Memorial Day Parade, a pencil sketch
“Memorial Day Parade”, 12″ x 18″, pencil, 2008 © Bernadette E. Kazmarski
The good old traditional parade on the good old traditional Main Street, in my home town of Carnegie, PA. I am not a big fan of parades but my mother loved them, so every year until the year before she died I set us up on Main Street regardless of the weather and we cheered along the high school marching bands and local dignitaries and fire companies and reenactors marching in the parade. Going out for an ice cream sundae afterward capped it off.
Each year our community held an art exhibit called “Carnegie Painted” for 2-D art depicting images of Carnegie; this was one of my entries in 2008, sketched from photos I had taken of the parade. Instead of color I decided to render it in pencil, in a style reminiscent of World War II cartoons. Pencil is so expressive, and it really reduces lines down to just what they need to be to get the point across, and this illustration style is almost impressionistic in its quality of line and level of detail.
Also, my father was a veteran of WWII, and my mother graduated high school and began her life during the war years—she considered it “her time”. I always felt as if I’d lived then with all the stories and memories. As my mother was growing older and finding and reading through my father’s service papers I actually came to feel closer to that time. This drawing in this style was a memory of that parade, of my mother, my father and a lot of other things combined. It all connects to a story I’m writing.
I sold the original, but have prints and notecards of it in various sizes. Visit my website to read about this and other pieces in my “My Home Town” series.
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Memorial Day Parade, a pencil sketch
Memorial Day Parade, pencil, 2008 © B.E. Kazmarski
The good old traditional parade on the good old traditional Main Street, in my home town of Carnegie, PA. I am not a big fan of parades but my mother loved them, so every year until the year before she died I set us up on Main Street regardless of the weather and we cheered along the high school marching bands and local dignitaries and fire companies and reenactors marching in the parade. Going out for an ice cream sundae afterward capped it off.
Each year our community held an art exhibit called “Carnegie Painted” for 2-D art depicting images of Carnegie; this was one of my entries in 2008, sketched from photos I had taken of the parade. Instead of color I decided to render it in pencil, in a style reminiscent of World War II cartoons. Pencil is so expressive, and it really reduces lines down to just what they need to be to get the point across, and this illustration style is almost impressionistic in its quality of line and level of detail.
Also, my father was a veteran of WWII, and my mother graduated high school and began her life during the war years—she considered it “her time”. I always felt as if I’d lived then with all the stories and memories. As my mother was growing older and finding and reading through my father’s service papers I actually came to feel closer to that time. This drawing in this style was a memory of that parade, of my mother, my father and a lot of other things combined. It all connects to a story I’m writing.
I sold the original, but have prints and notecards of it in various sizes. Visit my website to read about this and other pieces in my “My Home Town” series.
Sketches: The Living Room Concert
The Living Room Concert, 7″ x 10″, ink © B.E. Kazmarski
Live music is more special than can be described, no matter the genre. Like seeing an original painting, watching musicians perform a program of music can’t be equaled in any recording.
And hearing it in the comfort of someone’s living room makes it all the better, with no real distance between the performers and the listeners. It’s really the way music was meant to be appreciated.
This was another concert of the “Living Room Chamber Music Project” in Pittsburgh, this time at a friend’s house. Feeling more comfortable in this venue I carried my Big Bag of Art Materials intending to sketch if I could, if the muse was with me and I wouldn’t distract or interrupt the musicians or the audience. And so she was with me while I produced three sketches and lots of ideas for paintings and possibly collaboration. I love to sketch musicians while they play, letting their performance and the music itself carry me along.
The group has two pianists, Billie Jo Miller and Jack Kurutz, who play at alternate times and act as page turners for each other and sometimes play piano four hands, and a violinist, Ashley Buckley, an oboeist, Lenny Young, and a vocalist who did not perform here tonight because she is in another performance. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire concert, but hearing Spiegel im Spiegel live had me spellbound.
Schumann, pencil, 9″ x 7″ © B.E. Kazmarski
Pièce, pencil, 7″ x 8″ © B.E. Kazmarski
Read about another concert by these musicians, and more about chamber music.
Memorial Day Parade, a pencil sketch
Memorial Day Parade, pencil, 2008 © B.E. Kazmarski
The good old traditional parade on the good old traditional Main Street, in my home town of Carnegie, PA. I am not a big fan of parades but my mother loved them, so every year until the year before she died I set us up on Main Street regardless of the weather and we cheered along the high school marching bands and local dignitaries and fire companies and reenactors marching in the parade. Going out for an ice cream sundae afterward capped it off.
Each year our community held an art exhibit called “Carnegie Painted” for 2-D art depicting images of Carnegie; this was one of my entries in 2008, sketched from photos I had taken of the parade. Instead of color I decided to render it in pencil, in a style reminiscent of World War II cartoons. Pencil is so expressive, and it really reduces lines down to just what they need to be to get the point across, and this illustration style is almost impressionistic in its quality of line and level of detail.
Also, my father was a veteran of WWII, and my mother graduated high school and began her life during the war years—she considered it “her time”. I always felt as if I’d lived then with all the stories and memories. As my mother was growing older and finding and reading through my father’s service papers I actually came to feel closer to that time. This drawing in this style was a memory of that parade, of my mother, my father and a lot of other things combined. It all connects to a story I’m writing.
I sold the original, but have prints and notecards of it in various sizes. Visit my website to read about this and other pieces in my “My Home Town” series.
The Winter Trail
Winter Trail, pastel © B.E. Kazmarski
Despite today’s lovely snowfall, I need to catch up on not only photos but sketches as well. Last Sunday was a perfect sunny winter day, even somewhat warm by winter standards, warm enough that I would take my bike to the trail (I try not to ride below 45 degrees because of windburn), though my ultimate goal was the peace and relaxation of sketching something.
Reference Photo
I know the trail pretty well, where the shadows fall while the sun is still at its winter angle and where the trail itself stays icy until well into May. The Panhandle Trail was once a railroad line and has some deep cuts through limestone walls where it’s actually cool even on a hot summer day.
Of course, I thought I’d get a few sketches done, but only stopped at one area about two miles from the Walker’s Mill trailhead, at the bend where you can look across a little valley, Robinson Run and a flood plain to see one of the oldest cabins in the region, the Ewing-Walker-Glass Cabin, “rebuilt” in about 1750.
I’ll paint that someday, but I did the sketch above, “Winter Trail”, 9 x 12 in pastel—who ever said winter was colorless?—and the 5 x 7 pencil sketch below. Looks like I forgot to sign it…
Winter Trail Sketch, pencil © B.E. Kazmarski
Today 