Click the icon at right to meet My Cats    Click the icon at right to see my Commissioned Cats    Click the icon at right to see my Commissioned Dogs    Click the icon at right to see a Demonstration of Animal Portraiture    Click the icon at right to see my Wildlife Artwork    Click the icon at right to see My People    Click the icon at right to see my Landscapes    Click the icon at right to see my Waterscapes    Click the icon at right to see Still Lifes and Flower Studies    Click the icon at right to see some Other Works such as house renderings and urban scenes...    Click the icon at right to see a variety of Cards and Prints and other merchandise available   To order notecards or small prints, click the icon at right to go to my Notecard Order Form   To order original artwork, click the icon at right to go to my Artwork Order Form    Click the icon at right to meet My Cats    Click the icon at right to see my Commissioned Cats    Click the icon at right to see my Commissioned Dogs    Click the icon at right to see a Demonstration of Animal Portraiture    Click the icon at right to see my Wildlife Artwork    Click the icon at right to see My People    Click the icon at right to see my Landscapes    Click the icon at right to see my Waterscapes    Click the icon at right to see Still Lifes and Flower Studies    Click the icon at right to see some Other Works such as house renderings and urban scenes...    Click the icon at right to see a variety of Cards and Prints and other merchandise available   To order notecards or small prints, click the icon at right to go to my Notecard Order Form   To order original artwork, click the icon at right to go to my Artwork Order Form

ANIMAL PORTRAITURE I always work from photographs to create a portrait of an animal, usually compiling two or more (or a whole photo album of) photographs to accurately study and render the physical characteristics of the image which the commissioner desires. But a portrait, human or animal, is not just a picture of the subject's physical characteristics. An accurate portrait captures as much of the subject's emotional and spiritual traits as is possible, and this is true for animals as well as people. In animal portraiture, I endeavor to get to know the animal either by a face-to-face meeting or by interviewing the animal's human companion(s), then instilling as much of what I have gathered into the work as I can. To date I have completed 65 portraits of cats and dogs whether individually, together, even with their human companions. For portrait pricing and terms and a demonstration of how a portrait is created, please see my Portrait Demonstration page. Please be patient while I update three year's worth of portraits! You'll see yours here soon. “Milan and Felix”, 23" x 17", pastel, 2005 The composition on this one was interesting because the two cats are not necessarily friends, so they can't be posed interacting as you would often do with two subjects. I really liked the photos of them in these positions, but it was difficult to place them without leaving a big empty space somewhere in the composition. All tabbies are different, too, and while they just look striped there is a myriad of colors between those stripes. I don't often get a chance to create a portrait in pencil, although it Pencil was my first and favorite medium. Don't get me wrong--I love my pastels and the challenge of creating a portrait in them, but returning to that simplicity of line and shape without the distraction of color can sometimes betterillustrate the personality of the subjects. It also reminds me how much I depend on color when I have to decide how to portray seven different shades of green eyes without using any green at all. “The Reiser Family”, 23" x 21"pencil, 2005 Why pencil, you ask? That's what the client had been visualizing for the year or so we had been talking until they were ready. The two guys in the bottom front were the two originals in the household, and caused the adoption of all the others. Arranging a group like this can be difficult and often looks contrived, but this is a pretty peaceful family of cats and, although they really did not pose like this, it may not have been unusual to find them all together on and around the chaise lounge. Unfortunately, just a month after the portrait was finished, their little Angel, top left, lost her long battle with brain tumors. I'm glad I got the chance to meet her, and I'm sure her people will miss her for years to come. “Brody”, 10" x 12", pastel, 2005 Brody's portrait is a memorial, as about half of the ones I create are. Brody was a shelter rescue, even though with those beautiful blue eyes and luxurious fur he ought to have been a show cat. Brody's owner's husband purchased a gift certificate for his wife because she missed Brody so much. After she found her best photos, she decided that she really wanted Brody's face, since it was what she remembered so clearly. So in this portrait, Brody's face is a little larger than life size, but all the details are present in a way that no photo has recorded. Here's a closeup of his face. Samantha MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 23" x 16"; Commissioned, 1994 To capture the nuances of black fur in dim light is indeed a challenge, even moreso than the intricacies of a wicker chair. I was provided with only one photograph for this portrait, but thankfully quite a good one, although Samantha's owner had changed her color scheme from blue and peach to green and mauve, necessitating a change in the pillows, and we deleted the light switch and door from the background and just created swirls of color. Amaretto, Simon and Merlin MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 17" x 23"; Commissioned, 1994 These are my veterinarian's three cats, and she supplied me with photos, plus I met these characters and took another roll of film to capture their individual traits. Even though they came to her individually, they are a close-knit group, so we decided to start with one picture of them sleeping in a heap but arrange them so that they displayed their most notable characteristics, such as Amaretto's tail and Merlin's extra toes. The blue blanket is a complement to their orange fur, plus added interest in the background. Gypsy MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 17" x 12"; Commissioned, 1996 Gypsy was just about to turn 21 when I met her, and the challenge was for her human to choose one position out of all those years of companionship by which to represent her. She had no pictures of this position, and of course Gypsy did not cooperate by posing, so we pieced it together with other pictures of Gypsy plus a picture of a pillow placed in this spot behind the curtains. After she lost Gypsy to a brain tumor, her companion told me that she had hung the portrait by the door and every morning she said goodbye to the portrait and greeted it every day when she came home. I was glad to know that something I had done had brought comfort to someone in time of need. Luigi MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 18" x 24"; Commissioned, 1995 This portrait was a gift from the person who commissioned me to a friend of his, and was a real challenge for the amount of creative license the client gave me. He had an idea of this cat on a chair, plus some background items to make it like an interior scene, and told me that he liked antiques and "gem" colors--deep rich earth tones. He gave me pictures of Luigi, and I found the other resources in places as various as catalogs, home decorating books and friends' homes plus some imagination, and put it together from that. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph this before I framed it, so this photograph is pretty bad and doesn't even show the whole portrait (there's a hardwood floor and the edge of an Oriental rug at the bottom, for example).   Scout MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 22" x 16"; Commissioned, 1995 Scout was the lead cat in this household, as you can tell by her imposing expression. I used only three photographs to create this portrait since I did get to meet Scout (under the dining room table) to gather information. All of the details of her usual attitude are correct except for her tail, and we cheated there since she had such a lovely tail but always sat on it. I had to make an extra visit when the portrait was almost done just to see Scout's tail and then hurry home to get it down on paper. I have done four commissioned works for these folks. Sooty MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 11" x 7"; Commissioned, 1997 Sooty was a rescue story, and luckily landed in a home which will revere him all of his days. He is a full-bred, papered, quiet and sweet-tempered Silver Persian, and had been bought as a gift for a future spouse. The couple subsequently broke up and Sooty was shuffled to a household which kept him in the garage, hoping he would get out and be hit by a car. Three years after his rescue, and after much coaxing, he finally goes up to the second floor of the house and even sits on a lap now and then, and is probably the only animal subject who would have sat still long enough for me to at least do a few sketches.   Buckwheat, Muggsy, Emily and Sadie MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 20" x 16"; Commissioned, 1999 Buckwheat, the black cat, was the inspiration for this portrait—he was ill at the time and the uncertainty of his illness prompted his humans to commission the portrait; he left us before the portrait was finished. He was big brother to all, and Muggsy and Emily, brother and sister, are still very close. All three were adopted from the Humane Society, but Sadie.was rescued from a farm that had too many cats, and unlike the other three tended to be a little distant. Grouping them in a likely manner was difficult, but when Sadie perched atop the chair where I photographed her for reference, I knew this composition was the one.   Little Gooney MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 9" x 8"; Commissioned, 1999 Little Gooney—yes she does have an attitude, perhaps because of her name. She was commissioned as a Christmas gift for just something small, and even though this pose is not the most flattering, it was the only full-face photo available. It's one of my favorites, though, small, simple and honest.       Marley and Boo MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 13" x 19"; Commissioned, 1999 These two very large black cats were really a challenge simply because black fur is a challenge, and even though they may look alike, black fur color is really all they have in common. Both adoptees from shelters, Marley had been returned for being a little too physical in an adoptive home and may have been considered dangerous. Still, he seemed to be perfectly happy as I crawled around on the floor after him trying to get a good close-up of his face and fur. The background was just an imaginary space to create interest.   Three Black and White Cats MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 22" x 16"; Commissioned, 1993 These three were littermates, and were rarely seen far from each other. The positioning is a little odd, but this was a gift, and this was the only photo available, and it ended up making a very interesting portrait.     Allie and Abbie MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 11" x 14"; Commissioned, 1999 This is the little girl who just loves her cat. The family already had a dog, but it was too large for the little girl. Her mother took her to the shelter and Allie chose, not a kitten, but full-grown Abbie, who turned out to be a wonderful, patient companion for an active little girl. Her mother reports that Allie thanks her all the time for getting her a cat.

Paws for Reflection

MEDIUM: Pastel; SIZE: 18" x 14"; 1999 In 1999 I was honored to create artwork for a limited edition print to be sold as a benefit for The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. This work was created from a photo in one of the many four-color photo-a-day calendars featuring cats, although I did a little bit of rearranging and addition to the original image. A print can only be purchased by making a donation to the shelter.

The Animal Rescue League of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. is a non-profit shelter which also sponsors a network of foster homes, a walk-in, low-cost animal clinic and a wildlife shelter and rehabilitation center. For information about this image or to make a donation to the shelter and purchase a print, or just to "virtually" visit the shelter, please visit their site at www.animalrescue.org.

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All artwork on this page is copyright Bernadette E. Kazmarski and cannot be used or reproduced in any way without my written permission.
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I update the artwork on this page as I create new works. While trying to view this page in as many browsers and on as many monitors as possible, plus trying to keep my artwork clear but not so big that it takes all day to download, I have found that each picture changes with each variation. I hope that what you see here is clear and inviting.

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