I’m finding watercolour a good antidote, or at least coping mechanism, for the monochrome of the Ontario winter. These pieces started as ink line drawings done with a dip pen, which I later painted with watercolours. This is essentially Arthur Rackham’s technique.
The first image, Agitator, was adapted from a tiny pencil sketch I made several years ago when I was illustrating Clive Barker’s Weaveworld for Earthling Publications. My new rendering of it isn’t related to Weaveworld—I simply used the sketch as a seed for the new piece.
The second image is called Witch Garden. It was also derived from a sketch, albeit a more recent one. I took a risk with the bluish colour of the main figure, but I wanted her to appear spectral, giving the effect you might get spotting a mushroom growing amid leaf litter. Can you spot the 2nd witch growing out of the ground? I’m considering doing a larger version of this in oil later in the winter. I think the lushness would look great paired with the richness of oil.
Finally, here are a couple of details.
Both images are currently available in my shop. Thanks for looking.
Richard
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 
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