Category: Process

Mystery Sketches

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During the latter half of October, I offered incentive sketches on my webshop – a free sketch with every shop order. There was some demand from people to purchase the sketches outright, so I introduced the Mystery Sketch option, which is still active. As you can see, as time went on, the sketches became more elaborate! After the first few, I upgraded the paper to a heavier cardstock in off-white with rounded edges. I introduced darker shadows and half-tone marker shading. Overall, I’m quite pleased with the result and plan to have the October sketches as part of my annual calendar. I’ve collected the sketches done to date in this slide show above, though one or two may have slipped the net! I’ve already heard of a couple that are going to become tattoos! Sketches are still available, but since the sale is over, you now have to pay to get one. 😉

I hope you enjoy checking them out.

TheWedding of the Earth and Sky

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One of the pieces I’m working on this fall is The Wedding of the Earth and Sky. It will be entirely stippled with my trusty Rapidograph pens. I am pleased with the progress so far. Apart from the pencilling, these images represent about 4-5 hours work thus far. I’m already penciling two more pieces in this cycle of work. I’ll be posting updates as work progresses.

– Richard

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Off the Grid, Sort of but not Really

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This is an iPhone snap of a watercolor I did a few weeks ago. I plan to do a version of it in oil in due course. It was necessary to suspend my use of oil for a while as the products I was using led to some pretty trippy – but ultimately not fun – ocular migraines. Since then, I have added some odorless oils to my supply cabinet. I’m at the point where I can resume. I really like working in oil – though if you are familiar with my monochromatic ink work you would be forgiven for assuming otherwise. I’ll post my progress here.

At the moment, I am taking a break from social media, specifically Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, so this blog is your best bet if you are interested in my new work. My reasons for stepping back are largely related to a desire to enhance my productivity, but they are also related to the attitudes the designers of these platforms have for privacy, data harvesting, and surveillance. Time will tell how these issues are resolved but for now I plan to be more circumspect in the use of the platforms (though in full disclosure these blog posts are shared to Twitter).

If these issues are of interest to you also, I recommend:

The Age off Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff

World Without Mind by Franklin Foer

Zucked by Roger McNamee

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

These books have all been published recently and give excellent overviews of the issues from slightly different perspectives.

– Richard

Pollen

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pollen
Pollen, 2019, ink on paper, 12″ x 9″

Pollen is a new drawing (personal work) that I finished towards the end of January. It was done using .13 & .18 Rotring Rapidograph pens. The image below is a quick iPhone shot of a new work in progress called Hearts Divided. I’m hoping to get it done in the next few weeks, working on it between other things. The piece is 17″ x 14,” ink on archival quality illustration board.

On the writing front, I’m in the middle of a full revision of my latest novel The Tailor of Echoes. My goal is to have it completed by the end of March.

– Richard

Orphans

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I haven’t posted here for a while because I’m working on some larger projects. In the meantime thought it would be fun to round up a few orphan works. These works were created more or less as materials or technique exercises, or explorations of certain ideas. Hope you enjoy this peek at my process.

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Watcher,  2018, ink with watercolour tint, 10″ x 8″

This drawing done for fun. It is a brush and ink drawing with a watercolour tint. The underlying monochrome base bled, which gives the piece its mottled appearance.

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Dark Brotherhood, 2018, acrylic on watercolour board, 10″ x 8″

I really like this piece and hope to use this technique more in the future. The image itself is essentially the same composition at the piece above.

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Forester, 2018, acrylic on watercolour board, 10″ x 8″

Another acrylic piece.

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Blue Mask, 2018, watercolour, 6″ x 3″

Yes, this is ugly and a little forlorn. It was basically a stress test for the paper. I kept loading pigment to see what this very thick watercolour paper could absorb. The painting is very tiny and unfortunately its difficult to see properly on a screen. Up close, there are some interesting little passages, such as the one the detail below shows.

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– Richard.

Update

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This is an oil I’m working on. I set up a mini-studio on my porch for better ventilation.

I’ve been balancing my production between personal work for upcoming group shows, illustration and fiction writing. Balance is hard to achieve, especially when you get seduced by one particular project. This week is was short stories. I finished two that were, sort of, almost there. I might drop one here, to celebrate the first anniversary of my novel, Necessary Monsters. Like my art, my fiction isn’t intended for everyone. It’s my statement, my aesthetic. I love it when readers respond. It’s so gratifying when people “get it.”

Now that the two stories are finished, this weekend I am returning to the final illustrations for my collection of short stories (Magpie’s Ladder, PS Publishing, later this year). Work on my next novel is progressing, but it’s the kind of thing that has to slow cook.

Booking group shows into 2019. Very excited by projects coming down the line. Thanks for your interest and support.

– Richard

Furthermore

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odin's_girl

Further to my last post, PS Publishing has just posted its December newsletter. It includes the full wrap around illustration for Odin’s Girl by Kim Wilkins, which I share here. It also shows a little of an interior illustration, which you can see by following the link.

I am currently hard at work/ play creating the illustrations for Magpie’s Ladder (also mentioned in the newsletter). I will be posting some teasers on my Instagram account. So if you are interested, please follow me there. The link is at the bottom of this page.

Finally, I would be remiss not to throw in a plug for my novel Necessary Monsters published in June by Resurrection House. You can find it on Amazon or, in your local bookshop of choice.

  • Richard

 

Symphonist 5

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Symphonist_5_web

Symphonist No.5 is a silverpoint miniature (4″x3″). It’s one of an ongoing series. Silverpoint lends itself beautifully to miniature work due to the precision you can get with the silver stylus. Over time, this drawing will darken as the particles of silver trapped by the ground begin to tarnish.

Hypnos

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Hypnos, 2017, ink on paper, 11″ x 8″
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Hypnos, detail
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Hypnos, detail
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Hypnos, detail

I just finished this new drawing. It was originally intended to be called Neume (see earlier post) but a different character emerged in my mind as I worked on it. I’ve added a few details for a closer look. This work will be for sale on my webstore shortly. If you are interested, hit me with an email or message.

Richard.

Neume

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Neume – work in progress

Last night, I cleaned out my trusty Rotrings so that I could do some pointillism work. I had an idea for a new drawing, a flower creature. This kind of drawing starts off as stream of consciousness, all about the sheer pleasure of line. The finish though will be very controlled and polished, as everything is pulled together into a galaxy tiny dots. What you see here is only the underdrawing. I like the collision of ideas: plant, animal, & sound. This piece is approximately 9″ x 6″ and will be available on my website soon.

. Richard.