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
It's been a busy week. I've been working steadily on Harbinger (see previous post), and on this series of oils (below). These are rough and ready iPhone images off my drawing table and once they are properly finished I'll put some better shots on my website. Birds and flight seem to be the central theme.... Continue Reading →
For the past few weeks I've been working on this large drawing called Harbinger (24" x 18"). Check out the images below. I'm rendering with Pigma Micron 005 pens on 140lb Arches hotpress. I haven't done a lot of finished work with Microns, so I wanted to give them a real workout to see what... Continue Reading →
One might be forgiven for thinking this piece a surrealist response to Aubrey Beardsley's illustration, The Examination of the Herald from Lysistrata, but it is in fact a meditation on vision (see previous posts). I hope you have enjoyed watching this process. This work is available for purchase. Please message me with any questions. Richard... Continue Reading →
Rendered the first figure on this piece.
The past week was spent working on the background of this piece. It was rendered in ink using a fine brush to make cross-hatch marks, layering for the dark area. I'll start the figures tomorrow. Detail of crosshatching
This progress shot represents several hours of cross hatching using very fine brushes with diluted ink. It looks a little stark without the framing background elements but so far so good. My main goal for this building was to capture the weathered, patchy elements. I always forget how grotesquely time consuming this technique is, but... Continue Reading →
I started working on this new piece today on a block of 140lb Arches hotpress. Tomorrow I'll start the real work of rendering the image using diluted inks to model the forms. As I go along, I'll post some progress shots here on the blog. Although I did many works with this technique in the... Continue Reading →
I've been working on some silverpoint miniatures over the last few days. These are done with silver wire on a plate finish archival illustration board. I worked them directly on the ground with no under-drawing. I hope you enjoy them. If you are interested, they are posted on my webstore for sale. Richard Quiescent, After... Continue Reading →
Twist, 2020, ink on paper, 9" x 9" This piece is called Twist. It was drawn for my other blog, And Ink in Unfailing Supplies, where I do a monthly drawing challenge with another artist based on a prompt phrase. For the rendering, I used a pen & nib, something I've been going back to... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, when making illustrative images, I find it easy to forget that I'm making a thing. This is especially so when most of the engagement with my artwork happens on the web. As grateful as I am for that avenue of engagement, it tends to have a flattening effect. Sometimes I like to remind myself... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 