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
My new drawing, Mockingbird, is featured in a new online show called Moments of Illumination presented by WOWxWOW. The collector’s preview is now online. This graphite, 12” x 9” piece was completed in late November on 140lb Arches hotpress paper. I love the title of this show. One of my favourite books is Illuminations, A... 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 →
This is the third winter for the cardinal nest in the bush outside my studio window. It has remained intact through many storms and has at various times been a hang for chipmunks and mice. Earlier today I saw 3 bald eagles flying over the river near my house through the snow and mist. Birds... Continue Reading →
A common question I hear is "where do you get your ideas?" I'm not sure I can answer that satisfactorily—it's a combination of lifelong interests and intuition. I can tell you how I get them to paper though. My favourite design tool is the humble Ultra Fine Black Sharpie marker. You can buy them by... Continue Reading →
I just finished rendering this new piece. Below the final image, you can see the graphite underdrawing. I changed little of the composition as I inked beyond removing the line on the right that was intended to signify distant clouds or trees. It felt like a distraction from the flow. During the rendering of the... Continue Reading →
Under drawing for We Shall be Near You Today I am sharing the graphite under-drawing for a new piece called We Shall be Near You. I borrowed the title from a poem by Yeats. In the context of this piece, the words refer to the idea of friendship and loyalty, the nearness of others. I’m... Continue Reading →
Cardinal, 2020/21, oil on panel, 20 x 16 inches Oil paintings are notoriously difficult to photograph and even worse to scan due to reflective properties. Fortunately, my printmaker has amazing skills in this area and was able to get me a nice clean capture of Cardinal. I've already added it to the cover design for... Continue Reading →
Haverhill House Publishing is putting out a new edition of Christopher Golden's Strangewood. I produced illustrations for an earlier edition (Earthling Publications, 2008). I love the colours on this cover by Michelle Madsen. Richard
The following text is a chapter deleted from my novel Necessary Monsters during the editing process. For those who have read the book, it describes an incident upon Irridis's arrival in the City of Steps. During the revision it was apparent that it wasn't essential to the story, but I thought readers might enjoy it... Continue Reading →
I finished this drawing last night in a focused three hour session under a prickly cloud of late-in-the-day caffeine and headphone music (6lack and Pineapple Thief). Like the last piece, it's mostly brush and carbon black ink, and a little fine tuning with a dip pen. As soon as it was finished I was already... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 