Cats, Cats, Cats

Sketches, drawings, playing around in my sketchbook, charcoal, pencil, watercolour, ink, whatever felt right and was within reach... having fun with Cats... Love these creatures

Living in The Studio

A shot of the end of our kitchen.. we use it more like a studio, being as the house is so small... Everything is stacked up to the ceiling.   Brought one of the kerosene lamps out just in case the power goes out... I want to be ready... but right now I am enjoying the light being reflected off the snow.. altho I am not crazy about snow, by any means.

We had our first fire of the season back on Oct. 11. felt really good too.. had a little fire on most every day since.

 It has become cold very early this year... feels like we are going into our next Ice Age right before our eyes. 

Had the 2 cds. of firewood stacked outside and drying since early summer.. this is the wood for next year. mostly maple... we have this years wood already dried and stored inside.. we always dry our wood a year ahead if we possibly can... That is the woodshed John built last summer... sure is nice to have a real woodshed now instead of the Hobbit hut we had the first year here. that year it was stacked outside with snow piled all around it and John had to dig down to it every time we needed some.. looked like he was crawling into a igloo to get it on his hands and knees.. was not fun... good exercise tho, if one wanted to look at it in a positive way.

This stack of 2 cds was put away in the woodshed at the end of October.. that is late for us but it was not an especially good drying year. but John had it covered with two old sheets of tin roofing which let the air thru and kept it pretty well dry... all in now!!

Been playing around in my sketchbook this year during our sabbatical.

Oatmeal Brown Bread with raisins, sunflower seeds and flax... Love having time to make bread for us all.. it has been so many years since I have bought bread from a store, I can't remember. I always make 2 batches at a time and divide each batch in 2.. makes it easier to store and keeps it fresh as I put the other 3 in the freezer and then I don't have to make bread for a few days.

in the side field the milkweed is gently spreading its seeds... little parachutes flying everywhere.

Planted the garlic on Oct.22... later than last year.. was waiting for the ground to dry up a bit as it was a rainy Oct.  ...managed to plant over 100 cloves, double what I put in last year .. had to sacrifice them from the crop I grew this year.. sure hope they grow. 

to finish up I covered them with a thick layer of straw.  

I store them in a net bag I crocheted last winter.. this type is called Music and they are the best tasting garlic I ever had.. got the original bulbs from a garlic farmer not far outside Fredericton.

The birds are liking the sunflower seeds in the feeder outside my studio window.  We used another old piece of tin roofing to make a roof for the feeder, to give the birds a little shelter while they treat us with their beauty.. usually a big fat gray squirrel is sitting in there.. 

The snow is coming down out there right now and amounting to quite a bit. 

Still making a few earrings or posting some designs that have come to light after searching around in the backs of the jewelry storage cabinet... 

These sold in minutes on our FaceBook page soon after I posted them.

"Square Spiral" earrings, solid copper, antiqued with sterling shepherd  earwire... approx 7/8" across and 1 1/4" long. $25. pr.

"A little Medieval"... hammered shaped Sterling with African Turquoise... approx. 2" long .. handmade at Desideratum studio. $25. pr. 

If interested in any of our earrings please send us a message on our right sidebar. 

Well looks like winter has come early.. Hope everyone has a cozy place to curl up and stay warm.. till next time, Cheers, Gwen at Desideratum Art and Jewelry

The Owl and The Pussycat

Whimsical mismatched pair of "The Owl and The Pussycat".
Owl, 1 1/2", Pussycat 1 3/4", top of earwire to base of earring. 

Textured and Fused.

 Handmade in Sterling Silver and Copper at Desideratum Art and Jewelry studio.

 $25. pr
... background from my sketchbook.

Ginger Cat

"Ginger Cat" ...pen and watercolour, in my sketchbook

Research says for every 4 male ginger cats there is only one female ginger cat... it has to do with the genes... the orange color is produced due to the presence of the pigment "pheomelanin", which produces fur colors in the range of red to cream.

 This pigment is also found in human hair with these colorations.

Desideratum Art and Jewelry studio, New Brunswick, Canada

Cat # 7 and a New Pair of Embellishments

Earrings from the Desideratum Art Jewelry "Embellishments"  series.

Sketch of fluffy cat from my sketchbook ... pen, ink, watercolour washes, approx. 6" x 8"

A few interestings things about Cat's Eyes:

 A cat's eye is about 6 times more sensitive to light than our own.  They cannot literally see in the dark but they can see when it is too dark for us to see.  Their eye has a pupil that can open wide to let in all available light, including starlight and they have a special light reflecting layer behind the retina, that works as an image intensifier for night vision.  But it takes time, up to an hour, for a cat's eye to adjust completely from daylight to nightlight... it can worry a cat that is suddenly put out of a well lit home at night...  an outside light helps their eyes adjust. 

The lens of a cat's eye has a fixed focal length, like a camera... objects between 6' and 20' are the clearest... anything closer than 30" is probably blurred. It is thought, their peripheral field of view is better than right straight ahead.

A special feature of cat vision is the way the smallest flicker of movement catches their attention and they see these tiny movements best in low light conditions and hardly at all in bright light.

Colour does not seem to be very important to cats.

 

  Sterling Silver and Copper with a mix of mauve and blue-green glass and african turquoise, semi-precious stones.

 Segments are linked together with jump rings, so there is lots of movement.

One of a Kind... not to be reproduced.. although I can make a somewhat similar pair with different coloured stones at an individuals request... and it will be One of a Kind too..

  4" from top of earwire to bottom of earring.

 If interested in ordering, they are identified as Embellishent D #1.

Price $50.

...created by me at Desideratum Art and Jewelry studio, St. Martins, New Brunswick

*oh I just have to add this cool and unusual sunrise spread across the Bay of Fundy from yesterday morning ... of course it was way more amazing in real life... quite a perk after the gray days we had.  Cheers All!

Cat # 6

"Black Cat"

An older "Tom",   going into one of those trance like stares that almost puts them to sleep.

*

The black cat has had much written about it over time and is connected with much superstition and symbolism. 

Bad Luck...  satanism...witches... sorcery... evil incarnate... a coat the color of mourning...   History reports black cats were mercilessly put to death just for the color of their coat and its associations.  Superstition is silly isn't it. Just things we make up, convince ourselves about and decide to believe. Silly Humans, and we think we are so smart.

I have even read black cats were unfortunately referred to, as "the rabbit of the poor" and you know what that means.

Yet they survive, proud and beautiful, their coats shimmering in the sunlight... and the moonlight.
 Sleek and still with an air of beauty and mystery.

 Long live the black cat!

 *

...approx. 4" x 6", charcoal, conte, chalk on heavy brown paper...

 I love how these mediums grab and react on brown paper.

... sinking into minute portions of it while other particles remain lying on top.

*

Other Cats in the series:

Cat 1

Cat 2

Cat 3

Cat 4

Cat 5

Cat - Pre-Series

Gwen Buchanan at Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio,  New Brunswick, Canada

Cat # 5

"And the Orange Cat Sits and Stares, Waiting... Waiting..."

"The time has come" the Walrus said, "to talk of many things,

 of shoes ~ and ships ~ and pretty birds before they're on the wing".

A Cat's spin on a Louis Carroll Quote 

 Approx. 5 " x  7",  conte chalk pastels in my sketchbook

.

Cat # 4

"Cat for Guillaume"

...excerpt below from "Everything Cats Expect You To Know" by Elizabeth Martyn,  pub. 2007

"Cats are never as keen to respond to praise as dogs, because they evolved Not as pack animals,

 but as solitary hunters, for whom food was the only reward worth having. 

Lone wildcats didn't need to develop social skills and were content to walk by themselves. 

Even so, when the opportunity for easier life presented itself, they were quick to make the most of it."

*
approx. 5" x 7" of a cat perched on a windowsill, drawn using a stump  loaded with charcoal dust from another drawing which made very soft, almost elusive marks...  characteristics I think of in a cat.

from Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada

Cat 2

"Watching for the Dogs"    by Gwen Buchanan

approx.  6" x 7" charcoal, pastels on brown paper

"Cautious, like crossing a wintry stream,

Watchful, like one facing danger on every side,

Ceremonious, as one who pays a visit,

Yielding, like ice beginning to melt,

Genuine, like a piece of uncarved wood,

Open-minded, like a valley,

And mixing freely, like murky water. 

Which of you can assume such murkiness,

To become in the end still and clear;

Which of you can make yourself still,

To become in the end full of life?

Those who possess this Tao do not try to

Fill themselves to the brim,

And because they do not try to

Fill themselves to the brim,

They are like a garment that endures

All wear and need never be renewed."

 Ancient writing accredited to Lao Tzu,

 It is debated whether he was a man or men or a Philosophy...

Daybreak this morning from the studio

 

...Blooming Cornflower by our front step on November 24 ... hardy little plant, self-seeds too

Our dog Pirate, whom cats should be warned of... with the CornFlower in mild temperatures by the Bay of Fundy today. All the leaves have fallen now, only the evergreens give color in the forest and bluff-edge.

at Desideratum Art and Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, NB

Slumber..... Cat 1

Slumber  by Gwen Buchanan

Know that, if you have a warm cozy spot in your house... and... you have a cat... the two shall meet.

Cats can sleep up to 16 hours a day.. anyone who has ever had a cat will testify to this...

 and studies have shown that cats dream... or at least they show the same kind of brain activity that humans produce when they dream.  

They have phases of REM sleep, which is dream time and non REM sleep which is body repair time....

 and why shouldn't they?

Mark Twain, author of the Adventures of  Huckleberry Finn,
 penned a little cat trivia..

"The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid,

will not sit on a hot stove lid again.

Nor a cold stove lid."

"Slumber"  approx. 11" x 14" charcoal and bistre conte, from my sketchbook.

Desideratum Art and Jewelry studios, St. Martins, New Brunswick,  overlooking the Bay of Fundy

What Did I Say About Waking Me Up?

Disturbed, Gwen Buchanan

Cats are their own bosses... 

Do what they want, when they want.. 

Independent.

They only tolerate us Humans.

We are here to serve.

They have us trained well.

8 1/2" x 11" White, Black and Sanguine Conte on colored card stock.

 Desideratum Art/Jewelry Studio, St. Martins, NB

Sketchbook Cat Scratching

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where have you been?

I am a lover of Cats....

....but these are the only ones I have right now.......... I guess you could call them my Paper Cats...



.... done with crow quill dip pen and India Ink... sketched on Jan. 22/09