Daily Sketch: Two Cats After van Gogh
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cats, daily sketch, giuseppe, mr. sunshine | Tags: cat art, cat sketches, cats, colorful cat, oil pastel, oil pastel sketch of cat, van gogh style 4 Comments
Two Cats After van Gogh, oil pastel © B.E. Kazmarski
I am channeling Vincent van Gogh tonight, trying to work the same energy and form I see in his brush strokes. I can layer with oil pastel, but can’t apply or build up the thickness of medium that can be accomplished with paint; this sketch is also quite small, about 6″ x 5″, so I can’t work all the little strokes in as I’d like, but perhaps I’ll actually try this on canvas at some point, and something a little bigger.
It’s Giuseppe and Mr. Sunshine, just quietly hanging together on the landing, Giuseppe sitting upright, Sunshine loafing. I know they are both aware of me because several ears are turned my way, yet they have no intention of giving me the time of day or anything else by turning to look at me.
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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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Kelly’s Sunbath
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: cat photographs, cats, daily photo, kelly, photographs, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat photographs, cats, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat 4 Comments
Kelly deep cleans her paw.
Kelly is inspired by the warm evening sun to have a bath. Everything inspires Kelly to have a bath! I was waiting for her to sit up so the sun could highlight her outline, imagining how lovely that would look on her slender and graceful frame, light shining through her ears, perhaps catching her whiskers…
But Kelly had other ideas and sitting for a photo was not one of them since she never stopped bathing no matter what I did. Apparently that front paw, and the other front paw, and her face, and her shoulders were all critically soiled and needed to be cleaned, deeply and without pause. The first time I called out her name and waved a toy she looked at me quickly, then not again. Perhaps her expression below might give a bit of enlightenment about how Kelly feels about being interrupted at her bath.
Kelly pauses from her bath.
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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 purchasing one as a print, or to use in a print or internet publication.
Portrait “In the Sink”: Why Not?
Posted: April 11, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, feline artwork, grief, pastel, pet portrait, portrait, spare kitty room | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, pet portrait, portrait, portrait of cat in sink 5 Comments
Madison in the Sink, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski
Yes, he’s really in the sink! I’m so pleased with this pose.
When I work with a customer for a portrait, I ask them what comes to mind when they think about their animal companion. I advise them to choose a pose and setting as close to that visual as we can devise, using my own portraits as examples. It’s nice to have a formal setting where we can see every stripe and spot and whisker and sometimes this is entirely appropriate depending on the subject’s personality, but if they had a cute or quirky habit that can be illustrated into a portrait, we should do it!
Madison’s person is the person I grew up next door to, but haven’t seen in years after she moved away for employment and then my mother moved out of her house and I sold it. We reconnected and managed to get our mothers together for one last visit before each fell too deep into dementia to travel around.
She had also told me she would bring photos of Madison and that she’s like to have me do his portrait. How wonderful to find out she’s just as much an “animal person” as me.
I always let my customer make the decisions for the portrait, but if I see a good photo I’ll put in my vote without hesitation. He looked so natural in the sink and I loved his expression. “Oh, he was always in that sink!” she remarked. So here he is.
She lost Madison, who was her first cat, to diabetes at only eight years old. She didn’t have too many photos, but this pose was definitely a winner! Not just because he’s cute in the sink, although he is, but also because it will make her laugh when she looks at it, and what better healing for the grief of loss than to remember with a smile. I’m so glad to know that another person, a special friend, has a portrait that shows their animal companion as they want to remember them.
Close-up of Madison
Animal fur is different from human skin, and because of texture and pattern it looks different in every photo you’ll see. In each of Madison’s photos, the details of his face were lighter or darker, the area on his chest had a collar and tag in one photo and not in another. These are common things to work around, and from both experience and real life I can fill in the details. It just so happens that I am fostering a big tabby cat who looks so much like Madison and has been a great model, and who came in just as I was finishing, that it must have been meant to be!
What I always do in building a subject, especially one I never met, is to work from the photos until I feel that I know my subject and the photos start to get in the way. Then I put them away and work with nothing but what I see with my creative eye. That’s when the essence of the personality is instilled in the portrait, and every time I’m amazed at what’s taken life on the paper. And I know by the reaction of the person who’s come to look at the work.
I never delude myself to think that a portrait can take the place of a real live animal, but it can certainly help with grief. Through the years, many customers have contacted me to let me know how much it means to have the portrait in their home, that they greet the portrait or talk to it, or visit it when they are feeling overwhelmed with loss, even that other cats have reacted to it.
The portraits work for me. I have several of my own to visit.
But on a lighter note, here is a detail shot of the faucet. All that illustration experience really paid off.
Detail of faucet, why not?
Take a look at other portraits and read other stories
Read articles here on The Creative Cat featuring current and past commissioned portraits.
Read about how I create commissioned portraits.
Commissioned Cat Portraits |
Commissioned Dog Portraits |
Visit my website to see portraits of my cats, commissioned cats, commissioned dogs, people and a demonstration of how I put a portrait together from photos.
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.
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