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
Another busy week in another weird summer. My new novel finally reached the point where the main character is calling the shots. If you write fiction, you know that this is the magical moment. It's certainly the point I wait for with great anticipation, when I start keeping a Moleskine near the shower and fill... Continue Reading →
Among other things, I've been working away at a new fantasy novel. Looking back, it appears I started it in 2018. Lately I've taken it up in a more focused way. The first draft is now sitting at about 30 thousand words, which means I have quite a bit more bridge to build. With this... Continue Reading →
Over the weekend, I created a new series of miniatures. They were created on acid free art board with ink and brush and then tinted with watercolour. This grouping is the first six of twelve. All six of these pieces are available on in my webstore. Android, 2021, ink, 5" x 5"Bark & Bone, 2021,... Continue Reading →
I’m a couple of days late with this week’s post. Most of the past week was spent marshaling supplies needed for a couple of big illustration jobs, making sketches and basically getting into the creative headspace needed to immerse myself in a multi-month task. I’ve also been in the workshop assembling strip frames for my... Continue Reading →
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 →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 