Mother’s and Father’s Day Specials

“Borzois”, pastel, 20″ x 26″ © Bernadette 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. An animal-themed gift such as a print of a piece of artwork, a keepsake box or household item, even a personalized gift such as a portrait, is a wonderful way to thank them for the gift they gave you to love animals.

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.

People and pets together

I’ve done a number of portraits of people with their pets, but many years ago I painted a very special portrait for grandparents who lived in Germany and never had the chance to see their grandchildren and grandcats. A photo was impossible to manage for the parents, so, with photos from the parents I put together a portrait of them all together in a style they requested, more sketchy than finished. I thought I’d taken a better photo of it at the time, but this sample is all I have; it was shipped off to the grandparents that year.

The Grandchildren, pastel, 1993 © B.E. Kazmarski

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.

A Mother’s Day Special, and Father’s Day too

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.

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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 Samantha, pastel, 1994 © B.E. Kazmarski

Commissioned Dog Portraits Sophie and Ellie, pastel, 2009 © B.E. Kazmarski

Portraits of My Cats After Dinner Nap, pastel, 1996 © B.E. Kazmarski

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.

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Download a Brochure

My Portraits Brochure

My brochure is an 8.5″ x 11″ two-page full-color PDF that half-folds when it’s all printed out, showing examples of portraits with an explanation of my process and basic costs.

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Purchase a Gift Certificate

Sample Commissioned Portrait Certificate

I always offer portrait certificates, but can only extend that automatic 10% discount through Etsy, but you are more than welcome to purchase a gift certificate right here.

I offer gift certificates for portraits in any denomination beginning at $125.00, which is the basic cost of a portrait; the recipient is responsible for any amount the portrait costs over $125.00.

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.

You can purchase gift certificates on The Creative Cat, on my main website, or from my Etsy shop if you are also purchasing other animal-inspired merchandise.

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Subscribe to My E-newsletter

Subscribe to The Creative Cat e-newsletter for specials on exclusively feline-themed art and merchandise.

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Browse some rescued cats and kittens!

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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 using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.

Blue Waves Canvas Print

Blue Waves, watercolor © B. E. Kazmarski

I first saw the ocean at the age of 30 when I visited Assateague Island, Virginia and felt as if I’d come home to an old friend; I also enjoyed meeting the wild ponies after having read all the books in the Misty of Chincoteague series by Marguerite Henry (and closely studying the illustrations by Wesley Dennis) and read about the island and wildlife refuge.

I conspired how to make a living so I could stay there, but instead brought my photos back and have been painting from them ever since. I have a few originals left and in this heat of August in Pennsylvania I’m thinking of a trip to the beach where the breeze blows and I can run into the water and swim whenever I want.

“Blue Waves” was the last of a series of small paintings of ocean waves, executed as I experimented with watercolor techniques and materials. I wanted to capture the constant movement and sound of the waves, and in this case I used a spattering of opaque white to render the spray as the waves broke on the beach. I’m pleased to say I sold the original and now am offering canvas prints.

This is a signed digital canvas print of an original watercolor painting, gallery-wrapped on wooden canvas stretchers. For this painting instead of painting the sides with black or another color, I left the original rough edges of my watercolor along with the pencil marks on the print and allow that to wrap around the sides, ready to hang or frame as you choose.

The original was only 3″ x 5″, but canvas stretchers are difficult to find smaller than 8″ so I make a slightly larger print and gallery wrap it. It is printed in archival inks on primed canvas, signed by the artist and wrapped and stapled on wooden canvas stretchers. Find it in my Etsy shop.

Other prints of beach paintings

Evening on the Beach, canvas print of watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski

Evening on the Beach is another work inspired by the beach at Assateague Island painted in 2000. I was back to a study of watercoloring and wanted to capture the changing sunlight on that late summer evening and experiment with all the new colors I’d found and techniques for painting sand and grasses.

Serenity, canvas print of pastel painting © B.E. Kazmarski

Serenity is a signed digital canvas print of an original pastel painting, gallery-wrapped on wooden canvas stretchers. For this painting also instead of painting the sides with black or another color, I left the original rough edges of my pastel on the print and allow that to wrap around the sides, ready to hang or frame as you choose.

This sailboat drifted lazily for hours on the calm waters of Lake Arthur in Western Pennsylvania. As the August afternoon tended toward evening, the sky began to grow pink and the shadows darkened and lengthened, and the serene moment seemed to last for hours.

Painted “en plein air” as I sat on one of the beaches at the north end of the lake, watching this sailboat was one of my favorite afternoons; this painting always takes me back to that day.

This painting is 21″ wide x 8″ high, larger than the original but canvas stretchers smaller than 8″ are difficult to obtain. I’ve allowed the rough edges from my original sketch to wrap around the sides instead of printing with black or another color. It’s printed in archival inks on primed canvas, signed by the artist and wrapped and stapled on wooden canvas stretchers.

Other waterscapes

I have many others which you can find under “Waterscapes” on my website, though they are from an era when my photographic abilities and equipment weren’t quite where they are now. I hope to track them down and offer prints some day, but for now you can find these and others in my shop on Etsy.

A Trip to the Beach

Blue Waves, watercolor © B. E. Kazmarski

I first saw the ocean at the age of 30 when I visited Assateague Island, Virginia and felt as if I’d come home to an old friend; I also enjoyed meeting the wild ponies after having read all the books in the Misty of Chincoteague series by Marguerite Henry (and closely studying the illustrations by Wesley Dennis) and read about the island and wildlife refuge.

Blue Waves, framed watercolor

I conspired how to make a living so I could stay there, but instead brought my photos back and have been painting from them ever since. I have a few originals left and in this heat wave I’m thinking of a trip to the beach where the breeze blows and I can run into the water and swim whenever I want.

“Blue Waves” is the last of a series of small paintings of ocean waves, executed as I experimented with watercolor techniques and materials. I wanted to capture the constant movement and sound of the waves, and in this case I used a spattering of opaque white to render the spray as the waves broke on the beach.

Sunset on the Bay, watercolor © B. E. Kazmarski

Detail of Sunset on the Bay

Also from that visit is “Sunset on the Bay“, depicting a view from Chincoteague Island across the Chesapeake Bay toward the mainland in Virginia. That stillness, that odd pink light of a sultry evening on the bay…the beach houses along the dock looked so puny and unprotected under that huge sky above and the water below that I took several photos in the days before panoramic images were available.

Later, I brought them out and laid them side by side on my drafting table and sketched the scene onto a full sheet of watercolor paper, not knowing how much of the sky and water I’d use and leaving plenty of extra. I was just experimenting with watercolor techniques and materials and knew I wanted the clarity of the details on the beach houses to contrast with the big sky and water.

Burnished Waves, paste © B. E. Kazmarski

Coming a little closer to home is a painting I painted on one of the beaches on Presque Isle in Erie, “Burnished Waves”.

The deepening light of evening and sunset burnishes all it touches with gold and silver, and always encourages a time of memory and reflection for me. I had spent the day on Presque Isle in Erie, playing in the water, collecting shells and rocks, photographing the woods and water, and finally settled on one of the beaches facing west to do some painting. Rain clouds rolled in as the sun dropped toward the horizon, deepening shadows and brightening highlights as I did my best to capture the rapidly changing light, the building clouds and lapping waves which grew as the wind increased. I can still feel the sand under my bare feet, dampness in my hair and remember standing there in my bathing suit feeling so connected to the scene after the day of taking it all in.

I matted and framed this painting when I finished it in 1999, but for many years it sat in my “extra paintings” box; there was something I just wasn’t happy with at the time. But when the time came for my annual poetry reading and art show in 2011 and nothing new fit what I was feeling in my poetry, I found this in the extras box and realized that when I painted it, I just wasn’t quite ready for its message.

This painting became the signature image for my fifth and final poetry reading and art exhibit at The Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in January 2011 entitled “Burnished Light on Water”, featuring 12 new poems inspired by evening light and reflections, both physical and metaphoric, and an exhibit of paintings and photographs. My mother had been in personal care for years, was seriously ill through 2010 and passed just two days prior to when my reading was scheduled; I continued with it, including a brand-new poem dedicated to her, and knew why that painting had had to wait for me to appreciate it.

Prints of beach paintings

Evening on the Beach, canvas print of watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski

Evening on the Beach  is another work inspired by the beach at Assateague Island painted in 2000. I was back to a study of watercoloring and wanted to capture the changing sunlight on that late summer evening and experiment with all the new colors I’d found and techniques for painting sand and grasses.

This is a signed digital canvas print of an original watercolor painting, gallery-wrapped on wooden canvas stretchers. For this painting instead of painting the sides with black or another color, I left the original rough edges of my watercolor along with the pencil marks on the print and allow that to wrap around the sides, ready to hang or frame as you choose.

The original was only 6″ x 4″, but canvas stretchers are difficult to find smaller than 8″ so I make a slightly larger print and gallery wrap it. It is printed in archival inks on primed canvas, signed by the artist and wrapped and stapled on wooden canvas stretchers.

Serenity, canvas print of pastel painting © B.E. Kazmarski

Serenity is a signed digital canvas print of an original pastel painting, gallery-wrapped on wooden canvas stretchers. For this painting also instead of painting the sides with black or another color, I left the original rough edges of my pastel on the print and allow that to wrap around the sides, ready to hang or frame as you choose.

This sailboat drifted lazily for hours on the calm waters of Lake Arthur in Western Pennsylvania. As the August afternoon tended toward evening, the sky began to grow pink and the shadows darkened and lengthened, and the serene moment seemed to last for hours.

Painted “en plein air” as I sat on one of the beaches at the north end of the lake, watching this sailboat was one of my favorite afternoons; this painting always takes me back to that day.

This painting is 16″ wide x 6″ high printed in archival inks on primed canvas, signed by the artist and wrapped and stapled on wooden canvas stretchers.

Other waterscapes

I have many others which you can find under “Waterscapes” on my website, though they are from an era when my photographic abilities and equipment weren’t quite where they are now. I hope to track them down and offer prints some day, but for now you can find these and others in my shop on Etsy.

Small Summer Landscapes

The Old Apple Tree, pastel

Above, “The Old Apple Tree”, 6″ x 6″, pastel, matted and framed, available on Etsy.

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

Above, “Summer Field”, 12″ x 10″, pastel, matted and framed, available on Etsy.

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.

Sometimes these are studies for larger works when I’m remembering a scene or working from reference photos and trying to get back to that moment of inspiration to find what was most important to me then.

For instance, I had taken a number of reference photos for a painting of a scene I’d seen on Chartiers Creek while I was canoeing. I couldn’t do a plein air painting in a canoe because I didn’t want to hold up my group of canoers, but I did a quick reference sketch either that night or the next day, doing my best to hold onto what I had perceived in that space. The result was “Sunbeams”.

Sunbeams, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

I didn’t get a chance to paint the painting until January, though sometimes waiting until January or February for a big work is by choice because it’s a better time of year to focus one something big and complicated, and business is a little slower. But in this case it was also icy cold and snowy, a long way from the warm June morning in a canoe. Looking at photographs will bring that back, but my sketches hold my memories and thoughts at the moment of creating more than my photos do. Photos aren’t always accurate for color, especially contrasty ones like this scene, so I’m also careful to choose the colors I feel at that moment for later use. The result is “Morning on the Creek”, though trust me, this one in particular was no quick sketch! It’s the only one in the set that was a planned and long-term piece.

House By Tracks, a Hot Summer Afternoon

House by Tracks, pastel © B. E. Kazmarski

Nothing captures the heat of a summer day for me more than a view of railroad tracks, gravel blazing in the relentless August sun, the empty tracks themselves seeming to magnify the silence of a summer afternoon. Add to that the lush trees with deep, welcoming shadows and a faded blue sky and that’s late summer for me, possibly because I often used railroad tracks as a shortcut when walking around in summer.

I also wanted to capture the brilliant highlights on the greenery, and the greenery itself aside from the trees, the scrubby, tough wildflowers that grow in the gravel along the railroad tracks.

Framed view.

I will really digress here and mention that I always associate it with the short story from Stephen King’s anthology Different Seasons entitled “The Body”, which became the movie Stand By Me. I was past my childhood days of following railroad tracks to the next town, but when I read that story something clicked for me—as a writer. As I read I could feel the sun beat down on my head, hear the insects, see the tracks stretch out before me in the quivering mirages of summer heat as if I was walking those tracks again and I decided I wanted to do that too, to take people to the place I was in my imagination by writing about it. I had always dismissed the things I’d taken in through my senses as my own experience and which others wouldn’t be interested in. I realized that the descriptive terms that built an image of physical place for the reader are built on what we take in through our senses.

I’ve always been fascinated by houses that were right next to railroad tracks as well, wondering how people managed to live there in the days when trains screamed by and emitted tons of toxic pollution. It all tells a story of a time gone by extending into today. While this house reminds me of many I’ve seen along other railroad tracks, this house is right off of Main Street in Carnegie and is still occupied. I took a few hours on a Sunday afternoon in 2002 to paint it for our annual art exhibit, Carnegie Painted.

Frame and mat.

This original pastel is painted on Wallis Sanded pastel paper, image size 9″ x 12″. I framed it in a custom moulding pine frame painted dark green with edges trimmed to natural wood, a 2-1/4″ acid-free natural white top mat and a 1/4″ acid-free forest green bottom mat. Finished framed size is 14″ x 17″. It’s in my shop on Etsy, so click on over and take a look.

Favorite Daily Sketches Available on Etsy

Kelly in Warm Colors, framed pastel, 8" x 10" © B.E. Kazmarski

You could say this is a People’s Choice Gallery! I appreciate the feedback and requests about my daily sketches on The Creative Cat. According to what you’ve asked I’ve expanded the gallery of daily sketches in my Etsy shop to include both framed originals and digital prints as well as a few framed prints. I am working on framing for others as well. If there’s a sketch you’d like to see in my Etsy shop, please speak up!

Above is “Kelly in Warm Colors” in a frame I hand-tinted in tones of gold to match the warm colors in the sketch. For the mats I used a forest green suede-finish mat for that wonderful richness it imparts and the natural patterning of suede that mimics my blending and fingering style when I work my pastel on drawing paper, and a gold liner mat that brings a little bit of reflected light next to the painting. Overall it’s 8″ x 10″, and I’m very pleased to see this sweet little sketch in this more finished form. I am also offering it as a digital print, and in the very near future will also offer this and many others as small prints on stretched canvas—my first proofs of these have worked well and been very attractive. Read more about this sketch from the day I posted it.

Other small and colorful works

Here are a the other small and colorful sketches I’ve added to my gallery.

Grape Jelly Bean, framed oil pastel, 8" x 10" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Grape Jelly Bean from the day I posted it. I learned the art and skill of picture framing years ago when I had an estimate on framing the first of my own cat portraits. Now I purchase directly from wholesale suppliers and often from manufacturers and a portion of my studio and my time is devoted to keeping my matboards, frames, glass, finishes and specialized tools for framing. But I’ll often shop for quality pre-made frames for smaller art because it’s often less expensive.

Colorful Kelly, framed watercolor, 8" x 10 © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Colorful Kelly from the day I posted it. I love these wide, plain white frames I found! The moment I  saw them I knew they’d be perfect for these small simple and colorful paintings.

Two Cats After van Gogh, framed digital print, 8" x 10" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Two Cats After van Gogh from the day I posted it. The weathered white frame is nice for small colorful works as well. I had spent some time playing around with customizing mat boards and wide wooden unfinished frames to coordinate with these three works, above, but no matter what I did it just overwhelmed the works. I decided to let them speak for themselves, and these simple frames to do that with just the addition of complementary, unpatterned mats.

The original sketch of “Two Cats After van Gogh” actually sold before I had the chance to post it, but I’ve decided to offer a print framed as the original in its place.

Larger sketches in one or two colors

Several pencil, charcoal, ink and conté sketches were also popular, and I’ve framed the first group for which I gathered complementary frames and mats. In addition to retail frames and custom framing, I also “repurpose” older frames which I purchase at thrift shops, and I have a constant supply which friends give me rather than tossing them in the trash or donating them. Matching art with frames is just as fun.

Curled on the Bed, framed pencil sketch, 12" x 14" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Curled on the Bed from the day I posted it. I’ve had this frame for a while with its little scrolly pattern in a dull gold with a blue-gray wash that fills the areas between the curlicues. I had intentionally included background details in this sketch and thought this frame would help to bring them forward with both the pattern and color.

Three Cats, framed pencil sketch, 12" x 16" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Three Cats from the day I posted it. I use this black molding for a number of things and its matte finish always takes as a very dense black, but that contrasts well with the more delicate pencil lines and shadings of one of my first daily sketches—the one that inspired me to begin posting daily sketches, in fact. I used softer tones with this, a mauve marbled top mat and solid mauve liner mat, to enhance the idea of peaceful rest demonstrated by three cuddling kitties.

Dinnertime!, framed pencil sketch, 12" x 16" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Dinnertime! from the day I posted it. This sketch of the three girls is one of my favorites, and because Kelly and Cookie are torties with touches of orange and Mimi has a good bit of mahogany in her fur I used a rust-colored liner mat to recall those tones, and a silver-gray marbled mat to complement the pencil.

Peaches' Nap Spot, pencil with watercolor, 12" x 16" © B.E. Kazmarski

This sketch is not one of the current set I’ve been posting on The Creative Cat, but from a few years ago when I did sketches around the house occasionally, featuring sweet little Peaches. I’ve used this sketch to illustrate stories and also offer it as a greeting card, but the original has been tucked into a sketch book for safe keeping; I decided to frame it along with these others.

Massive Cuddle Puddle, conté and charcoal, 11" x 14" © B.E. Kazmarski

Read more about Massive Cuddle Puddle from the day I posted it. The full name of this sketch is “Massive Cuddle Puddle Blocks Major Work Space” and coordinates with a few photo posts from a day when my desk was piled high with cats cuddling under the kitty keep-warm lamps. It has surprised me that a medium like conté, which is not very well-known outside of art classes though it’s been around for centuries, was immediately popular with readers. I like its expressiveness and the richness of its colors, especially the red which mimics the natural red earth color often used in traditional art and craft and dating back to prehistoric cave paintings. The top mat on this matches that red color in a red earth toned suede-finish mat, again mimicking the swirls in the conte as it does in my pastels.

Sold Originals, but available as prints and more

Purple Cats, Red Blanket, ink and watercolor © B.E. Kazmarski

Above is Purple Cats, Red Blanket, felt-tip ink technical drawing pen with watercolor washes, signed and dated 1/6/12. This painting sold, and thanks to the buyer for your wonderful complements. I love to see my art go to good homes just as much as I love to see my rescued kitties go to good homes! I’m offering full-size digital prints of this, and I have a small stock of small note cards. I’ll be offering it again at Valentine’s Day as a Valentine, and also as a blank greeting card.  See it here on Etsy.

Two Cats After van Gogh, oil pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

The original of this tiny oil pastel sketch also sold to another good home! I’m offering a print framed as the original on Etsy as well as digital prints, and I’m also looking forward to publishing this as a greeting card and in other forms as well. The 5″ x 7″ stretched canvases look nice (you’ll see), and it makes a cool little notebook cover too. We’ll see how many ways I can apply this and the other little colorful sketches. Suggestions are welcome!

Read more about Daily Sketches

Read my initial post about creating and posting my daily sketches.

See other Daily Sketches

I post my sketches here, and you can also browse them here in the menu by choosing “Daily Images>Daily Sketches“. You can find the ones available for sale by visiting my Etsy shop in Daily Sketches, Cats etc.

The Artist’s Life Series

Click here for more articles in “The Artist’s Life” series featuring my influences, inspirations, new work and new products.

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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.

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!

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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.

Donated Art, and an Event

Christmas Day on the Trail, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

I took a walk on the Panhandle Trail on Christmas Day 2011, a lovely sunny day and even fairly warm, no snow, but no rain either. Of course, there were many photo opportunities and one of my pleasures of being on the trail is also doing a sketch or two. Above is my sketch from that Christmas Day, just a nice spot on the trail where the sun angled across the hills, touching certain trees and not others, throwing sunny splashes across the limestone chip surface. I remember the sycamores were very, very white, even in the shadows, and the oak trees on the hill a warm bright bronze in the sunlight.

I most often bicycle Panhandle, and though I am also on other trails this is the most familiar to me for how often I am on it. I always have my camera equipment and art materials; sometimes I am less about bicycling for the day than I am about painting and have easels and drawing boards and then some, pulling my bike along like a two-wheeled pack horse. But whether I am set up for a day of en plein air (“in the open air”) painting right there on the trail or just a quick sketch before I pedal on, I’m glad the trails are there for me.

Small sketches, affordable art and donations

I have a house full of small sketches I’ve done of my cats, my garden, my neighborhood and especially local trails and conservation areas. Usually pastel but sometimes pencil or charcoal or pen and ink, I’ve organized the originals into exhibits such as Winter White and printed them as notecards like My Home Town, Feline Sketches and Eye on the Sparrow.

I try to frame the originals as soon as possible, cutting my own mats and framing them with repurposed frames which people have given me or I’ve found at thrift shops and yard sales and cleaned up and refinished. They always come together in a nice, neat and unique piece of artwork. Because they are small and quick and I recycle materials, I also keep their prices affordable for someone who wants a piece of original artwork. I sell them myself and in other places—for instance, a number of these are now at Distinctively Different Decor & More and in my Etsy shop—but I also donate a certain number of these auctions to benefit animal shelters and other organizations; I’m gratified to find that bidding is often higher than what I would charge, so I’ve been able to benefit an organization I support with something I’ve created.

The Montour Trail Council is hosting the Pittsburgh Cycling Expo on Sunday, March 25 to benefit the Montour Trail. I’ve donated prints for their events in the past, and this time I offered a selection of recent trail sketches I’ve done on the Panhandle Trail and they chose the sketch above, “Christmas Day on the Trail”. I originally wrote about it on Today the day after I visited the trail, and you’ll see I added to it after I finished it—in order to make it fit the frame that matched it perfectly out of my stock of extras! But I so appreciate the presence of these trails which I use as often as possible for exercise, for art, for inspiration that I’m glad I can offer this for their benefit.

I’m also donating a framed photo, below, which is not from the trail, but it includes a bicycle, “Commuter”, taken in Pittsburgh’s Strip District; I’ve always liked this photo and it’s sold well at outdoor events, so I hope this earns bids for them as well.

Visit the website to read about the event which is sponsored by AeroTech Designs, a local clothing manufacturer in Coraopolis, PA that makes cycling clothing. In a roundabout way, I’m glad to be supporting a local business and employer as well.

Commuter, photo © B.E. Kazmarski

Another Place for My Art: Distinctively Different Decor…

Sophie Keeps an Eye on Things, photo © B.E. Kazmarski

Interior designer—and fellow cat rescuer—Bonita Farinelli and I met yesterday to consign a number of pieces of my artwork and prints to her Boutique at Distinctively Different Decor & More in Carnegie.

Borzois, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski

And you can have the chance to see it at her March Open House on Sunday, March 25, 2012.

Biding Time, print © B.E. Kazmarski

I’m so glad when my artwork can be out in the public, and when I’m not there with it I especially appreciate when it’s in the hands of a person who understands and respects it. Bonita is a fellow business owner in Carnegie and has converted a solid but sad unused building into a lovely place to look at, and plied her many skills and inspirations with fabrics, patterns and colors into works from handmade pillows to entire houses of unique colors, furniture and draperies.

Taking Flight, print © B.E. Kazmarski

I learned she was a cat lover when in her display for an event at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall last year she included a pair of breathtaking modern-styled feline-themed lamps. At that event and subsequent events and mixers we began trading cat stories and creative ideas and knew a partnership would work.

Are You Looking at Me? © B.E. Kazmarski

Got art? How much do you want? You have the space, I can fill it up with many different styles and sizes and subjects from abstract black and white photography to highly detailed realistic paintings to whimsical layered and textured “white collages”.

Gateway Center, Pittsburgh, white collage © B.E. Kazmarski

I have a number of cat and dog works there as well as landscapes and photography, a mix of originals and prints, small and large, all framed and ready to hang.

Sophie and Ellie Being Very Good, print © B.E. Kazmarski

I hope to see you there at some point on Saturday! And soon I will be writing about Bonita’s animal-inspired creations as well!

Burnished Waves, pastel © B. E. Kazmarski

Bonita also has need of a framer so we’ll be working together on a number of things.

Sunset on the Bay, watercolor © B. E. Kazmarski

See you there!

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!

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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.