn’t want my crusty ancient refrigerator with all the refrigerator magnets, or the cars parked on the street seen through the window, and the sun had to be shining on the green compote with the fruit, and shadows had to fall across the wood, but mostly Kelly had to be at the right angle to the sun, in one of her interesting and elegant shapes, partly in silhouette and partly illuminated. And the center of my kitchen is dominated by the big white cabinet and a table and chairs so I have a little path and can’t quickly get from here to there to catch Kelly in a classic pose as she twirls or my movements startle her. And then one of the other cats wants in the still life and it all falls apart. So if anyone finds it difficult to get interesting photos of their cat, they are absolutely correct, it’s often nearly impossible, but very much worth it for one good shot.
I couldn’t get the sideways angle I wanted, so I took one from above because the scene was actually quite interesting from my viewpoint. I am not this tall. I held the camera (that big DSLR) above my head, pointed, let it self-focus and hoped for the best. It’s nice.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Did I Hear There Was Milk? 2011
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat painting, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, feline artwork, kelly, photographs, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, felines, pet photography, photography, photoshop effects, tortoiseshell cat 8 Comments
Graceful Kelly
Funny, when I looked at this photo the first thing I thought was, “If I saw Kelly like this today, this would be a daily sketch.” Aha, I see a little farther into this that I was getting the daily sketch urge this far back in 2011, yet it took me until December to actually get around to it. Glad I did. As usual, I have a cat to thank for one of my creative efforts.
Kelly shapes herself into a graceful curve in mid-bath as I open the refrigerator door.
I don’t give my cats milk very often, but Kelly gets on these kicks where she demands it whenever I open the refrigerator door. I don’t usually give it to her, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask because every now and then, on my silly whim, out comes the little milk dish and Kelly gets a treat.
But Kelly is just so pretty here bathing gracefully in front of the plants. In fact, Kelly is graceful no matter what she does.
And I think it may be time for me to grab that sketchbook as often as the camera since I’ve been visualizing sketches and paintings in greater detail every day. I used to sketch something each day, often it was my cats though it might be an interior scene or something in my yard, usually in pencil, but sometimes in other media, just to keep my fingers in the mix. So much has happened in the last few months it’s been difficult to focus on quick sketches, which demand more attention than larger works, though for shorter periods of time.
So I decided to use a little help from PhotoShop to see what Kelly would look like in a rough, impressionistic sketch. I used the same photo as above, applied the “dry brush” filter and made the brush strokes fairly large. But the filters in PhotoShop don’t produce a realistic effect. If I was teaching I would grade the products of PS filters around the mid-range, but then it’s a computer making the decisions, and creative effort is one area of human endeavor where a computer will never produce work as individual and insightful as a human being.
For instance, I work in pastel, but I’ve never seen anyone produce a pastel sketch or painting anything like what PS produces with its “rough pastels” filter, but the “dry brush” filter is somewhat like what I’d visualize in pastel. But it looked a little dull so I also had to fool around with the contrast and brightness, and I also added a 35% deep yellow “photo filter” to warm it up a bit.
Still, I want highlights and deep rich areas, and I want to see orange in Kelly and green in the plants and it just wasn’t happening, even when I went back and adjusted the original photo. I think I’d also take the red from the medallion at the top and from the bricks and add it elsewhere in the painting so everything wasn’t in basic earth tones. Those are the artistic judgments I’d make before I even started, and it never ceases to amaze me how far I wander from my reference images while painting, and yet the finished painting is perfectly acceptable. Guess I’d better get out the pastels. In the time I’d spent on this I could have had a passable sketch done! But still, this gets the little painterly cells firing in my brain. And right now Kelly is over there meowing for her dinner, so I’d better get to it.
Yes, I’d better get to it!
A painterly version of the same scene.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Tortie Girls Block Prints in Black with Red
Posted: April 26, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cats, cookie, feline artwork, kelly, linoleum block print, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: black and red, block print, cat artwork, cats, feline artwork, linoleum block prints, tortoiseshell cat 2 Comments
The Roundest Eyes, black ink in rice paper, red mat, black frame, 12" x 16"
What enchanted me first about block prints, and what I wanted most to see when I began creating with them, was the clarity of black ink on white rice paper. While I often use other colors and types and even prints of paper, the black on white is what I usually return to.
Even when the image is my tortie girls, usually also tinted with oranges and yellows and green for their eyes, pink for nose as I had designed. When I initially print them they are that familiar black on white, and all the cuts and trims I made on the surface of the block to create their image makes me smile as I remember designing the prints and cutting the blocks. The color completes the design, but I always save a few prints back to leave in black on white.
And when I was studying Japanese block prints and other similar styles of art from eastern countries a certain shade of red often seemed to accompany them, and it still seems appropriate, so I include that rich red mat with a black frame to complete the color scheme.
Each image is 8″ x 12″, signed and numbered, with acid-free rich red mat. Frame is 12″ x 16″ black matte-finish wood frame 3/4″ wide and 1-1/4″ deep, almost like a box with the print on the top.
“The Roundest Eyes” (at top)
Sometimes when I look at Kelly the only feature I can distinguish in all those tortie markings is her extremely round eyes. Find this print in my Etsy shop.
“The Goddess” (below)
Well, everyone knows a fat cat who knows she’s beautiful, and Cookie would tell you that a woman with a round shape was once most desirable and an object of worship. That’s why I call her “The Goddess”. Find this print in my Etsy shop.
The Goddess, black ink on rice paper, red mat, black frame, 12" x 16.
The Roundest Eyes, hand colored.
And the usual colors
You can also find the hand-colored prints in my Etsy shop, though they have different mats to coordinate with the hand-coloring, and a slightly larger frame. Find the girls in my Etsy shop under “Prints”.
I have also printed the girls on white t-shirts. You can also find these in my Etsy shop under T-shirts.
I also occasionally have other items, usually textiles, printed with the tortie girls. In the past I’ve had curtains, placemats, tablecloths and runners, and I’ve been working on those at the same time as these prints. You’ll see them soon.
Awakening, matted and framed, linoleum block print © B.E. Kazmarski
And another block print in black with a red mat
While I offer this print both black only and hand-colored, and in a variety of mat colors, I still like it best in black and white and it’s striking with the red mat. This combination was popular at Valentine’s Day so I’ve prepared a few more to have for any time of the year. Read about “Awakening” or find it on Etsy.
About Block Printing
I really enjoy working in this medium and I can free myself from the traditional media and a greater realism in rendering. Linoleum block printing is a technique wherein the artist carves the surface of a piece of artist’s linoleum, leaving raised areas which will become the image. Ink is rolled onto these raised areas, then a piece of paper is pressed against the block and when it’s lifted away the ink remains, leaving the image on the paper.
The resulting work isn’t a one-time thing, but meant to be printed multiple times–and I do, on just about anything I can think of. They all start out on paper, but they’ve been printed on t-shirts and dresses and aprons and curtains, to name a few things. I will sometimes add color to them with watercolor or dyes to give them extra interest. The resulting work, even though they are all printed from the same block, is a unique print, still handmade by the artist.
Because of the nature of the medium, each print is unique and ink coverage is not always perfect. Most artists consider this random activity to be part of the process of creating an individualized print, and along with the hand-painting makes a unique work of art.
—————————————
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Daily Sketch: Kelly in Silhouette
Posted: April 24, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cats, daily sketch, kelly, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat art, cat outline, cat sketches, cats, charcoal sketch, conte sketch, sketch of cat Leave a comment
Kelly in Silhouette, conté © B.E. Kazmarski
Kelly is having a good bath in the sun while shadows and reflections fall all around her from the light streaming in the window. In the strong light she was in silhouette but highlighted by the light on her fur. What better than the depth of charcoal and the strong natural red of conté? A quick outline was all I got before she decided I should feed her and she left her bath and came to me, purring. I finished the rest from memory.
Wish I’d grabbed my pastels before I saw her and ran back to my desk where I keep my art materials. I had headed into the kitchen for a lemonade and found her happily bathing in the sun. Often, the sun falls the same way and they will spend a few days in a certain pattern. Perhaps I can catch her another day.
________________________
Click here to see other daily sketches, and for a gallery of the ones available for sale, visit my Etsy shop in the “Daily Sketches” section.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Suddenly Spring: 2011
Posted: April 23, 2012 Filed under: backyard, backyard wildlife habitat, cat photographs, cats, cookie, spring, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, senior cats, tortoiseshell cat 6 Comments
Cookie is in the green.
Last year, April 23 was a rainy day just like today, but the forget-me-nots were just getting started. I’ve been looking forward to this picture of Cookie, along with the Queen Bee, below, on the picnic table.
Cookie sits amid the sprouting grass and forget-me-nots, deciding where in the yard to explore first.
Just a week ago Cookie’s speckled tortie coat still blended into the background of dormant grass, leaves and twigs and I would often lose track of her when she stood still. Now I have no problem at all as everything has greened up in just the past week and her camouflage has lost its effectiveness.
We’ve been checking the progress on what we planted in the garden last month, and this week the peas finally began sprouting, and while the spinach and lettuce had sent up a few scouts earlier they sprouted in earnest this week and began to grow. The asparagus sent up some spears and the violets, along with the forget-me-nots, added some color to the greenery. Cookie and I are glad our back yard is finally starting to look familiar, and it’s warm enough to take our walk!
And Cookie got to take a little rest on our picnic table, one of her favorite spots. Now it’s in dappled sun but when the trees leaf out it’s pretty much in shade. We took a little time to remember Namir; the three of us spent quite a few mornings and afternoons out there, and the picnic table was always a favorite spot for observation.
And with that, it’s officially the outdoor season.
Cookie is ready to supervise my work.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Springtime Snack
Posted: April 20, 2012 Filed under: cat behavior, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, kelly, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat eating grass, cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat 2 Comments
Kelly enjoys a snack.
It has barely sprouted and it’s still very thin, but Kelly is too happy about her greens to wait for them to grow bigger. She is so excited that she talks about it, leaps onto the cabinet, talks some more, eats a bit, goes back to the table, then does the whole thing all over again.
The others have been nibbling as well, but they seem to understand Kelly has first dibs on it.
________________________________
Unless I have linked the photo to something else, which is rare with daily photos, you can click the photo to see a larger version. I save them at 1000 pixels maximum dimension, and at that size the photos are nearly twice the dimension and you can see more detail in many of the photos I post. Please remember if you download or share, my name and the link back to the original photo should always appear with it.
To see more daily photos go to “Daily Images” in the menu and choose “All Photos” or any other category.
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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
El Puzzle Natural, a New Friend from Spain: 2011
Posted: April 18, 2012 Filed under: animal artists and illustrators, animal artwork, animal welfare, cat artwork, cats, cookie, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: animal welfare, cats, feral cats in spain, japanese earthquake, jardinets dels gats, spanish cats 2 Comments
Chief Inspector Llum
Last year at this time we met a wonderful new friend—from Spain! A cat rescuer in Barcelona ordered my Tortie Girls tees to benefit animals affected in the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, and I’ve been following her blog and the news on feline rescue on the streets of Barcelona since then. Here are her two cats, who happily received the t-shirts and inspected the boxes! Click the link at the end to visit her blog today.
Thanks to “The Goddess” through sales of the Tortie Girls tees to benefit Japanese animals after the earthquake and tsunami, we met a new friend and a wonderful connection with a group of people who love and assist animals in Barcelona, Spain.
Before the internet allowed greater communication, many of us who rescued animals and worked with animal welfare felt isolated and even overwhelmed in our concerns for animals, not realizing how much work was being done by hundreds, thousands, millions of caring people even in our own towns and cities. Now, even though we can’t always speak the same language, we can form a bond with people all over the world who love animals and do the same work as we do in rescuing stray animals, running spay and neuter clinics to prevent overpopulation, educating owners about veterinary care and lobbying for legislation to see that all animals are protected from abuse and neglect and receive a minimum of care that assures their health.
It’s so exciting to see this animal welfare revolution happening all over the world! Who knew that all the work everyone had done in cities all over in decades past sowed the seeds for today’s animal welfare organizations in nearly every country across the globe?
Kiara and Llum checking work
And Rosa, from Barcelona, Spain, bought tee shirts from me in Carnegie, PA, USA to benefit animals in northern Japan. How cool is that?!
She was so excited about them that she composed a blog post, Camisetas fantásticas con las que ayudas al Animal Refuge Kansai, including photos of her own cats, Llum and Kiara, helping to open the package and inspect the contents. The two photos used in this post are her two cats, used with permission.
She also covers many animal-oriented events and stories of interest in her city—most recently she has an article from her visit to the 29th Annual Barcelona International Comic Fair which this year featured felines in comics and Jardinet dels Gats, an organization that has been assisting feral cats in Barcelona since 2005.
Visit her blog: El Puzzle Natural:Flores de Bach,Animales y Cia
And I apologize to Rosa for taking so long to post this—I had intended to translate a few things but in the interests of time decided to just let Google do a basic translation.
Here’s a link to the entire blog in Google translation
And we think Tortitude is understood in any language!
————————————
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used in any way without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
The Creative Cat 