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

Pen and Ink Drawings of Heads and Faces

  Inspired by Leonardo

 

 

 

 Even though I really, really Love sewing,  quilting,  jewelry making, house building,  dog tending, homestead planning and all else...

... it feels very nice to just sit at my desk every now and then and just play with ink and paper...

... and then I read this  quote by Walt Stanchfield,

“We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better.”

Funny..   well for better or for worse, I had fun doing them.

Crosshatching and line drawings in my sketchbook, a few hands and feet thrown in for good measure, crow quill dip pen, India Ink, and Acrylic Artist Ink.

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

Hand # 5

 

How do you like your coffee?  Gwen Buchanan

The Turks have a saying...

" Coffee should be Black as Hell, 

Strong as Death and

 Sweet as Love"

 ... I like mine with Foamed milk and Chocolate shavings... 

...a morning Ritual ...

 It got me thinking...

about how many people are taking part in this same morning ritual worldwide... 

...we are doing it Together... but separately,  in different places..  

and as a continual wave as the world rotates...

it's a huge communal Earthly coming together... even if we drink it all by ourselves. 

6" x 10", 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper, india ink, conte, brush, pen
...found a set of 4 of these heavy pottery blue and white mugs at a favourite thrift shop in Saint John last Fall.

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

One Thing After Another

...approx.  8 1/2" x 11"... a page in my sketchbook... drawing and lettering... pen, brush, ink, watercolor

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

The Human Skull

The Human Skull... 22 bones, common to all humans... the most complicated bony structure of the body...

The largest form of the skull is the Cranium... where every bump and hollow corresponds to the shape of the brain...



This bone structure is responsible for the outward appearance of the head and face... so much so that experts in anatomical sculpture can take a skull from unknown origin and quite accurately recreate the features of that individual...

At the front of the skull are two orbits that contain the eyeballs... and a central hole for the airway of the nose...


The upper jaw is part of the main skull... The lower jaw is a completely separate bone which pivots on the cheekbone... hinging on either side of the skull at ear level...

The entire facial area is small... compared to the size of the whole skull... making up only about one-eighth of the entire surface.......

The slight size and subtle shape variances of this bony structure are what makes each particular face unique and recognizable...

I love the challenge of taking on the skull as a creative endeavor in any medium... maybe because I feel I am looking back in time... maybe I just want to understand how we human beings are put together... or maybe just because I still have a lot of learning to do...

Click to see Other Skulls on my blog.

approx. 4" x 6" ink, watercolor, crow quill pen, brush on CP Arches WC paper

Red Flat Bark Beetle

 

Cucujus clavipes...

These insects live in the eastern forests of North America.... their habitat is under the bark of Ash and Poplar, especially of recently felled trees... extremely flat... brightly colored... eggs are laid under bark, where larvae seek prey... actual size of beetle is 10 - 14 mm.

.........It is not so much that I love bugs..... it is that they are fun to draw... as a skull is... It is the exoskeletal form and the stronger lines it affords that I like...

...approx. 3½" x 2" ink, watercolor, gouache, brush, crow quill pen on 140 CP Arches WC paper

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

A Bowl of Apples

A few green apples... a muted grey green bowl... the light was right... I felt inspired .....


approx. 4" x 6" ink, washes on 140 CP Arches watercolor paper....

The actual clay bowl was handmade by our friend, David Eastwood of Queenstown, NB...

Interpretation of an Egon Schiele

One of my favourite artists for inspiration..... especially when it comes to brevity of Line...

approx. 4" x 6" drawn and painted on the back of a old card I found in the studio.