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 # 7

Hand at Rest, Gwen Buchanan

 ...very, very loosely done .. sketchy...  almost a doodle,

 exploring  texture, line, washes, cross-hatching, tone....

 This drawing was done earlier in the spring

'cause lately......

I've been working non-stop in the jewelry studio 

catching up, sending out, making more, pulling out my hair and drinking lots of coffee...

as a matter of fact my  hands really do look like the one above..   

rather worn out and wonky

but no time for resting hands at the moment,

 'cause I'm........ 

 "Making hay while the sun shines"

 John Heywood, 1497-1580, writer ... best known for his Proverbs

even if it's raining.

Cheers All  xoxo

George Orwell

George Orwell told it like he saw it.

..." All animals are created equal,
but some animals are more equal than others"...
animal farm, chapter 10

... Like we all still see it...

I'm sure you have read his book...   What do you think???

...8" x 9",  in my sketchbook... pen, ink, cross hatch, watercolor...  

Crow inspired by Arthur Rackham... 

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

Borzoi

A dog bred in Russia...

perhaps developed from the Saluki and long haired Collie-types ...

once known as the Russian Wolfhound... now Borzoi...

Tall...  height at their withers is at least 29 inches..

has a silky wavy coat in a multitude of color variations....

Borzoi have elegantly long and powerful jaws... 

jaws bred for clutching wolves and game hunting...

long muscular legs...

capable of running at tremendous speed...
the word Borzoi means "swift".

due to their intelligence... and stubbornness...

one of the hardest of all breeds to train...

much patience needed...
loyal... 

rarely bark... can be aloof...

...a sight hound... keen eyesight...

They say their temperament requires understanding...

 it is not wise to annoy them.

Dogs are still taking my attention..

approx. 5½" x 8½" pen and ink, cross hatch, watercolor washes.

Trivia.... The Borzoi is the symbol of  "Alfred A Knopf"  publishing house.



 

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me....

 

.sketches inspired by the stop-motion photography by Eadweard Muybridge,  1830 - 1904 ..... 

... my, my the things one learns when doing a little research... as I was looking up information on Muybridge's horse photography experiments, I found this......... 

"In 1874, still living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Muybridge discovered that his wife had a lover, a Major Harry Larkyns. On 17 October, he sought out Larkyns; said, "Good evening, Major, my name is Muybridge and here is the answer to the letter you sent my wife"; he then killed the Major with a gunshot. " 

...this incident obviously interrupted his photography work.......

.....yes, I know...  I'm sketching and playing in my sketchbook and looking up things on Muybridge when I'm suppose to be working....... OK......  back to the workbench.

.

Cross-Hatching Practicing

Cross Hatch of my son Max's face

When you have a New pen ... 

...don't you want to see what it can do... 

don't you want to start playing, to see where the lines take you...  

I do.

 Cross Hatch of my son Max's Ear

...don't you want to see what it has to say...

....anything  and everything... to be true.

...don't you want to see who or what is hiding inside... 

or what is on its mind?

I do.

.... drawn from a photograph of my son...when he was younger and had hair...   for now he has shaved it all off...  

...funny how one gets used to seeing hair on a head and how strange a shaved head looks initially when you are not expecting it... shocking really, when you love hair as much as I do..  it has been a while now and I'm trying to get used to it... 

...OptiFlow Needles pen ... Ear approx. 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" .... Portrait approx. 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" 

... I found the ink not to be waterproof.. although it flowed beautifully when using it... so as long as your image is protected afterward, I guess it would be ok..   

...and I was disappointed that I made a wrinkle in my paper...  (just above his upper lip)  ...darn...