Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author
"there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion" Sir Frances Bacon, Of Beauty, Essays" 1625
CRYPTIC is the first of two miniature projects I've done this summer. It consists of FIVE hand-drawn, 6" x 6" panels on a smooth, heavy paper. The title and artist's signature are on the back. I decided on this format to keep this family of characters together. The first is in profile. The three interior... Continue Reading →
Aqueous Humor, 2026 (April), ink and watercolour on 140lb Arches hotpress, 10" x 14." I finished a new water colour and ink piece this week called Aqueous Humor. I drew the image in ink on 140lb Arches hot press paper with a dip pen and tinted it with water colour washes. There are a couple... Continue Reading →
Since my last post I've been continuing the cycle of work started in January. These works are characterized by their technique of ink and watercolour or acrylic ink washes, but also by a spirit of exploration. As I continue with these, I am starting to think about further images and the possibility of a graphic... Continue Reading →
I've been working on more ink and watercolour pieces over the past couple of weeks. Both of these new pieces were done with a dip pen on art board and then painted with water colours. The first is a clean line style. Explorers is fully cross hatched, which gives it the look of a vintage... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
I've been working in graphite for the last couple of weeks, playing with line and values. Graphite is wonderfully suited to working out visual ideas without distraction. These two pieces are quite small, but incorporate a lot of detail. The end result is not unlike my silverpoint work, probably due to my use of a... Continue Reading →
October has finally arrived and I have been in the studio working on a number of new pieces for upcoming shows and book projects. My most recent work is called For I Would Ride with You Upon the Wind. The piece is now available in an online show presented by Inverarity Gallery called “Monochrome: Goddess.”... Continue Reading →
It has been a quietly productive summer in the studio . I finally completed revisions on my new novel The Garden of Certhia, which was a great personal milestone and frees me up to tackle my next writing project called Scattered Ghosts. Naturally, I haven't been neglecting my drawing table, and I have posted some... Continue Reading →
To Wander Where I Will, 2025, ink on paper, 24" x 18" Lately, I've become fascinated by fragmentary Greek masks such as the one above. I need to do more research on them, but on an emotional level, I truly love their mysterious, incomplete quality. This sensibility was the inspiration for my latest piece, a... Continue Reading →
Drawing of a Unicorn by a Man Who has Never Seen a Unicorn, 2025, ink on 300lb Arches coldpress, 11" x 7.5" I found a piece of 300lb Arches coldpress paper with a deckle edge hiding in a folder. It was perfect for this drawing. I have always been amused by the story of Albrecht... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 