"there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion" Sir Frances Bacon, Of Beauty, Essays" 1625
The Stranger Greets the Dawn, 2023, ink on artboard, 10" x 11.5" I finished this drawing on September 10. It started life as an endpaper illustration for a forthcoming book project. In the end we chose another image, so I expanded the this original drawing and rounded out the composition. It is very much in-line... Continue Reading →
I recently started a Substack newsletter called Radiolaria Studios. It's intended as a companion rather than a replacement for this blog. My goal for the newsletter is to post weekly, on a specific theme related to my creative life. To date I've done posts on silverpoint, illustrating Dune and the vinyl reissue of KoRn's 8th... Continue Reading →
Past the Light is a new work in ink and watercolour, which explores some of my favourite themes of transformation, decay and natural history. I've included a few close ups below. This piece is available for sale on my Big Cartel webstore. Past the Light, 2023, ink & watercolour on board, 14" x 10"
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 →
Dance of Spring, 2023, graphite on paper, 10" x 10" A small drawing completed a few days ago. Where I am in Ontario, Spring has been slow in coming and the sky has been very grey. With luck, the sun will soon come from behind the clouds and things will warm up. Regardless, things are... Continue Reading →
The Other Earth, 2023, ink on paper, 14” x 18” Earlier this year I was honored to get this special commission from a long time collector and friend, which I can now show you in its entirety. The theme of the piece is that of father and son—exploring your imagination and sharing the journey with... Continue Reading →
A couple of years ago, I was approached by Earthling Publications to illustrate a very limited collector's edition of Dune. In the months that followed—of course, I said yes—I created 12 large graphite and carbon pencil drawings for the interior and a wraparound cover in oils. Dune was a dream gig for me. I grew... Continue Reading →
For highly rendered ink drawings I like to start with a detailed graphite line drawing. This piece started life as a proposed book illustration. If you look carefully, you can see the vertical line that marks the edge of the original drawing. When the editor selected another piece in its place, I finished the drawing... Continue Reading →
Manuscript with Crow Skull A crow skull makes a poor paperweight, but casts a nice shadow. This is the manuscript of a novel I am currently working on—already woefully out of date as I’m in the process of a pretty major re-write (thanks to some on-point observations from my literary agent). I revise digitally using... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, I had to give up painting in oil because the paints triggered ocular migraines. Every painting session ended with me lying on the couch feeling like I was on a bad acid trip. Not fun. Then I learned about M. Graham odourless paints. These paints are a game changer for me... Continue Reading →
Richard A. Kirk | Visual Artist | Author 