A Gift for all Moms and Dads
Posted: May 3, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, cats, commissioned portrait, dog, dog portrait, feline artwork, original artwork, pastel, pastel painting, pet portrait, portrait, watercolor | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, pastel portraits, pet portrait, portrait, set of portraits, watercolor portraits 1 Comment
A Mother’s Day gift: Hobbes, pastel, 12″ x 15″, 2004 © B.E. Kazmarski
Did your parents pass on to you a love of animals? Did they decide one day you needed an animal companion of your own, starting you on a lifelong path of sharing your days with cats and dogs and birds and bunnies and ferrets and any other animal that came along?
Veronica’s Tulips, watercolor, 16″ x 23″, 2008 © B.E. Kazmarski
Thank those people who gave you this gift—and I’m loosely defining mother and father because sometimes the person who shared their love of animals with you was an aunt or uncle or grandparent, or even a neighbor who rescued cats or dogs. In everyone’s life is at least one special person who shared a love of animals, and in that person’s life there is often an animal companion who is or was very special to them. Read about Shadow, Casey and Ralph and a special Mother’s Day gift from 2006.
And thinking a little less conventionally, consider a piece of custom art that also includes an animal. For “Veronica’s Tulips”, right, this pet mom got the painting for herself, and wanted both flowers and, after a lifetime of rescued Schnauzers also wanted a Schnauzer in her painting, though not to represent any individual she had lived with. This was the very natural solution.
I’m offering 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or a commissioned portrait that is booked between now and Mother’s Day—and Father’s Day as well. Portraits take up to four weeks, especially with framing and then shipping, but we can work things out with certificates and portraits that are done some time in the next two months.
About Commissioned Portrait Gift Certificates
Sample Commissioned Portrait Certificate
The certificate itself is 8.5″ x 11″ and features a collage of portrait images with the recipient’s and giver’s names, printed on parchment cover stock. The whole thing is packaged in a pocket folder and includes a brochure, a letter from me to the recipient and several business cards.The certificate package can be easily mailed or wrapped as a gift and shipped directly to your recipient.
I can also make it downloadable if you’re in a hurry.
Portrait certificates are a minimum of $125.00 because that is the minimum cost of a portrait.
Certificates are good for up to one year after issue.
Mother’s Day Discounts in my Etsy Shop
Use MOTHERSPORTRAIT10 to receive 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait (we will discuss the portrait and I will give you an estimate).
Use MOTHERSDAY10 to receive 10% off the purchase of Mother’s Day gifts, which may include a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait.
Fred and Simba © B.E. Kazmarski
Father’s Day Discounts in my Etsy Shop
Think guys aren’t cat daddies? I’ll be telling more about Fred and Simba, at left, in a few weeks, but trust me they aren’t the only cat and guy combinations around.
Use FATHERSPORTRAIT10 to receive 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait (we will discuss the portrait and I will give you an estimate).
Use FATHERSDAY10 to receive 10% off the purchase of Mother’s Day gifts, which may include a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait.
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.
Purchase a gift certificate for a commissioned portrait.
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.
Commissioned Cat Portraits |
Commissioned Dog Portraits |
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.
A Very Special Mother’s Day in 2006
Posted: May 2, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, cats, commissioned portrait, dog, dog portrait, feline artwork, original artwork, pastel, pastel painting, pet portrait, portrait, watercolor | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, pastel portraits, pet portrait, portrait, set of portraits, watercolor portraits, watercolors of cats 5 Comments
Shadow, Casey and Ralph, watercolor, 12" x 16", 2006 © B.E. Kazmarski
Several years ago, a couple who had each had me paint portraits of their cats Dusty and DeVille as gifts for each other decided they wanted to give her mother a portrait of her mother’s dog and two cats as a Mother’s Day gift. They all shared the same love for their animal companions, and Shadow, the dog, was growing older. All the animals were rescues, adopted from shelters.
Shadow's face; Shadow was black with a lot of mahogany in his fur.
The two went about sneaking photographs from her mother and mailing them to me. The very first portrait I had done for them was a watercolor of his cat Dusty and the second a pastel of her cat DeVille, but for this portrait they chose watercolor.
Casey's face, clear stripes and yellow eyes.
Most of my portraits are pastel but I enjoy the break when I the commission is a different medium. I looked forward to it, studying the photos and visualizing the colors and the brushes I’d use for fur and stripes and animal eyes and noses, seeing the brush strokes on the watercolor paper.
Ralph, deep orange and white, and a little timid.
They gave her the portrait in my studio
When portraits are gifts, I am rarely present for the giving but in this case they decided to present it here because they wanted her mother to meet me. She actually had no idea why she was coming to this stranger’s house, just appreciating the day out with her daughter and son-in-law.
I had the framed portrait on my easel in the corner covered with a silk scarf I keep for the occasion. This was several years ago and I now work upstairs, but I have always kept an easel in the corner of my “office” downstairs, the room intended to be a living room into which you enter, for presentation and display of current work. At the right time of day you can see right into the room so I’ve always been careful when people were coming to visit their portraits that they couldn’t see them before they even came into my house.
DeVille, pastel, 10" x 12", 2005 © B.E. Kazmarski
They introduced me and my household of cats, and we talked about our pets while we had snacks and iced tea. Then I slipped into the kitchen and they took over, leading their mother to the easel and letting her know the purpose of the visit, pulling the scarf off the portrait so she could see Shadow, Casey and Ralph. I re-entered the room; it was a wonderful moment to share with the three of them.
They were sure her mother would love a portrait of her companions, and I knew if her mother was anything like the couple I had gotten to know there was no better Mother’s Day gift—not only recognizing and sharing her mother’s love for her pets, but also the gift the daughter had obviously inherited from her mother, a loving and generous heart and compassion for people and animals.
Detail of DeVille.
A Mother’s Day Special, and Father’s Day too
Did your parents pass on to you a love of animals? Did they decide one day you needed an animal companion of your own, starting you on a lifelong path of sharing your days with cats and dogs and birds and bunnies and ferrets and any other animal that came along?
Thank those people who gave you this gift—and I’m loosely defining mother and father because sometimes the person who shared their love of animals with you was an aunt or uncle or grandparent, or even a neighbor who rescued cats or dogs. In everyone’s life is at least one special person who shared a love of animals, and in that person’s life there is often an animal companion who is or was very special to them.
I’m offering 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or a commissioned portrait that is booked between now and Mother’s Day—and Father’s Day as well. Portraits take up to four weeks, especially with framing and then shipping, but we can work things out with certificates and portraits that are done some time in the next two months.
About Commissioned Portrait Gift Certificates
Sample Commissioned Portrait Certificate
The certificate itself is 8.5″ x 11″ and features a collage of portrait images with the recipient’s and giver’s names, printed on parchment cover stock. The whole thing is packaged in a pocket folder and includes a brochure, a letter from me to the recipient and several business cards.The certificate package can be easily mailed or wrapped as a gift and shipped directly to your recipient.
I can also make it downloadable if you’re in a hurry.
Portrait certificates are a minimum of $125.00 because that is the minimum cost of a portrait.
Certificates are good for up to one year after issue.
Mother’s Day Discounts in my Etsy Shop
Use MOTHERSPORTRAIT10 to receive 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait (we will discuss the portrait and I will give you an estimate).
Use MOTHERSDAY10 to receive 10% off the purchase of Mother’s Day gifts, which may include a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait.
Father’s Day Discounts in my Etsy Shop
Use FATHERSPORTRAIT10 to receive 10% off the purchase of a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait (we will discuss the portrait and I will give you an estimate).
Use FATHERSDAY10 to receive 10% off the purchase of Mother’s Day gifts, which may include a portrait certificate or of the cost of a commissioned portrait.
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.
Purchase a gift certificate for a commissioned portrait.
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.
| Commissioned Cat Portraits |
Commissioned Dog Portraits |
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.
Kitties and Curtains and Watercolors
Posted: April 25, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, cats, commissioned portrait, feline artwork, great rescues calendar and gift book, great rescues families, pet portrait, portrait, watercolor | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, pet portrait, portrait, set of portraits, watercolor portraits, watercolors of cats 5 Comments
Buster and Kitty, watercolor, 4" x 5", 1995 © B.E. Kazmarski
Back when I was just beginning in animal portraiture a friend and fellow cat rescuer showed me photos of her cats, Buster and Kitty, and offered me prints in case I’d ever like to create paintings from any of them. Though I have difficulty just keeping up with my own household I won’t turn down photos of any cats, especially those in her lovely Victorian-themed apartment.
“Cats looking out windows” has always been a favorite theme of mine. Add the delicacy of sheer ruffled curtains and I’m totally hooked. It’s the whole scene I love, the moment, even the silly one of just seeing butts and tails on the windowsill and shadowed silhouettes through the curtain. Those memories are special, and even if we’re looking at others’ cats they still call to mind our own cats at the same moments.
I knew her cats and her apartment as she knew my cats and my home. We worked together and were also cat sitters for each other, and while my visit to her house was fairly simple with her two and then three cats, I had nine cats for her to feed and pet and entertain in my house.
She and her husband purchased a home and as I pondered what would be an appropriate housewarming gift for a friend I remembered the photos, especially those two of the kitties on the windowsills. I’d do a portrait! I remembered how she had loved the traditional features of that apartment, the oak parquet floors, big rooms and high ceilings, that wide traditional molding on the windows darkened with age. And of course she loved her cats, so the combination of the two was sure to be a winner.
But which photo? The photo with both cats didn’t show their faces, and while I do like unconventional poses and scenes for portraits I didn’t feel that was enough. The other was a typical posture for Buster with his legs stretched out and “looking at his toes”, and while I pondered how to fit Kitty in there from other photos I decided I’d rather not.
I’d do them both. Just two little paintings. That solved it.
Buster Lookin' at His Toes, watercolor, 4" x 5", 1995 © B.E. Kazmarski
I loved the sheer curtain and the traditional wooden windowsill, but rather than my usual pastel, I had been visualizing them in watercolor all along. I was pretty new to watercolor then, just about two years into it and not too many paintings yet, but I’d been studying quite a bit of other artists’ work. I could picture how I’d render the harder shadows and highlights on the wood, and knew it would carry the gauzy shadows on the curtain. The soft shadows on the walls would be a challenge, but the cats would be a joy—meeting my favorite subject in a different medium for once, like sharing a new experience with a friend.
They are matted and framed individually, but with the same mats and frames. Unlike most other portraits I feature, you are seeing these at about the actual size they were painted.
About the kitties
Kitty was a rather large and imperious long-haired black kitty they’d adopted from a shelter, and oh how I wanted a long-haired black kitty after meeting him! My black kitty Kublai was the love of my life, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a crush on another, even with Kitty’s, well, cattitude. He was okay, he never swatted me—but then I’d been well-trained by Sally, my white long-haired kitty, in the fine art of knowing when “happy happy purr purr” turned into “I’m totally done with this right now.”
Buster was but one kitten from many litters born to a cat in a trailer park who simply was never spayed. The fact that a neighbor was setting out antifreeze for them to drink neither inspired the cat’s owner to get the cat fixed nor to keep them all indoors and safe. Buster’s mom and dad had recently lost a kitten they’d adopted to feline leukemia, and Buster’s dad, wanting to save at least one kitten from death by antifreeze and help ease the grief of the loss, chose one tiny black and white kitten to take home. At first, he was ordered to take the kitten back, the loss was too soon, but within hours, reconsidering the possible fate of the little guy, Buster’s mom told him to go back and get him.
And Buster is also the January kitty in my Great Rescues Calendar and Gift Book. I hadn’t seen his mom for years when I began the book and wanted to use his portrait, then realized my photos from that era weren’t up to print quality and I’d have to rephotograph it. I had the chance to look her up and visit again (and, yes, I do have that photo of Buster and Ginger, they are on the list!).
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.
Purchase a gift certificate for a commissioned portrait.
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.
| Commissioned Cat Portraits
|
Commissioned Dog Portraits
|
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.
Scarlett and Melanie
Posted: April 18, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, cats, commissioned portrait, feline artwork, pencil, pet portrait, portrait | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, commissioned portrait, pencil portrait of two cats, pet portrait, portrait 6 Comments
Scarlett and Melanie, pencil, 18" x 30", pencil © B.E. Kazmarski
A full-color rendering that covers the entire ground—paper, canvas, etc.—is often what we think of when we envision a “portrait”, but less formal portraits in drawing media have been classics for centuries as well. Sometimes they are preferred, or they may simply be more affordable.
Or, as in the case of gray tabby sisters Scarlett and Melanie, the medium might also be most appropriate.
My second commissioned portrait, ever
This portrait was in the first group of commissioned portraits, way, way back at my beginnings so the photo quality is not as good as it could be; there is no shadow left and right, it’s only that the portrait is so wide at 30″ that I couldn’t avoid shadows left and right. In those days and still today, I take the final photos of a portrait right before I frame it, which is sometimes right before I hand it over to the customer. In the days before digital when we had to wait for film to come back, and in this early time when I wasn’t the most experienced photographer of art, I had to take the best guess when I photographed and hope I’d gotten it.
That major detail aside, Scarlett and Melanie were young gray tabby sisters, the only two children of a young couple who adored them completely. I met the couple at a cat show where they were stocking up on toys and treats for their girls and I was on my maiden voyage in promoting my portraiture to the feline community, at that point showing mostly my own personal portraits and a few of those early drawings I’d framed.
Deciding to use pencil for the portrait
Moses in the Sun, pencil © B.E. Kazmarski
I had a gray tabby named Moses who I’d sketched in pencil and while the full color, nearly full-size and realistic portraits caught their eye and brought them in to talk to me—a portrait of their girls? how exciting! they had to have one—it was the little pencil sketch of Moses that really convinced them.
Plus, they wanted a fairly large portrait to go over their fireplace, and had the idea of a long and narrow one to fill the space. In full color with two subjects, and then framing, that would be rather expensive even in those days. I have always charged less for monochromatic drawing media such as pencil, charcoal and ink simply because, while I may spend as much time in the planning as I do for a color portrait, I spend much less time in the actual rendering.
Sleeping Beauty, my Sally, pencil © B.E. Kazmarski
My love for drawing in pencil
I was also secretly glad because I have always been most confident in pencil. I often refer to it here as my “first and favorite medium” because I began drawing with my mother’s No. 2 pencils when I was very young, and when I returned to drawing in my early 30s at the very beginning of this career I again picked up a pencil and began drawing (read about Sally and “Sleeping Beauty”, my “first drawing”, which was also in my display that day). Even today, most often my daily sketches are in pencil because I can pick one up and begin to sketch as if the pencil itself is thinking for me. I think this was my second commissioned portrait, the other was pastel and went along fine, but I was still nervous at being able to perform and I just knew I could do it in pencil.
Performance anxiety aside, we were also considering two gray tabby cats, and what could be better for them than pencil? I could just picture it, and I think they could as well.
Planning the portrait
I visited them after the show to meet and photograph the girls and see their place, a nice, sunny newer condo with a great room and fireplace at one end, perfect for a portrait of Scarlett and Melanie. At that time, when portraits were just subject with no background, I literally had nothing in the background but the drawing surface and I often used colored drawing paper so I always matched the color to the subject. In this case I thought a color would be nice and suggested a pale blue, to which they agreed. When we estimated the size, however, the drawing would be wider than my largest sheet of drawing paper—no problem, I would use mat board, which had a laid finish much the same as my drawing paper, just a little coarser.
In the Bag, pencil © B.E. Kazmarski
And then positioning the girls—the possibilities were wide open. They were very active and playful, very social and we talked at length about what habits they would want to immortalize. Scarlett had a habit of playing the ceiling-stare game and was also always bobbing her nose around to get a good scent, usually in order to find th nearest catnip toy.
They had seen a sketch of my Sally in a paper bag and mentioned that Melanie LOVED paper bags and they even had a photo of her in one, but should they have something silly like this in a portrait? Sure, why not, portraits don’t have to be formal things, they need to be what you want to remember.
I remember doing a quick little rough layout of the two so they could see what I had in mind (don’t know where this is now) and determined they’d be darned near life size. The mats would be deeper shades of blue and black core mats, the ones that is black on the beveled edge, and the frame would be a particular walnut with a blue wash that I had used on one of my own paintings.
Detail of Melanie, with blue collar and green eyes.
In the detail above, you can see a rather hard shadow of Melanie’s head on the side of the bag; I have since learned not to be so literal with photos used in portraits. Today I’d either soften or eliminate this, but I wasn’t confident enough then to make changes that might look unnatural.
I completed the portrait and invited them to my “studio”, actually my living room at that time, to see their portrait. They excitedly approved, and then had one more request, could I add a little color for a particular reason? Since the girls were nearly identical, they kept two different color collars on them, Scarlett of course was red, and Melanie was blue (we did joke about a Union kitty since Melanie Wilkes was a Southern girl). Could I add just a little color to their collars just to make it clear which was whom? No problem, watercolor would take care of that. I added the color later, after they had left. Looking at it I decided it looked a little unbalanced now, and their eyes should have color as well. I called them with the idea and they agreed it would be fine.
Detail of Scarlett with red collar and green eyes.
I apologize for the quality of the detail shots; they are cropped out of the full portrait and are about as clear as they can be from scanning the print of the photo. In some cases I can scan the negative with better result, and if I manage to do so I’ll update the images and post an update to this post.
I have done a number of other pencil portraits as well, and you can find some of them by browsing at the links below. Pencil has always been difficult to photograph and only in the past year or two have I become at all proficient with lighting the paper to avoid shadows and flashed areas so I’m working on rephotographing all the ones I can. In the future I’ll feature those as well.
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.
Cookie as Photo Assistant: 2011
Posted: April 14, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, cat photographs, cats, cookie, daily photo, photographs, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat art, cat painting, cat photographs, cat sculpture, feline photographs, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat 2 Comments
Cookie, My Photography Assistant
Photographing framed artwork through the glass is a difficult proposition at best and not always successful, but a helpful tortie can check your angles and settings and add her magic to your skill.
Here you can clearly see Cookie’s black knee socks. I’ve always loved her black knee socks. She also has a saddle, which I’ve alternately compared to the stripes on a caterpillar. And her little fanny pack, carried under her belly, is clearly marked with her white patch. I’d better be careful, she’s watching me type this.
Why would I photograph art through the glass? Because the person who purchased it from me years ago, before I had the capacity to take adequate photos of my artwork for reproduction, temporarily loaned it back to me and I didn’t have the time to take the art out of the frame, then put it back in and repaper the back. Too many helpful paws in the house.
Cookie worked in this position for many years. Digging back through very old photos a few months ago I found the first one I took of Cookie being my art photo assistant, when she was about one year old and I had lights, reflectors and a tripod set up in my basement. I didn’t photograph through the glass but actually put the frame together without the glass and photographed the art, took it apart and placed the glass then finished it up. Here Cookie is checking the position of one of my lights.
Cookie my art assistant, at age one!
And here she was last summer when I photographed the black cat sculpture I’d done in college, after she’d been promoted to studio supervisor. I think she had a thing for lighting…
Cookie, as studio supervisor, tells me the lighting is all wrong.
But the day I took the top photo in April 2011 Cookie was really in a mood for strutting her stuff as I packed up the artwork and my camera, and was quick to point out that I hadn’t moved her table far enough away from the deck railing, uncertain of the balance of a 19-year-old cat. She apparently needs to walk all the way to the end of the railing at the other set of steps, turn around and come back and step down onto the swing and invite me to sit with her. Guess she showed me. Of course, I took her advice.
Cookie Walks the Plank
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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.
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.
Pensive Kelly
Posted: January 8, 2012 Filed under: animal artwork, cat photographs, cats, daily photo, kelly, linoleum block print, original artwork, pastel, photographs, senior cats, tortoiseshell cats | Tags: cat art, cat painting, linoleum block print, original pastel painting, pet photography, photography, tortoiseshell cat Leave a comment
Kelly ponders things by her favorite window.
Kelly’s tiny little face rests in deep thought as she sits in front of her favorite window on a winter afternoon.
I always associate this window with Kelly, even though she also spends time on the bathroom windowsill and the casement at the top of the stairs, and this year decided to visit my studio as I was working in there.
But since she began mingling with the house she’s been devoted to this side window with the bird feeders right outside and the lilacs where the birds perch and the butterflies visit. She was such an inspiration at this side window that I’ve done two pieces of artwork featuring her here.
Winter Window
I painted this in 2002 as a quick pastel while little Kelly was, again, pondering in front of the big north window on a winter afternoon.
Winter Window, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski
Kelly pauses in the stark pastel light of a winter afternoon through the big north window in my studio, absolutely still in contemplation as she watches birds flit about at the feeders or Buddy the squirrel making a fool of himself. Kelly is petite for an adult cat, making the window seem vast, and the light is so diffuse that nothing has a hard edge. It is a scene I remember even in the heat of summer.
It’s available matted and framed in my Etsy shop.
Kelly’s Morning Bath
And, of course, there’s Kelly at her morning bath.
Kelly's Morning Bath 1, linoleum block print © B.E. Kazmarski
Kelly gives herself a complete bath every morning after breakfast on the table in front of the window in my studio, her every move full of purpose and industry.
This print captures an autumn morning, when the leaves on my maple trees have colored and filter the sun, speckling the table with splashes of sun and shadow. I print this on various types of rice paper with leaves or flower parts embedded in shades of yellow, green or warm brown. You can always find a print or two in my Etsy shop.
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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.
Namir at the Window, Reprise
Posted: August 21, 2011 Filed under: animal artwork, cat artwork, feline artwork | Tags: acrylic painting, animal artwork, cat artwork, cat painting, cats, feline artwork 2 Comments
Namir at the Window, acrylic © B. E. Kazmarski
Now that I’m getting my studio in order, I’m also finding a few unfinished projects, so last night I decided to reacquaint myself with this painting and with acrylic paints and techniques.
Normally, I’m pretty linear with working on something, focusing on one clear idea at a time. When I’m learning something new I hit points where I’m not skilled enough to do something and need to either work it out there or outside of that piece, or just stop and let the lessons I’ve learned sink in and get back to it when I’m ready to move on. This is the third time I’ve worked on this and a fresh eye has led to a few decisions.
Last proof of painting from 2009.
I began this painting in January 2008 from photos I took of Namir in 2005, I think, soon after I’d gotten the acrylics, but hit a learning wall at one point and put it aside to work on commissions. I pulled it out again in April of 2009 when Namir, at 15 with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, was having increasing trouble with congestive heart failure, kidney failure and related health issues, and I know we didn’t have much time left. I wanted to work on the painting when he was still with me. He died in July 2009, and again I left it where it had been at that time.
Namir is gone but I love to remember him in any way I can. The area where I keep this windowbox is too shady for the colorful geraniums and petunias and marigolds I’d always grown in it, and the pleasant memory of him at the window with the flowers is a treasure to spend time with.
My changes this time
Where before I wanted to get the reflection in the window so it didn’t “t look like a big black hole in the middle of the painting”, get “a little more detail on the shutter on the right…”, I’ve decided there is too much background that isn’t necessary. I originally liked the “cottage-ish” look of the shutter and windowbox, but they aren’t interesting enough. If there was, or I could add, something of interest there, I’d do that, but I think what I’ll do instead is crop the painting, literally.
The cropped version.
I want it to show what I remember most and what I feel is most important, and I don’t need to show the whole scene to do that as I first thought. It’s a canvas stretched on cardboard, not stretchers, so all I need to do when I’m done is cut out the part I want to use and frame that. I’ve done that with other paintings in other media including other acrylics (see below). For now, I just won’t work on that anymore. That’s kind of freeing!
I also adjusted the color of the lace curtain. There is a screen in the window that tends to tint everything that’s not sunlit with brown, and even though it’s lighter than it is in the original photo it makes more sense. I’ll also add more texture back into it, now that I have the shade right.
I had also wanted to change Namir’s so “he looks less like a grey coyote”. He does have big ears, an angular face and a prominent nose, but I had painted the curtain around his face and overlapped a little too much, taking too much away from the edges of his face and head and working his ears out too long. I adjusted his forehead, shortened his ears and added a little more to the back of his neck. His coloring isn’t right yet, but I’m still working him out against the background. And while he was very slender I may add a little more roundness to his lower torso.
Also, his eye in the photo is barely apparent, a fluke of a leaf shadow that crossed over his face when I took the photo, but it didn’t work in the painting, so I’m working that out from other photos. It’s amazing what our eye will accept in photos but not in a painting. Not there yet, but definitely an improvement.
Acrylic painting and me
My Neighbor's Laundry, acrylic © B. E. Kazmarski
Acrylic painting is a challenge because I’m most accustomed to pastel for color work like this, and I use my fingers for much of pastel, holding it directly in my hand and blending with my fingers. Pastel is also very patient and waits for me to do something, remaining exactly as I left it for indefinite periods of time, where acrylic paint has an annoying habit of drying right away.
The work above began as an 18″ x 24″ painting of a view I see all the time—one neighbor’s laundry hanging in front of their neighbor’s huge old white garage, which was at one time a carriage house and stable. It was the barn, not the laundry, that initially made me want to paint this on a summer morning because I loved the look of the colors reflected in the white paint from all the green, the blue from the sky and so on.
That was one time where I wasn’t skilled enough in acrylic to pull it off (though I did in pastel–I actually did the same painting in pastel just to give myself some guidance), and I totally overworked the barn. I learned quite a bit about acrylics in that one, but had no intention of showing it to anyone, much less enter it in “Carnegie Painted”, the annual art show it was destined for.
But I loved, loved the laundry. It was exactly what I wanted, and the green of the grass and the dappled leaves behind. I had a frame on hand so I cut it down to fit that, 14″W x 7″H. I thought I’d kept the rest because I keep everything and I also might want to use it in teaching some day, but I couldn’t find it. Nor could I find the pastel drawing. I sincerely doubt that I tossed them because I had a purpose, though in a moment of desperation for space in this house I may have. Probably they are safely packed together somewhere.
I’m not sure I like acrylic paints generally because of the drying issue, I like the more glossy finish on oil and the colors resemble my pastels a little more closely, but two friends gave me unused acrylic paints and canvases and brushes, so I’m getting all the practice I can and I’m sure I’ll get used to it. What I love about acrylics is the brushwork I can do that is difficult in pastel, and it’s not just about the shapes and colors on the canvas, but the 3-D texture of paint. I also love working with a brush, choosing the right brush for the task, loading it with paint, sometimes several colors at once, it’s a very different way of thinking than my pastels. I just need to do more acrylics and see how it works out!
Madison’s Portrait
Posted: October 31, 2009 Filed under: 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 2 Comments
Madison
I began a portrait of Madison way back in the summer, but between the festival and a few foster cats moving in and out of my spare cat room/studio it’s been difficult to work consistently. But Madison is finally done, and his person came to pick up his portrait this weekend.
She lost Madison, her first cat, last year, 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.
Madison, detail of face
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.
Namir at the Window
Posted: May 19, 2009 Filed under: cat artwork, feline artwork | Tags: cat artwork, cat painting, feline artwork, namir 1 Comment"Namir at the Window" in progress
I’m working on a painting in between portraits, and I have to admit it’s not exactly “new”. I began this painting in January 2008, I think, then put it aside piled things in front of it, thought about it here and there, and finally decided I’d just get back to it.
I’m just learning acrylic painting with the gift from two different people of someone’s old stores of tubes of paint, brushes, canvases and other materials, and I decided that was about as clear a sign as I could get that I should start painting. And, just as I did years ago when I began drawing, my subject is inevitably one of my cats, the subject with which I’m most familiar and comfortable and I can therefore focus on the medium. This is pretty large, 18″ x 24″, and I keep forgetting that acrylic paint dries pretty quickly and I have to be orderly about how I work this so I don’t end up with paint caked on it in areas that I didn’t get back to before they dried.
It’s Namir looking out the dining room window where my window boxes hold flowers for most of the year, beginning with bulbs in pots in March and ending with chrysanthemums that sometimes have snow on them. I decorate with greens trimmed from my spruces through the winter to shelter the pots of bulbs that will sprout again in spring.
In summer, when the years-old pink geraniums I’ve saved year after year are again blooming with whatever else I’ve added to them, the color is astonishing, and because the flowers attract bees and hummingbirds and butterflies, there is usually at least one cat at the window wishing the glass or the screen wasn’t there.
I’ve got the basis down, but I need to get the reflection in the window so it doesn’t look like a big black hole in the middle of the painting, and I think I need a little more detail on the shutter on the right so it doesn’t just look like I painted the right side of the canvas brown just because. Because the screen is in the window, the lace curtain, which is actually antique white, looks creamy or tan, and I’ll probably change that. After I get the curtain decided, I can finish up Namir so he looks less like a grey coyote, though he does have big ears and a prominent nose.
I’ll post the next proof in a few days.
The Creative Cat 