Author: richardakirk

I am a Canadian artist, illustrator and author. This blog is where I talk about projects that am working on. I show finished works, but I also show works in progress and things that inspire me along the way. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. Thanks for dropping by.

Dreamsick – New Silverpoint

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Dreamsick, 2018, silverpoint, 5″ x 6″

My first blog post of 2019 is to show you one of the last drawings I did in 2018! Dreamsick is meant to convey that sense of disorientation that can sometimes follow you out of your dreams. Sometimes the feeling is a little sickening, but often it is a welcome change of perspective or perception.

This drawing is available for sale. Message me here, or through social media for details if you are interested. The piece is $500.00 CAN + $20.00 for shipping (Canada Post). Payment through Paypal. Image size is 5″ x 6″ with about .5″ of white border around the edge. It is drawn in silver on a white ground over acid free illustration board.

Happy New Year!

  • Richard.

Russian Edition of Necessary Monsters

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I can now show you the cover art for the Russian edition (Eksmo) of my novel Necessary Monsters. I really like the cover, it reminds me of George McDonald’s Lilith, which has a nice resonance for me. Quite a thrill to see this. Unfortunately, I don’t know the artist’s name yet, but I will update when I find out. The image below is the original edition (Arche Press), which features my art, a crop from my drawing Chimera.

– Richard.

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Chimera, 2009, ink on paper, 28″ x 40″

Darkness

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This is a newly completed silverpoint drawing called Darkness. The under drawing was done in 2016, and it was intended to be the third in a series of three (Flowers of Wisdom and Ptah, also shown), but I ran out of time. I finally found some time to render Darkness this week. If you look closely at this scan, you can see the parts of the drawing that have not yet tarnished. The other two sold long ago, so unfortunately they will never hang as a grouping (unless the same collector buys it, whomever they are!) At least here, you can see them as I originally intended. I hope you enjoy them.

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Ptah, Lord of Eternity, 2016, silverpoint, 9″ x 6″
Flowers of Wisdom, 2016, silverpoint, 9″ x 6″

Wandering Star

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I spent much of yesterday finishing this drawing, which has been in my studio for a while. It was originally conceived for a Lovecraft themed show at Copro Gallery a couple of years ago (curated by Cris Velasco). Unfortunately, my workload at the time was very heavy and in the end I went with a smaller piece. Anyway, it was great to finally get this piece finished. Love this medium, and I will definitely be starting another carbon pencil piece right away. Hopefully it won’t take two years to finish!

– Richard.

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Wandering Star, 2018, carbon pencil, 22″ x 16″

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The Hollowing & The Candidate

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The Hollowing, 2018, ink on paper, 20″ x 16″

These are two recent drawings done more or less back to back. If you look closely, you can see that they have similar compositional bones, despite the difference in technique. The Hollowing was created for a WOW X WOW show called Monochromagic coming up in September. The Candidate was created for an August show called The Thin Black Line, at Ars Memoria Gallery. Click on the images to open larger versions in a separate window.

  • Richard
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The Candidate, 2018, ink on paper, 8″ x 12″