Celebrating the stories of rescued cats and the people who rescued them, and the artwork of animal artist and writer Bernadette E. Kazmarski.
Great Rescues Calendar was a 16-month desk calendar and gift book featuring 16 portraits of rescued cats I’ve been commissioned to paint in the 20 years (in 2011) I’d been an animal portrait artist.
Great Rescues Day Book contains the same portraits and stories but redesigned into an undated monthly day book for perpetual use to record the dates of birthdays, anniversaries and events, still featuring 16 portraits of rescued cats and their stories, painted and written by me.
Great Rescues Day Book is spiral-bound so it lays flat, and measures 8″ x 10″ to easily fit on your desk or in a purse, briefcase or backpack. Here’s what two actual monthly pages look like.
Great Rescues Day Book portrait and story/calendar pages.
At left and right, and at the bottom of this entry, you’ll find a list of links to pages on this site, each of which describes a section of this book.
It’s all about the rescue stories
While the portraits are lovely and I’m proud of my body of work, the stories of these cats, and the people who rescued them, is what compels me to share them with you. Each of the stories tells of cats abandoned and saved, cats from shelters and streets, cats found inside car engines and cats reluctantly surrendered by people who could no longer care for them, but each one has a happy ending as a cherished companion in a loving home.
And while each cat has an individual story, each rescuer has a story as well of reaching out to an animal in need to bring it in to safety. In many cases they helped heal physical and emotional wounds and gave that cat a lifetime of love, in return receiving love and devotion; often those humans received healing in return they weren’t aware they needed.
It’s no small decision for a person to choose to commission me for a portrait of their animal companion. These are the cats who made a difference in the rescuer’s life: the first cats adopted, leading to a life of living with and even rescuing other cats; the ones who arrived at a time of need and filled a void; the “heart cats”, those most special who we remember apart from all the others we’ve known and lived with.
All of the artwork throughout, including the sketches and illustrations in the Resources section, are my original work and are actually sketches of my own cats through the years. All of the writing and design is also my own as well.
I have many more stories after these through portraits of dogs, of dogs and cats, of cats and people and dogs and people, of dogs and cats and grandchildren and more. I hope to publish other volumes, but for this first I chose the subject that first inspired me to find myself as an artist; I’ve focused on cats.
Read more about Great Rescues Day Book
Please browse this site with the links at left or right to find out more about the content of the calendar and my work as a portrait artist. I hope you are as inspired as I have been by their stories, and that it gives you 16 months of reassurance of the goodness of people who rescue animals and an enjoyment of the beauty of cats just being themselves.
My own personal dedication in this book:
Thank you, Kublai, Sally, Stanley, Allegro, Moses and Fawn, my first feline family, for patiently showing me the way; only gone from this mortal life, you are immortal in everything I create.
Read more or purchase
To purchase see below, or please browse the rest of the site to read more about the contents using the menus on each page or use the links below to read about each section.
Purchase a copy of Great Rescues Day Book
©2011-2025 Bernadette E. Kazmarski | All Rights Reserved.
No content may be used without WRITTEN PERMISSION from the author.
Great Rescues Calendar and Great Rescues Day Book are published by Beauty of a Moment Publishing
Site designed by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Lovely for the eyes, and the spirit.
A great labor of love.
Oh, and Christmas is only four months away.
Thank you , dear!
Lovely in every way, for the eyes and for the spirit. And you can tell the love that went into it.
Christmas is only four months away…….
allia
Bernadette, absolutely beautiful ~ in many ways. I am trying to order; however, the last menu selection appearing for me is “~a sample story”. The site, or my computer, does not allow me to scroll below. Is it the site, or my computer?
Thank you! A few others don’t see the menu at all! Yes, there are nine pages after that. It may be monitor settings since the menu is fixed–supposedly for convenience while browsing! I’m going to add a link to the purchase page on the home page, and I think I’ll also end up adding a mini menu to each page as a workaround for now. In the meantime, here is your link: http://greatrescuescalendar.com/purchase-great-rescues/
Too bad you can’t read the rest right now!
I have seen this calendar in person and it is beautiful! A perfect combination of professional photography and functionality. Love the binding that allows it to lay flat when opened!! Great job Bernadette!
Couldn’t have done it without you, Derek! Thanks for your patience with all my quote requests and staying late to bind the first few.
Congratulations Bernadette. It’s beautiful!!! All the best,
Barbara
Thanks for visiting Barbara! And my studio renovation is complete (it went on and on) and I can finish Bodie and Bear Bear’s portrait. When I do the dog version of Great Rescues, let’s talk about including them!
I would love to buy one! And how much would you charge to paint Monkey?
Lynn, thanks so much! Scroll down the menu and you’ll see information about my portraiture and a link to purchase. There are also links to my website to see more portraits and see how I put one together. Thanks for visiting!
This is a beautiful site, describing a beautiful calendar. Hope sales go through the roof!
Carolyn
Thank you, Carolyn, and thank you for supporting me!