Tuesday, December 02, 2014

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!

13 comments:

Sharmon Davidson said...

Gwen, those earring are just gorgeous, and so is the sunrise... Thanks for the interesting info about cats' eyes; I've has cats all my life and never knew any of this.

Guillaume said...

Does the cat come with the earrings?;-) If yes, I'll buy a pair.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Guillaume, I haven't sold any of my original drawings/watercolours yet... I'm hoping to make prints of many of them, then they will be available. I appreciate that you thought enough of it to have in your possession.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thanks Sharmon, Just a few things I discovered while doing some cat research. I love cats but I don't have one at the moment.

Steven Cain said...

Wow! What a sunrise! And cat! And springy earrings!

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hey Steven, it was cool cause it sneaked out beneath a heavy gray layer that stretched out straight across the sky. It was brief although lovely to see.

WILDSIDE said...

ok, you live in wow territory! but you are quite wow yourself...

as to cats and color, my (20+ year old) kitten seemed to have a preference for red. which seemed strange for me because i'd been told they see in B&W (correct or not!).

tomorrow a couple of cat documentaries are going up at my blog. (my mom loves cats)

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Wildside... This is what I found out about Cats and seeing colour: "Night vision depends on cells called Rods, which give a black and white image only; a cat's retina is packed with these cells while we have comparatively few. Our own eyes are rich in colour sensitive Cone cells; cat's eyes contain far fewer of these. ..... until recently they thought cats could not see colour at all but now researchers believe they can see ultra violet, blue and green, prob. yellow but not red, although they don't distinguish between different shades as we do."
...that's all I can find out for now.

jerilanders said...

And cheers to you as well, Gwen. I love the information on the cats vision, as it helps me to better understand my dear little feline friends and their quirks. Never again will I send a puss outside at night without first turning on a porch light. Your beautiful bangles of stones and glass would entice any woman.I love your mixture of copper and silver. For some odd reason, the squarish pink glass makes me think of a piece of hard candy...in a good way.

Janice / Dancing with Sunflowers said...

Hi Gwen, your cat sketch is adorable. I love it - you are so talented! Those ear rings are certainly spectacular too - they are gorgeous. I hope all is well with you and that you're keeping warm as your part of the world slips deeper into winter.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Thank you Janice, All's well on the home front ... wishing the same for you. Yes North-Eastern North America was hit with cold temps much earlier than normal.. Hope we come out the other side just as early!

Hi Jeri,.. So you are imagining visions of hard candy... cute, do you suppose it is because the decadent Christmas season is upon us?

WILDSIDE said...

Thanks for the reply, Gwen! I'm late, but finally found it! Very interesting what you found...

Still so amazed by your wonderful surroundings -- and by what you do.

Just a hello! Not quite sure when I'll be able to find my way back.

Gwen Buchanan said...

Hi Wildside... Thanks for visiting! Hope all is well.