Throughout her long and celebrated career, Kenojuak Ashevak continuously refined her graphic style, shifting from graphite to crayon to coloured pencil as new materials became available. Yet her devotion to avian imagery, particularly birds, remained a consistent throughline. 

This 2005 drawing belongs to a period in which Ashevak was expanding both the scale and complexity of her compositions. As in much of her work, symmetry and balance are central. The vivid blue ravens counterweigh the vertical thrust of the owl’s body, while the more muted wolves fill negative space, adding compositional weight without disrupting the flow.

Colour, for Ashevak, was never arbitrary. She chose her pencils in advance, selecting with intent. Blue and green may not be naturalistic renderings of Arctic plumage, but here they bring unexpected drama and compositional clarity. The result is a work that hums with life and structure, a celebration of form, colour, and the artist’s lifelong dialogue with the natural world.