The tiny musings found below will perhaps provide you an opportunity to pause and reflect on our world and our place in it. You can subscribe to receive posts in your inbox (approximately once a week)! Note: all writing and art is © Christopher Buddle.
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In Flight
A swirl of pigeons
Dancing between skyscrapers
-urban wingbeats
Notes: On my walk to work from my commuter train station, I often see a flock* of pigeons. I find them amazing, adaptable, and striking birds. They are also such impressive fliers – you often hear them before seeing them**. Strong, purposeful birds when in the air. There is always quite a large flock in one specific downtown park and the other day I observed them take off and fly together. They moved as if one (similar to the fantastic murmations of starlings) and circled up from the park, up between and among the skyscrapers in the downtown core. Above the cars, city busses, walkers and cyclists. Nature is around us, all the time. City pigeons remind us of this.
* I understand that collective nouns for pigeons also include “kit” or “loft”, but I’ll stick with the more well-known “flock”. That being said, I hereby propose “swirl of pigeons” to represents a flock of these birds, in flight.
** I must share with you that a few weeks ago a pigeon flew right into the side of my head as I was walking through a park. There was a flock coming in fast, heading towards some foodstuffs that had been placed near a park bench. One of them didn’t judge the obstacles quite right and hit the side of my head. It was baffling, hilarious, unexpected, and unusual. A unique event; I heard the bird before I saw (and felt) it.
© Christopher M Buddle 2023
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Charlotte A Cavatica
Humble barn dweller
– legs aplenty, catching flies
spinning silken tales
Notes on the process: I am grateful to work at a University with such an amazing library, including a phenomenal division of Rare Books and Special Collections. In that division, there are also printing presses (the Book Arts lab) and they have a print-shop for special projects. Back in the late summer, the former Trenholme Dean of Libraries suggested I undertake a collaboration and create some spider-themed art and haiku and see about getting prints done. This came to fruition last week, and the end product is above. I did the art as a simple black and white line-drawing of a barn spider, and the Haiku was inspired by Charlotte’s Web (see below) – my colleagues in the library generously got a plate made of the spider drawing, and helped typeset the Haiku, and I was able to work with them to print off a dozen or so prints. We selected sepia as the ink colour – but so many options were available! A few photos of the process are below. What fun! And I am so thankful to the team who helped me with this (especially Lauren).
Notes on the art: Charlotte’s Web is a very well known children’s story by EB White. Archnophiles (like me) like to dig deeper into the story and see whether or not EB White was accurate in the depiction of Charlotte, the spider who saves the day. You might recall that the full name of the spider is Charlotte A. Cavatica – and is modelled after the ‘barn spider’. The scientific name of that species is Araneus cavaticus. So, well done, EB White! My illustration above does hopefully have a likeness to the barn spider. EB White got her basic biology and life cycle correct too (Charlotte doesn’t live that long, and lays eggs in late summer, the egg sac overwinters, etc). Very impressive. Charlotte wrote a lot of words in her web, including Humble. The Haiku is therefore trying to capture elements of Charlotte’s Web, and capture elements of her natural history.
Notes on next steps: What shall I do with the prints? The plate is now housed at the Library and there will be opportunities in the future to do more prints – I can select other font types or sizes, other ink colours, or even options to use multiple ink colours! What fun! Please let me know your ideas for next steps with this printing press project. I feel that it’s just the beginning.
© Christopher M Buddle 2023
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January
Cough, hack, phlegm, mucous
a soup of viruses
welcomes the New Year
Notes: There are certainly quite a lot of viruses making their way around our society right now (especially in northern realms). Whether COVID, RSV, influenza, or other unknown colds, there are many people feeling unwell as we begin 2023. Our own house was certainly not spared – many of us had COVID* back in the late autumn, but some other ‘bugs’ were in the mix over the holidays and into the new year. Things are looking up the upswing now (for us!) but if you are still feeling unwell – I hope you can rest up, heal, and feel like yourself again soon.
*It is fortunate that my immediate family all had relatively mild cases of COVID, but I know it’s a very serious illness for many people – my good friend Eleanor has written about her experiences – it’s worth a read.
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Max
Springing through underbrush.
– with smiles on our faces.
Forest bathing.
Notes: First and foremost – Happy New Year! I’m excited to keep bringing you posts every week (hopefully!). Please share with others, – perhaps you know people who would enjoy receiving these mini art and poetry posts each Monday.
We had the pleasure of dog-sitting for part of the holiday break – a two-year old English Springer Spaniel named Max. He was a wonderful house guest – full of energy, but a pooch who was also able to chill. There were many highlights, but top among them was surely the long walks through local forests, and watching him bounce through the snow. He loves to run, and if dogs could smile and tell you stories, I know Max would say that his happy place involves dashes through the forest. There is great evidence being in nature is beneficial for overall wellness – a term sometimes known as forest bathing. Dogs have this figured out.
© Christopher M Buddle 2023
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The Forest Path
On a winter foot-path
silhouettes emerge
– reaching skyward
Notes: Over the holidays we had many consecutive days of cloudy skies, but even the grey days bring interesting sights, especially when walking along some of the many forest paths near my house. I snapped a photo of tree silhouettes as we were returning from a jaunt with Max (the beautiful dog we hosted for ten days or so). For some reason that view of the trees at the end of the snowy path stuck with me, and one evening last week I took out a wee square of watercolour paper and tried to capture it from memory, and that’s the illustration, above. The original is about 2 x 3 inches in size. Small is sometimes fun, even when the subject matter is large!
© Christopher M Buddle 2023
art, drawing, ink, Landscape, nature, pen, silhouette, snow, thumbnail, Watercolor, Watercolour, winter -
Tannenbaum
Family, food, and rest.
Baubles nestled within boughs.
Traditions run strong.
Happy holidays!
The tradition of putting up an evergreen tree inside a house, adorned with twinkle lights, baubles, and homemade decorations, is, well, weird and wonderful. There are countless other traditions that people follow at this time of year, and I know that they bring a lot of joy. At the same time, the holiday season can be difficult for some, so we can’t forget the dichotomy of this time of year. For me, I am looking forward to some downtime, time with family, good food, and rest. I hope to read a few books, do some long walks, and avoid screens to the extent possible. And on that front, I will not be posting again until January. I also extend a big THANK YOU for following this blog over the past few months. Your interest and engagement is so uplifting – I am grateful.
© Christopher M Buddle 2022
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Caw, caw
Caw-caw: watch, hop, flap
– black feathered harbinger
you see right through me
The lone crow cries
across the frozen field.
Civic twilight
Notes: I am in awe of crows* and enjoy drawing them**. There are great books written about crows (and their relatives!), that highlight their intelligence, behaviours, and inquisitive nature (some good videos out there too). I like to watch crows, especially murders*** of them, bobbing their heads, hopping about, talking to each other. I am grateful that I see and hear crows almost daily.
It is a dark time here in Montreal, in early December. And when in a mood reflective of the short days I am reminded that crows are also symbols of darkness, and can be frightening, or remind us of bleak or desolate or difficult times or places; they can be harbingers of more darkness ahead, perhaps.
On 6 December I attended a memorial of the tragic and horrific massacre of fourteen female engineering students, an event that occurred 33 years ago in Montreal. It must always be remembered, and attending the event was so emotional, especially when fourteen (current) female engineering students at McGill spoke and then placed white roses on the plaque. There was a stillness that overcame all of us. It grew quiet, as if on cue.
And then, high in the sky, two crows passed by, saying “caw… caw…” – to each other, to us, to the world.
*I have a tattoo of a crow
**I have sketched crows enough that they are a rare example of a subject matter that does not require me to have a reference (live or photo) to get a general likeness. Today’s sketches presented above were done quickly with a brush pen, during the last stretch of my train ride home last Friday. I *think* they present a likeness to crows, but you can be the judge of that.
***a congregation or gathering of crows is aptly called a murder of crows
© Christopher M Buddle 2022
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Mr Fox
Abrupt stop, mid-stride
– smiling under orange fur.
Fantastic.
Notes: Foxes are marvelous mammals. Dashing, quick, and with fabulous colouration. I am a huge fan of Wes Anderson movies so when I think of foxes I often reflect on the stop-motion depiction of Fantastic Mr Fox. Mr. Fox is clever, and creative, and often (too?) bold, just like the movie. Foxes are pretty great at outwitting humans (with our relatively stunted senses) and while they are not always a friend to farmers, I hold a lot of admiration for them. And, like rabbits, they are often found in our towns and cities, and when rabbits and foxes are around together, you can be sure the chase is on...
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Terminal B
Cellphones and rollerbags
The dreariness of airports
Time is fast and slow.
Staring at smartphones.
Vacant looks in sterile lounges.
The joy of travel.
Sparrow flies to the high ceiling
– at Terminal B
Notes: Airports are strange places*. I was travelling earlier this month so I got to experience quite a few of them. And, of course, airports always seem to involve either rushing around in a panic, or boredom – there is not much in between. For someone who likes certainty (don’t we all?), I find that airports can sometimes be anxiety-provoking. I generally try to practice my figure and portrait sketches** when waiting in an airport lounge, and the images I am sharing today were done earlier in November at airports in Orlando, Newark, and Raleigh, and I also had time for writing more than a few Haiku***. I seem to be unable to focus on much when in transit, so getting out the pen and sketchbook is somewhat therapeutic and helps pass the time. People watching is, I think, a fun part of the airport experience, and I certainly observed the ongoing attachment to fast food, cellphones and music-listening. While a few people had books (or e-books), most were scrolling through their screens, texting, or otherwise fixated on the small screen they were clutching, or enjoying French Fries. Or, they were sitting with their eyes closed, listening to music (or, of course, there were some families present too, and their level of activity was markedly different, and was more about parents trying to ‘shush’ their kids, or chase after them. It was hard to do figure sketches with all that activity!). Overall people were in their own bubbles, so despite airports being such busy places, they can be surprisingly quiet.
* They are strange because of people, long lines, lots of emotion, security, exaggerated food prices, weird kiosks (how many phone cases do people need?), ‘massage’ chairs, but also because sometimes you see nature in airports too – sparrows and other wildlife can sometimes moves about the cavernous spaces. The strangeness of airports, I think, is so well captured in Station Eleven. A book I highly recommend.
**full disclosure: I really struggle with drawing people or any parts of them. For some reason I can’t seem to find the enthusiasm to practice the human figure or face, but like all things, practice is the key. I try to keep the tools very simple when doing quick figure sketches i.e., technical pen and sometimes a grey brush pen for a bit of shading, and a small (3 x 5”) pocket sketchbook. I also try to be really discrete and quick about the sketches. I try to sit relatively far from subjects, and each sketch is typically done in just 2-3 minutes. More time does not tend to help, I find!
** this is very full post compared to usual. I was struggling with what to publish (for both the quick sketches and the Haiku), so I just published a bunch of things. Hope you don’t mind! Maybe this will inspire you to grab a sketchbook and pen next time you are travelling? It’s a low investment way to make your boring time in airports perhaps a bit more interesting.
© Christopher M Buddle 2022
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Cardinal
November snowfall
Red alert! (in the backyard)
– feathered perfection.
Notes: I am so grateful that we have many northern cardinals* that inhabit our backyard year-round, and after a snowfall (the first of which we had last week), their brilliant red plumage stands out perfectly against the white backdrop. The contrast is so incredible. They are really quite interesting birds, and I am forever astounded by the volume that the males have when they sit atop a tree singing their hearts out – their vocalizations seem to carry across many, many blocks (you can find examples of their vocalizations here). Sometimes (early in the morning, in the spring) it seems as if they are sitting right outside the bedroom window, blasting straight into our brains at sunrise. They can be kind of piggy at the bird feeders, but I just don’t mind since I think they are so beautiful and my world is better because northern cardinals are part of it.
* my sloppy/messy watercolour is low on accuracy, but if I close my eyes, I imagine cardinals more like my depiction, above. Lots of wild colour kind of all over the place.
© Christopher M Buddle 2022
art, cardinal, drawing, ink, nature, northern cardinal, ornithology, pen, poetry, snow, Watercolor, Watercolour, winter
Nature's Reverie 