"there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion" Sir Frances Bacon, Of Beauty, Essays" 1625
Extremophile, 2024, ink on paper, 20" x 28" Here is my finished drawing, EXTREMOPHILE. I worked on this through much of the summer. It's quite large and occupied most of my drawing table. There are three compositions here working as one: right, left and centre. I like the negative space in this piece, the way... Continue Reading →
On Friday, I took part in the Beasting, a live painting event held during the Kitchener-Waterloo Night Market. Each artist was assigned a body section—mine was the pelvis—and told to interpret it as as we wished. We were each given a 2' x 2' panel with the connections to the next panel marked in pencil.... Continue Reading →
The Mad Butterfly's Ball is a new insect themed anthology of weird fiction and essays. About a year ago, I was commissioned to create a cover and some interior illustrations for a new anthology from PS Publishing called The Mad Butterfly's Ball, edited by Preston Grassmann and Chris Kelso. I also contributed a short story... Continue Reading →
No matter how surreal or fantastic my pieces finish up, they nearly always start with natural forms. No matter how surreal or fantastic my pieces finish up, they nearly always start with natural forms. The shapes of insects, plants, bones, fossils etc. are all building blocks I use to create composition and meaning in my... Continue Reading →
The title of my new piece was taken from Mary Shelley's introduction to the 1831 edition of Frankenstein. I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some terrible engine, show signs... 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 →
Currently in the studio I am working on a large drawing called EXTREMOPHILE. According to Wikipedia an extremophile is an organism that is able to live in extreme environments with conditions approaching or stretching the limits of what known life can adapt to. By that definition, one might argue taking on a 22" x 30"... Continue Reading →
I found a forgotten stash of watercolour paper in my studio, which inspired me to do a few smaller works over the last couple of weeks. These ink drawings are tinted with Liquitex coloured inks in the manner of watercolours. I'm adding these to my shop as I finish them, so check in from time... Continue Reading →
I'm working on a new book of drawings called AURA. BEETLE IN THE BOX is intended as the first illustration and serves as the portal into the world of the book. AURA will encompass all aspects of my aesthetic: fantasy, surrealism, humour and horror. It is a journey, but not a structured narrative, as in... Continue Reading →
The Nameless Flower, 2024, ink on paper, 30” x 22” I posted a detail of this piece a few days ago. Here is the completed drawing! It’s a large one (for me) and took many weeks of on again, off again work—the original graphite underdrawing was done back in August 2023. I posted a few... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 