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
This is a detail of the piece I am working at on this cold, cloudy November day. It's a small figure but it took 3 hours to ink. The reason being that the brush I was using is superfine, and though the godless jpeg compression would not have you believe it, the gradations are quite... Continue Reading →
Continuing the Walking Backwards theme for a second day, I give you Idle Hands. This one wasn't even on my hard-drive. It was hidden away on a recordable DVD. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about it. I'm not sure why. It has a lot of my favorite elements: books, wasp nests, birds, weird characters with... Continue Reading →
I've decided to start an irregular category on this blog called Walking Backwards. It's like a Throwback Thursday thing but it will appear as the mood suits. Walking Backwards will feature works, dug from my groaning hard-drive, which I created in the past but haven't posted in a while. How far back I go will... Continue Reading →
I guess most artists must have a place where old sketches and ideas stratify over the years. Mine is known by the unremarkable designation of "the paper rack," which is actually an old library atlas stand. It is so overburdened that one day I expect it will fall through the floor into the basement. Yesterday... Continue Reading →
There is still much to be done on this new drawing, but having finished one fairly defined section I thought I'd share a work in progress (WIP). If you saw my earlier post on this piece, you'll notice that I have added to the title. "Tears of the Poppy" is a line taken from the... Continue Reading →
As you can see, it was a rainy morning and the light levels were low. Never the less, I thought I'd share this photograph of "Panspermia," framed and ready for its journey to the Alexi Era Gallery in Mascoutah, IL. Inquiries should be made to the gallery. The framing was done by Rivertown Galleries in... Continue Reading →
This artwork is called Harrowing Sediment. The original (still available, incidentally) was created for a show in 2012. Details can be seen below. Harrowing Sediment and other images are available as prints in my Big Cartel art shop. If you order this image, before the end of November, I will include a free miniature print... Continue Reading →
I had to take advantage of the light this morning to do a watercolor (or strictly speaking an acrylic ink) painting. The paper wasp nest on the figure's head is directly inspired by a yellow-jacket nest I've been watching over the summer in our garden. The recent cold mornings have killed off the nest, but... Continue Reading →
Here is a look at the drawing's bones. What you see here will soon disappear under layers of ink. I find these line drawings have a beauty of their own, which is why I always take the time to make a high resolution scan of them before rendering. The ink looks a bit darker here... Continue Reading →
“I tell you, there are more worlds, and more doors to them, than you will think of in many years!” ― George MacDonald, Lilith I've been thinking of doors to different worlds for many years. Or maybe its the same world, just many different doors. The first drawing was done in 2004, the second this... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 