Use Your Credit Card Directly on Etsy

After Dinner Nap, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

As an artist it’s my business to follow my muse and create what life brings to me. Click the image above to find out why Stanley is the face of  Portraits of Animals, and why this painting was important to my career as an animal artist.

As a self-employed small business owner it is my business to give you as many options and opportunities as possible to find what I create and make a purchase once you’ve decided you want something I’ve created.

Etsy, the online handmade marketplace, has made this decidedly easier for many of us so that we can spend more time doing what we do best, making stuff with their attractive interface and easy setup of accounts, shops and product displays.

Now they’ve added a new feature which not only makes transactions easier for us, but it may make many customers happy as well—you can now purchase with a credit card directly through Etsy, no PayPal involved, no redirect to your PayPal account or extra steps, so it’s quicker for you as well.

For many years I accepted credit card transactions directly through my own bank, so any opportunities for sale were like any other online store. But even with a moderate level of sales, the costs and fees increased to the point where it often cost more to maintain the account in certain months than I received in sales so when I moved my business account and discovered it would cost even more through the new portal, I sent back my leased equipment and closed the account.

That left me with PayPal for credit card transactions. I had never cared for PayPal, but discovered by that time, 2007, it was quite different from the online portal I’d tried to use in 1999. And looking at its security record I’ve found that PayPal has never had a security breach and has a very clean record for customer service. It was also basically free with no monthly fees or membership fees or equipment leasing of any sort, just sitting there waiting for me until I had a sale. Selling fees were reasonable. And more recently Quicken and QuickBooks have added PayPal as one of the accounts you can manage with the program. So I’ve fully embraced PayPal and am happy with their service.

But I understand those customers who don’t like the intrusiveness of PayPal, and often the confusing complications—you really can pay with PayPal even if you don’t have an account, but I’m often walking people through that process if they don’t because PayPal doesn’t make it easy to follow that method for their own business reasons, which irks me because in this case, I’m the customer.

I am currently putting together a new gallery for Etsy, and have been preparing new artwork to begin posting in April, so this is right in time for a clearance, and the arrival of new things. March is my anniversary month on Etsy, and once an individual item has been on Etsy for one year I either remove it or reduce the price, so prices are reduced on any of the things you first saw posted last year.

In addition, from now through April 30, I have an extra 10% discount if you use your credit card directly through the Etsy direct checkout: use code ETSYCREDIT10. Click the link below to begin browsing, and be sure to check back now and then for new items!

Welcome to my Etsy shop!

________________________________

And be sure to visit my Etsy shop to see what’s currently available.

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.

St. Patrick’s Day Special on Things That Are Green

God, I'm Cute greeting card sets.

I may not be Irish, but while everyone knows my first name is “Bernadette”, you probably don’t know my middle name is “Eileen”. Following a name like “Bernadette Eileen” I’m sure a Polish surname like “Kazmarski” is the last thing you expect—perhaps something like O’Toole or McShane (two Irish families I grew up with). So for St. Patrick’s Day a friend has pronounced I am honorarily “Bernadette Eileen O’Kazmarski”. Goes along with my bright henna-red hair, yes? Let the celebration begin!

I love totally random sales, and looking at the gallery of things that are tagged as “green” in my Etsy shop it certainly looks that way—original artwork, greeting cards, gift bags—and not just feline-themed things but also wildlife and nature and flowers!

One Pepper, pastel © B E. Kazmarski

Just for St. Patrick’s Day I’ve got 10% off your entire order if you buy one of the things tagged with green in this gallery in my Etsy shop. Just use the code STPATRICKGREEN10 when you place your order.

Winter Window, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

And as I mentioned, it’s not just 10% off your green item, it’s 10% OFF YOUR ENTIRE ORDER if you purchase one of the items in the green gallery.

Set of three cotton washcloths, designed and crocheted by me (and supervised by guess who).

Happy shopping! And Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

________________________________

And be sure to visit my Etsy shop to see what’s currently available.

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.

January Jeraniums!

January Jeraniums 1, oil pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

They are at it again! Every autumn I move my geraniums into the corner of my basement but also keep a few around the upstairs near sunny windows. After resting for a month or two, perhaps responding to the lengthening days, they always bloom in mid-January and February and their variety of pinks is always welcome at a time of year when flowers are in short supply. Winter, so far, has not been terribly cold but has been dark with more rain than snow, and I think it’s actually all the reflected light from snow that helps them to bloom as well, so this year’s blooms are nothing like the ones that inspired these paintings.

These are small original pastel paintings, one oil pastel and one chalk pastel, 4″ x 4″, 2002. (I know “geraniums” isn’t spelled with a “j”, I just like it that way for the alliteration.)

January Jeraniums 2, chalk pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

I placed the flowers in the turquoise vase I keep in the kitchen, and on the gingham placemat it was all such a lovely combination that I brought out the drawing materials, creating one sketch in chalk pastel and one in oil pastel. I like to keep these little sketches small and quick; they liven my senses for color and design and give me a little break during the workday.

January Jeraniums 1, the oil pastel painting, carries the bolder versions of the color scheme. January Jeraniums 2, the chalk pastel painting, carries the bolder versions of the color scheme. It was interesting for me to see the two variations build themselves through the materials, right under my hands, in a matter of minutes. They are the same subject, but very different.

January Jeraniums, set

Find these paintings on Etsy.

January Jeraniums, framed set, $75.00 plus shipping.

January Jeraniums 1, framed original, $45.00 plus shipping.

January Jeraniums 2, framed original, $45.00 plus shipping.

My Autumn Gallery

Birches 2: Radiance, ink and watercolor, 2002, © B. E. Kazmarski

As the Harvest Moon has passed and the Autumnal Equinox approaches, I’m sensing signs of autumn everywhere, in the angle and color of sunlight, leaves beginning to change from green to their autumn garb, geese flying south and my bird feeders mobbed by birds on some day, and cooler days and nights.

Just as I have galleries of summer and winter artwork, so do I have a gallery of autumn artwork; I’ll feature just a few here in this post, but you can read about others in my Etsy gallery. As much of autumn artwork has to do with trees doing their autumn thing, and Western Pennsylvania is largely tree covered, I’ve had a lot of material to work with through the years. Some are painted en plein air, but some are studio pieces, like the birch trees above.

Birches 1 and 2

Birches 1: Autumn Showers, oil pastel, 1999 © B.E. Kazmarski

From the time I met the paper birch in our front yard I have always been attracted to the delicately detailed white bark of birch trees which seemed to emit its own faint light in any season. Here, in the darkness of the woods, the grouping of white trunks looks like a crowd clustered for discussion, decorated by a maple branch in Birches 1: Autumn Showers.

The technique was an experiment borne of an off-hand remark from a fellow artist. I had just been experimenting with oil pastels, which at first felt like slippery crayons but soon grew to have their own life as I understood the best ways to achieve the colors and textures I wanted. The artist friend mentioned that you could also work with them using turpentine, either softening the crayons in it or drawing on the paper, then painting turpentine over the oil pastel to blend or spread. I chose to use a combination of these as well as wetting the paper with the turpentine and drawing on that area with the oil pastel. The resulting painting actually looks dimensional, and I know it’s only because of the different textures in the work.

Birches 2, detail

Here’s a detail of Birches 2: Radiance.

We have lovely birch groves here in Western Pennsylvania, and this image was reminiscent of one I had encountered while hiking somewhere near me. Not just the white bark, but the contrast with the thin dark twigs and ripples in the bark, is eye-catching, but that autumn display of yellow leaves is nearly blinding. Add a few other leaves to the mix and it becomes a classic autumn scene.

This painting is a real favorite in any color or size; I think others react to the details and the colors as I did when I saw the scene and visualized the painting.

The original is quite large, 22″ x 23″, and drawn in a very fine line black ink. I used a technical pen (a Rapidograph, if anyone remembers those) to draw all the details of the birch trees, taking nearly three weeks just to draw the trees. Even though I’d been visualizing it with the color added for the leaves, after all that work I was hesitant to start painting into the drawing for fear I’d mess it up and ruin all that work. But I got over that and began filling in the leaves in all shades of yellow.

Other subjects too

View from Beechwood

I’ll review other individual paintings as well, including their meaning to me at the time I painted them since, for some reason, most of my autumn paintings have a story having something to do with family, or my career, and even my cats.

I do have most of those stories posted along with the images on Etsy.

I have several originals still available, but I also have prints of each of them, framed and unframed, in all sizes from 8″ x  10″ to the full size of the painting, whatever that may be, and in grades from high quality digital to high quality giclee.

Deserted Cottages

Autumn Harvest

Autumn in the Valley

Squashes

Summer Landscapes

The Old Apple Tree, pastel

For me, a bit part of the joy of summer is getting out there in it, on the trails, canoeing the creek, walking around the streets and neighborhoods of my town and growing my garden. And from that, of course, come images, paintings, photographs, block prints, and all the other things I do.

Summer Field, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

I will always remember summer for the time I had to learn to paint en plein air during long, hot summer afternoons when the sun seemed to move slowly enough that I could keep up with it, out there in a field somewhere with my easel and drawing board, listening to insects and deciding exactly what shade a cerulean the sky was that day.

One Pepper, pastel C B E. Kazmarski

What better way to express a “fruitful” morning in the garden than with a quick little sketch? As I prepare for another summer “out in the field”, especially after renewing my studio in the house, you can find a collection of small and large original paintings, one block print, a few crocheted washcloths inspired by the flowers as they bloom in my garden and some very special aprons featured in my Etsy shop. Have a beautiful solstice!

Greeting Card Sets: Animal Sympathy and Feline Art Cards, Flowers and More

Greeting Card Selection in My Shop

How quaint in this age of instant virtual communication—take a printed item that has an image and perhaps a sentiment, write your own note and send it off in the mail. Who would take the time to do that?

Plenty of people still do, and it’s a pleasure for both the giver and the receiver. I know I enjoy sending cards to friends for any occasion or none at all, and enjoy receiving cards in the mail, thinking of how the sender has chosen a card just for me and taken the time to write a note in it and mail it. I love browsing greeting cards but when I want to send one I rarely have time to browse, so I keep cards on hand.

Where to find my cards

You can find them in the Portraits of Animals Shop (pictured above) in Carnegie Antiques, 423 West Main Street in Carnegie, PA 15106.

You can order them from my website in the Marketplace Online Store under “Notecards” in the right-hand column.

Four sets of greeting cards for you to choose from

Feline Greetings Art Cards

Animal Sympathy Cards

In the Garden Greeting Cards

Inspired by Flowers

I offer four sets of greeting cards, two feline-themed and two flower-themed, made from my paintings and photographs. I sell them individually for $2.50 each, but the best deal is a set of a dozen for $20.00.

All cards are 5″ x 7″ , printed on 12 pt. card stock and include a matching envelope. Cards are blank inside but if you choose to use them for professional correspondence or for an invitation, for instance, they can be customized with your message for an extra $2.50 per dozen, minimum four dozen. I also offer a wholesale discount to those who’d like to carry them in a shop or purchase them for professional correspondence.

One dozen cards in a stationery box, $20.00, any combination

You can choose your cards:

• from pre-packaged sets of all one design
• from pre-packaged sets of all designs in one set
• your own set of any dozen in any of the four themes
• or your own set of a dozen chosen from among all four sets

One dozen cards is the same price no matter which cards you choose. Each dozen is packed in a clear-top stationery box, pre-packaged sets have a label on the back showing the designs inside.

“Feline Greetings” Art Cards

These greeting cards are created from paintings of the cats with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my life—and that includes a few friends’ cats as well. It was through observing their feline grace and their individual natures that I found my muse as an artist and finally decided to get down on paper what I saw with my eyes and felt with my heart.

While I render many other subjects now it all began with my cats and the hopeless affection I felt for each of them and all their moods and quirks and manners of affection toward me. This is the gift they gave to me, and I will be forever in their debt, spending a lifetime to pay it off by sharing them with others.

I’ve included a mix of pastel and watercolor and a mix of styles, from realistic detail to loose impressionistic scenes so you have a choice for all occasions. Cards have only the image on the front, are blank inside, and carry the title of the painting and information about it on the back, you can write inside it whatever you want. Some people purchase them to frame as little prints as well.

Right now there area 14 cards in the series. Read about each of the designs and order in Feline Greeting Cards and Notecards in the Marketplace on my website.

Animal Sympathy Cards

I had had this idea from my first loss, but waited until I felt I could put my grief in images and design animal sympathy cards with more universal messages, not my own personal ideas. Many of my cats make an appearance here, Namir’s pawprints in “I’ll always walk beside you”, Lucy, who I lost at 15 months to FIP, helping me make the bed, and more. You can read more about the inspiration and creation of these cards in a post on The Creative Cat, “Pet Love and Loss and How it Gave Me My Art. While most have cats as the subject, one has a very special dog and two are non-specific.

They find a comfortable spot in your heart to live in forever and ever.

The sweetest memories often come in quiet moments.

Remember the best moments with love and joy.

While I am a fine artist, I have actually worked as a graphic designer for more years than I want to tell. Designing everything from letterhead to websites every day, the task of designing these cards was second nature to me. I was glad, for once, to use my commercial art skills to create something for my offering of animal art, especially since my poor neglected cats could just expire all over my desk before I took my eyes off the computer.

I’ve found, to my surprise, that these cards are sometimes purchased for the loss of a human, or even a “thinking of you” card for persons who like animals—I never considered this. You can find these 12 designs in Animal Sympathy Cards in the Marketplace on my website.

All-occasion Greeting Cards

“Inspired by Flowers” and “In the Garden”

These two lines of all-occasion cards are designed from my paintings and photographs of my garden and gardens I’ve encountered plus simply wildflowers I’ve met along the way. They are 5″ x 7″ , printed on 12 or 14 pt. card stock and include a matching envelope. Cards are blank inside but can be customized with your message for an extra $2.50 per dozen, minimum four dozen.

Inspired by Flowers

These 12 cards are designed from my own photos of my garden and yard and my walks along trails and natural areas.

Each photograph inspired a sentiment and thus became this line of simple greetings, so unlike most other cards I design which only feature the image, these actually have a message on the outside of the card including “In Sympathy”, “Get Well Soon”, “Believe” and more. In addition to the specific sentiments I’ve included broader ideas such as “Celebrating You” and “Follow the Rainbow” which can be used in a variety of situations.

In the Garden

These 8 cards feature my favorite paintings of gardens and still lifes, many of which scenes from my own yard and home.

I’ve included a mix of pastel and watercolor and a mix of styles, from realistic detail to loose impressionistic scenes so you have a choice for all occasions. Cards have only the image on the front, are blank inside, and carry the title of the painting and information about it on the back, you can write inside it whatever you want. Some people purchase them to frame as little prints as well.

Where to find my cards

You can find them in the Portraits of Animals Shop (pictured above) in Carnegie Antiques, 423 West Main Street in Carnegie, PA 15106.

You can order them from my website in the Marketplace Online Store under “Notecards” in the right-hand column.

Greeting Card Sets for Yourself and for Gifts

Greeting Card Selection in My Shop

How quaint in this age of instant virtual communication—take a printed item that has an image and perhaps a sentiment, write your own note and send it off in the mail. Who would take the time to do that?

Plenty of people still do, and it’s a pleasure for both the giver and the receiver. I know I enjoy sending cards to friends for any occasion or none at all, and enjoy receiving cards in the mail, thinking of how the sender has chosen a card just for me and taken the time to write a note in it and mail it. I love browsing greeting cards but when I want to send one I rarely have time to browse, so I keep cards on hand.

Four sets of greeting cards for you to choose from

Feline Greetings Art Cards

Animal Sympathy Cards

In the Garden Greeting Cards

Inspired by Flowers

I offer four sets of greeting cards, two feline-themed and two flower-themed, made from my paintings and photographs. I sell them individually for $2.50 each, but the best deal is a set of a dozen for $20.00.

All cards are 5″ x 7″ , printed on 12 pt. card stock and include a matching envelope. Cards are blank inside but if you choose to use them for professional correspondence or for an invitation, for instance, they can be customized with your message for an extra $2.50 per dozen, minimum four dozen. I also offer a wholesale discount to those who’d like to carry them in a shop or purchase them for professional correspondence.

One dozen cards in a stationery box, $20.00, any combination

You can choose your cards:

• from pre-packaged sets of all one design
• from pre-packaged sets of all designs in one set
• your own set of any dozen in any of the four themes
• or your own set of a dozen chosen from among all four sets

One dozen cards is the same price no matter which cards you choose. Each dozen is packed in a clear-top stationery box, pre-packaged sets have a label on the back showing the designs inside.

“Feline Greetings” Art Cards

These greeting cards are created from paintings of the cats with whom I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my life—and that includes a few friends’ cats as well. It was through observing their feline grace and their individual natures that I found my muse as an artist and finally decided to get down on paper what I saw with my eyes and felt with my heart.

While I render many other subjects now it all began with my cats and the hopeless affection I felt for each of them and all their moods and quirks and manners of affection toward me. This is the gift they gave to me, and I will be forever in their debt, spending a lifetime to pay it off by sharing them with others.

I’ve included a mix of pastel and watercolor and a mix of styles, from realistic detail to loose impressionistic scenes so you have a choice for all occasions. Cards have only the image on the front, are blank inside, and carry the title of the painting and information about it on the back, you can write inside it whatever you want. Some people purchase them to frame as little prints as well.

Right now there area 14 cards in the series. Read about each of the designs and order in Feline Greeting Cards and Notecards in the Marketplace on my website.

Animal Sympathy Cards

I had had this idea from my first loss, but waited until I felt I could put my grief in images and design animal sympathy cards with more universal messages, not my own personal ideas. Many of my cats make an appearance here, Namir’s pawprints in “I’ll always walk beside you”, Lucy, who I lost at 15 months to FIP, helping me make the bed, and more. You can read more about the inspiration and creation of these cards in a post on The Creative Cat, “Pet Love and Loss and How it Gave Me My Art. While most have cats as the subject, one has a very special dog and two are non-specific.

They find a comfortable spot in your heart to live in forever and ever.

The sweetest memories often come in quiet moments.

Remember the best moments with love and joy.

While I am a fine artist, I have actually worked as a graphic designer for more years than I want to tell. Designing everything from letterhead to websites every day, the task of designing these cards was second nature to me. I was glad, for once, to use my commercial art skills to create something for my offering of animal art, especially since my poor neglected cats could just expire all over my desk before I took my eyes off the computer.

I’ve found, to my surprise, that these cards are sometimes purchased for the loss of a human, or even a “thinking of you” card for persons who like animals—I never considered this. You can find these 12 designs in Animal Sympathy Cards in the Marketplace on my website.

All-occasion Greeting Cards

“Inspired by Flowers” and “In the Garden”

These two lines of all-occasion cards are designed from my paintings and photographs of my garden and gardens I’ve encountered plus simply wildflowers I’ve met along the way. They are 5″ x 7″ , printed on 12 or 14 pt. card stock and include a matching envelope. Cards are blank inside but can be customized with your message for an extra $2.50 per dozen, minimum four dozen.

Inspired by Flowers

These 12 cards are designed from my own photos of my garden and yard and my walks along trails and natural areas.

Each photograph inspired a sentiment and thus became this line of simple greetings, so unlike most other cards I design which only feature the image, these actually have a message on the outside of the card including “In Sympathy”, “Get Well Soon”, “Believe” and more. In addition to the specific sentiments I’ve included broader ideas such as “Celebrating You” and “Follow the Rainbow” which can be used in a variety of situations.

In the Garden

These 8 cards feature my favorite paintings of gardens and still lifes, many of which scenes from my own yard and home.

I’ve included a mix of pastel and watercolor and a mix of styles, from realistic detail to loose impressionistic scenes so you have a choice for all occasions. Cards have only the image on the front, are blank inside, and carry the title of the painting and information about it on the back, you can write inside it whatever you want. Some people purchase them to frame as little prints as well.

January Jeraniums!

January Jeraniums, set

Every autumn I move my geraniums into the corner of my basement. After resting for a month or two, perhaps responding to the lengthening days, they always bloom in mid-January and their variety of pinks is always welcome at a time of year when flowers are in short supply.

January Jeraniums 1, oil pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

I placed the flowers in the turquoise vase I keep in the kitchen, and on the gingham placemat it was all such a lovely combination that I brought out the drawing materials, creating one sketch in chalk pastel and one in oil pastel. I like to keep these quick little sketches small and quick; they liven my senses for color and design and give me a little break during the workday.

These are small original pastel paintings, one oil pastel and one chalk pastel, 4″ x 4″, 2002. (I know “geraniums” isn’t spelled with a “j”, I just like it that way for the alliteration.)

January Jeraniums 2, chalk pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

January Jeraniums 1, the oil pastel painting, carries the bolder versions of the color scheme. January Jeraniums 2, the chalk pastel painting, carries the bolder versions of the color scheme. It was interesting for me to see the two variations build themselves through the materials, right under my hands, in a matter of minutes. They are the same subject, but very different.

Find these paintings on Etsy.

January Jeraniums, framed set, $75.00 plus shipping.

January Jeraniums 1, framed original, $45.00 plus shipping.

January Jeraniums 2, framed original, $45.00 plus shipping.