Forbidden by the Deep

I’m ending the week with this new ink drawing called Forbidden by the Deep. I took the title from a quote by Leonardo da Vinci that I came across in Ian Leslie’s wonderful book Curious.

“I came to the entrance of a great cavern, in front of which I stood for some time, astonished and unaware of such a thing. Bending my back into an arch I rested my left hand on my knee and held my right hand over my downcast and contracted eyebrows: often bending first one way and then the other; to see whether I could discover anything inside, and this being forbidden by the deep blackness within, and after having remained there for some time, two contrary emotions arose in me, fear and desire – fear of the threatening dark cavern, desire to see whether there were any marvellous thing within it.”

I know for me, as an artist, this nicely describes the feeling I have while creating images – fear and desire. I’m hesitant to draw universal conclusions but I imagine that this is the experience of most artists.

Details of the piece below for those who enjoy a closer look.

– Richard