Richard A. Kirk

Aged Doll

2012-01-30T07:05:00.003-05:00

Doll Face

The novel I'm writing, Necessary Monsters, deals a lot with the idea of things that look human. By this I mean things that are not human but on the surface look familiar. Artistically, I'm interested in the way time and decay can take those points of superficial similarity and draw them further apart. The doll's face does not age the way a human face does. Perhaps this is where the creepiness factor of old dolls lies? The owners mind initially imbues the doll with life and then time renders it unfamiliar, other.

Richard.

Tool

2012-01-26T07:19:00.000-05:00

Tool

From the Tool Website

This week I had the chance to see Tool for the second time. The first time was quite early in their career. It was a stripped down affair with virtually no stage show. This time it was a mind blowing extravaganza of music, video, lights, lasers and fog. Photography was strictly forbidden and I have to say that it was nice to not have my field of view disrupted by thousands of tiny cell phone screens. In the end, I risked a shot. When I got home I found that it was remarkably similar to a shot posted on the Tool website.

Richard.

Filament

2012-01-23T22:30:00.000-05:00

Filament

I love the simplicity of graphite, and like remind myself from time to time with a little drawing. The original actually looks a somewhat like silverpoint before the tarnish, but Filament was done with an HB pencil. The idea behind the drawing had to do with a puppet man, whose painted, wooden body begins to sprout.

Richard.

Dolls

2012-01-22T22:40:00.000-05:00

Dolls

You can't go wrong with a creepy doll to brighten a winter's day. I found these two at a flea market and couldn't resist taking their picture. Is it me or does the top one looks look just a little disdainful?

Richard.

January Snow

2012-01-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

January Snow

Could this be any more Canadian? Maybe with the addition of a moose?

Deer in a Coral Forest

2012-01-20T07:03:00.000-05:00

Deer Diorama

Faithful readers will know that I have a soft spot for a diorama. A Deer set in a forest of coral was more than I could resist, so out came the phone camera. The photo has been manipulated in Instagram but the colors were pretty much as you see them. This makes me want to make a diorama. Scrawl, scrawl into the notebook for later!

Ghost Crane

2012-01-11T12:36:00.000-05:00

Ghost Crane

I took this picture through the smeary window of my car with cell phone and then further degraded it in Photoshop. I can't really rationalize it but I love the aesthetic of low-fi cell phone pictures. Someday, THEY, will spoil all the fun by making the cameras really excellent. Until then...

Ice Fish

2012-01-10T19:16:00.002-05:00

Ice Fish Tail

My daughter holds the tail of an ice fish. They only appear in winter and vanish without a trace in the spring. This is an extremely rare specimen.

Windex Flavored Ice

2012-01-09T19:10:00.000-05:00

More Ice with Some Instagram Magic

Another ice picture. It's part of my embrace the beauty of winter resolution. So another beautiful lace of ice that for some reason or other I thought would be improved by turning it into Windex.

Ice and a Leaf or Two

2012-01-08T19:03:00.000-05:00

Ice On Our Tiny Pond

It's been unusually warm this January. The pond, which is little larger than an old fashioned bathtub, thaws during the day and re-freezes at night. This process creates beautiful patterns in the ice. The goldfish were evacuated to an aquarium (rescued from ice slush) before Christmas.

Fossils in the Snow

2012-01-07T15:24:00.003-05:00

Fossils in the Garden

January 7, 2012

Gargoyle

2012-01-06T15:37:00.000-05:00

Gargoyle From My Studio

Salamander

2012-01-05T15:45:00.000-05:00

Salamander Fossil

A fossil from my cabinet resting on

Salamander by Thomas Wharton

Although technically I finished Salamander in very early 2012, I will count it as my favorite read of 2011. It is a stunning, imaginative journey.

Drawing Table

2012-01-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

My Drawing Table

iPhone Photo

Robots

2012-01-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

Robot Against Ontario Sky, January 2012

With all of the grey skies in winter it is easy to forget the days where the clouds roll out leaving that spectacular winter vault of blue. I took this picture of a Lost in Space robot toy this morning. The tiny puff of cloud to the left was a happy accident but I think it makes the image.

This by the way, is my 500th blog post.

Richard.

Winter Starts with Rain

2012-01-02T19:28:00.000-05:00

Photo taken on my iPhone through my car window

The Calendar Flips

2012-01-01T20:53:00.002-05:00

Untitled ink wash drawing

In honor of the new year I am showing the last drawing completed in 2011. It is an ink wash over a clean line drawing done with a .25 Rapidograph pen. The book illustration work that I am doing at the moment is very tight pointillism, so a drawing like this is a nice bit of spontaneity.

Weird Fiction Review List

2011-12-12T22:55:00.001-05:00

Horrific Buttons

interior illustration from

The Lost Machine

It was fantastic to see The Lost Machine on The Weird Fiction Review end of the year gift suggestion list!

Summer 1970

2011-12-10T22:41:00.001-05:00

This is a photograph of me and my brother Andrew that I came across today. It was taken in 1970 somewhere in northern Ontario. With winter closing in, it seems as good a time as any to be remembering summer, even a summer 41 years ago. This looks like a Hipstamatic shot but it is the real deal! I wonder what we are looking at? A UFO?

Now this is one of my favorite childhood photos because it includes our dog Charlie. Charlie had epilepsy but it never slowed him down. One of the sweetest dogs I've known. In his own way he prepared me to understand my friend Al's epilepsy later in life. Dogs can teach us so much.

Tonight I posted a bunch of prints up on the Radiolaria Studios Esty site. Check them out if you have some blank wall space!

My art was mentioned on some very cool blogs this week. Check out SheWalksSoftly and L'Autre Magazine where fashion designer Flik Hall gave me an awesome shout out. Check out Flik Hall's octopus designs. I was blown away and you will be too. There was also a great mention on the Coilhouse blog tonight. Coilhouse is one of my favorite destinations online.

A sample of Flik Hall's work

Miranda Keyes for Flik Hall Accesories collabertion for SS12

Photographer: Migle Backovaite
Make-up: Kentaro Kondo
Hair: Elvire Roux
Styling: Flik Hall, Miranda Keyes
Assistants: Eluned Stephens, Louis Greenaway, Hetty Adams.
Model: Maiken Abma @ Next

New Drawing

2011-12-02T16:07:00.001-05:00

Unnecessary Monster II

I just finished a new drawing in the series I'm calling Unnecessary Monsters. The proceeds from the sales of these drawings are going to go toward the publishing of the next Radiolaria Studios publishing project, Necessary Monsters. You can check it out on Etsy, if you are interested.

Now, a glass of wine.

Cheers, Richard.

Unnecessary Monsters

2011-12-01T18:40:00.001-05:00

Unnecessary Monster #1

In 2012 I will be publishing my new novel Necessary Monsters through my small press Radiolaria Studios. Publishing real, quality books on litho press (not digital), with illustrations is obviously costly. In order to help out with some of those expenses, I have decided to do a series of ink drawings called Unnecessary Monsters and offer them for sale.
These original drawings will be done with a dip pen on 140 lb 100% cotton watercolor paper. They will appear on the Radiolaria Studios Etsy site periodically over the next few months. All purchasers of the Unnecessary Monsters drawings will be acknowledged in the finished book.

The first one (pictured here) is up now. Check it out.

Thanks for your support!

Richard.

PS. These drawings are not the illustrations that will appear in the book.

Meaning-Full Interview

2011-11-24T09:10:00.001-05:00

The kind folks at the Meaning-Full arts blog did an interview with me this fall on my work and influences. if you are interested, you can read it here. While you're there, be sure to check out some of the amazing artists they have covered in the past.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!

Richard.

Weaveword: A Peek Inside

2011-11-23T15:27:00.001-05:00

Interior illustration from Clive Barker's Weaveworld

Okay time for a sneak peek at Weaveworld... this image is of Mamma Pus and her children. It was rendered in pointilism. I hope you enjoy it. The 25th Anniversary Edition of Weaveworld will be published by Paul Miller's Earthling Publications in 2012. There will be lots of art like this.

Today, unexpectedly, I received this great little pin for being a nominee for a World Fantasy Award this year. It is H. P. Lovecraft of course. Apparently it smelled quite good.

Richard.

Novelization

2011-11-22T10:20:00.001-05:00

I have nothing but respect for the authors of novels. Having spent the past few months "finding" my current narrative in the midst of a sea of ideas, fragments, random thoughts and images, and then shaping it into a coherent text, I have come to the conclusion that it is a task not for the faint of heart. That said, I can't imagine what could be more fun.

At some point the story becomes a thing. It's real, as if it has always been there. The oft heard analogy is that of Michelangelo finding the scupture with a block of Cararra marble. My writing self is haunted by this latent David. Of course I am no Michelangelo and my book no written equivalent of David, but you know what I mean. For me, bringing that narrative into the world, in a book (yes, a lovely paper book thank you very much) is very motivating.

During the early part of the process, the haunting took the form of "is this the right narrative?" Guess what, it wasn't, or it was only part of the narrative. So I kept going, finding characters indignantly waiting to be noticed, to have their part in the story written. So now I am at a point where is is making sense and all of the pieces are being put together.

When I started writing this book, which is the story only suggested by my novella The Lost Machine, I thought, well, it has to be about three times as long, so it will be about three times as hard. In truth it is both harder and easier. Harder because of the complexity but easier because of the luxury of space.

On the art front, Weaveworld illustrations continue to take up most of my time, no news there, but I am very pleased with the images coming off the end of my pen now. This project will take me through to the new year. In the meantime I am making sketch notes for a bunch of new personal images that I want to unleash once the book is done. Much weirdness to come!

Stay warm!

Richard.

Monocyte

2011-11-12T21:17:00.001-05:00

Illustration used in Monocyte

Yesterday I mentioned work that had been used in the comic Monocyte, by Menton 3 and Kasra Ghanbari, both good friends of mine. Now that issue #1 is out, I can show you the complete original art (I showed a bit of it a few posts ago). In the final publication, the image was distressed and printed in a beautiful sepia tone along with the text. This was one of those jobs where it was needed like yesterday but somehow the end result came out just as it would have, had I had a month to work on it. I highly recommend that you check out Monocyte from IDW. There is is art by Menton 3, David Stoupakis, and Ash Wood. Crazy!

Richard.

November

2011-11-11T19:34:00.001-05:00

I love this picture of Nancy Hightower talking about my

drawing during her lecture!

Photograph © Bob Howard 2011

It has been some time since my last post, which is a reflection on how busy things have been since mid August. Since then I have been fortunate to have my art work in some shows including Luminous Metal, a silverpoint show at Clement Art in Troy, New York, The Cute and Creepy group show at the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, and the Damned VI show in Detroit. Here is a link to a Coilhouse piece on Cute and Creepy. Catalogues, which include Nancy Hightower's brilliant essay are available from University of Washington Press.

On the illustration front I had a couple of pages in Monocyte, the exciting new creator owned comic by Kasra Ghanbari and Menton 3. Caitlin R. Kiernan's collected stories, Two Worlds and In Between came out this fall, which reproduces some of the illustrations I have done for Caitlin in the past.

I was very honored to be nominated for the World Fantasy Award in the artist category. In the end the award went to the amazing Kinuko Y. Kraft. I am looking forward to being the artist guest of honor at the next World Fantasy Convention in Toronto in 2012.

There are probably some other things I am forgetting... but effectively that brings us up to date!

At the moment my focus is on creating illustrations for Clive Barker's Weaveworld for publication next year from Earthling. After that, I will be working on some pieces for a very special show in June that I can't say too much about right now, and a collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer. Speaking of the Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, check out their new Weird Fiction Review.

I am also well into my next writing project, the novel Necessary Monsters, which I hope to have out in 2012.

Damned VI

2011-10-19T23:06:00.002-04:00

Here is the press release on Damned VI. Birth of Death will be in this show. Check it out if you are in the area!

"On October 27 - 29, 2011 in Detroit comes an extraordinary assemblage of artists from across this world to display their most introspective creations at DAMNED IV – An Exhibition of Enlightened Darkness. From the infamous to the freshest of local and international talent, this prodigious congregation will allow us a glimpse within the diverse shadows of id and ego…of overall mind and encompassing soul guaranteed to intrigue, disturb, inspire or repulse.

Rising from within the ashes of the historic institution of Devil's Night this is not Halloween-themed art, but an immersion within the immeasurable realms of consciousness through an elegant ambiance of live strings and cirque/butoh-inspired performances.

There are 3 nights of DAMNED, each with its own distinct theme for the ambiance and performances that surround the exhibition…”The Darkness” (10/27), “The Enlightenment” (10/28) and “The Masquerade” (10/29). Each night also holds various unique features which include a VIP Preview with Artist Reception, a formal absinthe tasting courtesy of Kübler Blanche Absinthe, an elegant 13-dish strolling dinner prepared by the Caucus Club, exotic flavored honey wine samplings courtesy of B Nektar Meadery, a formal mask-mandatory masquerade ball, a lush Moroccan-inspired VIP mezzanine overlooking the gallery, a gallery store to purchase art, our Devil Girl hostesses and more. Please visit the “tickets” and “performances” sections for further details regarding each night.

SPECIAL GUEST ARTISTS on display Include:
Ash Sivils (TN)
Aunia Kahn (IL)
Bernardo Corman (NJ)
Dan Harding (NJ)
Dirk Strangely (TX)
Gary Lee (South Africa)
HR Giger (Switzerland)
James Allen (Brazil)
Jeffery Scott (SC)
Krista Acheson (Canada)
Matt Hughes (GA)
Menton3 (IL)
Nigel Sade (CA)
Rainer Kalwitz (Germany)
Richard A Kirk (Canada)
SEVEN (NC)

SPECIAL GIVEAWAY: On all three nights of DAMNED, our wonderful Devil Girls will be selling raffle tickets to win a very special prize: The Detroit Deconstruction Skull Ring© created by Atelier Gothique. This ring, retailing at $980 US, is finely crafted from 316l surgical stainless steel custom alloy with black 3D reinforced ceramic inlay. The winning ticket will be randomly chosen on stage at 11pm on Saturday October 29th during the Masquerade Ball (winner need not be present to win and may choose an alternate design up to the retail value). All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to our favorite local charity Burners Without Borders to help feed and clothe those in need on our city streets.

Hope to See You There!"

October Walk

2011-10-10T20:21:00.001-04:00

Some photos from a walk by the river today...

Information on the Upcoming Cute and Creepy Show

2011-09-27T14:28:00.002-04:00

“CUTE AND CREEPY” An Exhibition of Sweet and Sticky Macabre Art Opens in the Deep South
An interview by Samantha Levin, edited by Parker East.

Accomplished artist and art professor Carrie Ann Baade has gone and done something quite extraordinary. Through her work as Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at Florida State University she has opened some peculiar doors, connecting worlds that never would have otherwise collided. Much to the delight of those artists whose works fit under the umbrella of “Cute and Creepy,” Carrie has chosen to champion this under-represented genre and bring it to the Florida State Museum. The museum’s mission is to "enrich the community by exhibiting works of art which expand the understanding of art today.” This fits perfectly into Carrie’s plans to share what she considers to be the most delightful and unconventional art of our time with the Southeast. This exhibition represents an exhaustive effort on her part to showcase a small selection of Pop Surreal artists, whose work is particularly known for its grotesque element: a dissonance of simultaneous attraction and revulsion.

Carrie is acting as ambassador between this aesthetic, the contemporary grotesque, and the academic environment to garner a greater acknowledgment and understanding of what this genre has to offer our culture at large. The grotesque elements contained within the artworks she has chosen make strong statements about our times, seeking to enlighten viewers to a higher self-awareness and cultural consciousness.

Dr. Nancy Hightower, Instructor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who has written for the exhibition catalog an essay, Revelatory Monsters, described to me how the grotesque works in any age:

SAMANTHA LEVIN: What lured you into studying and teaching about the grotesque?
NANCY HIGHTOWER: I actually discovered the theory by accident as I was reading scholarly articles about the short fiction of Flannery O’Connor and Franz Kafka. The term “grotesque” intrigued me, so I started researching more scholars who had written about it—Wolfgang Kayser, Philip Thomson, Geoffrey Galt Harpham—as well as authors such as O’Connor, Joyce Carol Oates, and others. But it was reading Modern Art and the Grotesque that made me realize it wasn’t literary theory at first—but a theory derived from art. That fascinated me and opened up a whole new world of the fantastic and strange to me, starting with artists such as Goya, Dix, Bosch, Brueghel, etc. and expanding into contemporary art. What I admire very much about the theory is that it has to play by certain “rules”—i.e. just because something is strange and weird, it’s not necessarily grotesque, not in the sense that I teach it. The grotesque is an operation, a form of persuasion that artists and writers use to create a paradigm shift in the viewer. And to me, this shift must always move in the direction of redemption, i.e. in making us a kinder, more loving world. I never teach shocking stories or art merely to shock, for that, to me, would be cruel and insensitive. But I will introduce people to the shocking if it allows them to see what they have deemed “Other” in a new light. Most people think of grotesque as being something pejorative or strange or bizarre. This is certainly the more pervasive definition of the grotesque, yet it is limiting. The grotesque has always existed in the underside of culture; it is always taboo. As culture changes, so the grotesque.

SAMANTHA LEVIN: How is the art in Cute & Creepy most important to today's society?
NANCY HIGHTOWER: I first began researching for the catalogue essay by going to every artist’s website and looking over the artist statements. From the beginning, I was so impressed with how much passion and compassion they each have for a world that has so much oppression in it. The artists in this show care, very deeply, about our society—about the abuse against children, how the mentally ill are disappeared, about how industry and mechanization is overtaking nature, or how we keep trying to make death invisible. Their art questions these issues by keeping us in an emotionally and intellectually ambiguous state. The cute and the creepy do not override one another, nor do they fit, so there is a wonderful dissonance, an underlying terror to even the most humorous aspect of these pieces. That liminal state experienced by the viewer allows a unique rhetorical space where a paradigm shift might occur regarding these issues.

Carrie’s own artwork has largely been categorized as Pop Surreal and neo-grotesque, thus she has firsthand knowledge of the senseless barriers her peers are up against. That said, she has perceived a shift-taking place where art previously erroneously relegated as overly kitsch, over-sentimental or shallowly nostalgic is slowly being acknowledged. She looks forward to the day when an artist such as Kris Kuksi or Ray Caesar will be shown at the Met.

SAMANTHA LEVIN: What inspired you to curate this exhibit of art that juxtaposes elements of sticky sweet with gloomy grotesque?
CARRIE ANN BAADE: My tastes and interests have always been the strange and unusual, but what drives one to spend four years of their life making an exhibit like this a reality is the desire to support the artists who have come to make up my community. Ten years ago I was in graduate school when I first saw Judith Schaechter's stained glass at the Whitney Biennial. It was the first time I had seen such a graphically dark sense of humor paired with exquisite craftsmanship. Six years ago the Pop Surrealism genre developed and artists such as Kris Kuksi, Richard Kirk, and Travis Louie were showing with me in New York and Berlin. Becoming fast friends and fans of these fellow artists, I wanted to promote those who paired skill with unique vision. While there is work that is far darker, it is the playfulness that makes these works endearing. For example, Jessica Joslin's delightfully retrofitted, articulated animal sculptures, or Kate Clarks disarmingly beautiful diorama of animals with quixotic human faces makes one want to collect this seemingly endless supply of freakish pets. With the recent publicly celebrated exhibitions of Tim Burton at MOMA and Edward Gorey at the Wadsworth Athenaeum, now is the time to revel in the genre of the macabre. It's my desire to seduce new art lovers with this enchanting contemporary art that is so easy to adore.

SAMANTHA LEVIN: Has the museum ever seen a show like this? What have their reactions been?
CARRIE ANN BAADE: This work is unique to the region. While pop surrealism is ubiquitous in LA, this is something the Southeast is thirsting for. I am aware of people who will be traveling from cities up to five hours away to see this exhibit. Our museum has been wonderful to work with. It would appear they are as excited as I am, and the catalog has already begun to sell which makes everyone happy. Magazines are contacting us from as far away as Europe who want to feature the exhibition, but more importantly, this exhibit will be residing in a university setting. It is my intention to elevate the work by showing it in a college environment so that the academics get a first hand look at what art people are craving. Largely this genre has been ignored by the greater art world and dismissed as part of popular culture. It’s exhilarating to watch people be thrilled by art that is accessible to them. No longer do people need to feel like they didn't have the right classes in college to understand the work. This exhibit offers a freedom and permission to enjoy art that has been denied people for far too long.

Cute & Creepy will be on view at the October 13th through November 20st, 2011.
FSU Museum of Fine Arts
Fine Arts Building (Copeland & Call Streets)
FSU Campus
Tallahassee, FL

October 14 to November 20, 2011
Monday - Friday 9am - 4pm
Saturday & Sunday 1 - 4pm

Lectures:
Judith Schaecter Oct 13th, 7pm room 249
Nancy Hightower “The Grotesque in Art” Nov 2nd 3pm to 5pm in the MoFA

Contact:
Exhibition website: http://www.carrieannbaade.com/cuteandcreepy/exhibition.html

tel: Phone (850)644-6836;
web: http://www.mofa.fsu.edu/

The Wall of Kirk

2011-09-25T20:03:00.002-04:00

The inestimable Ron Bertram, friend and collector, made this short video of where he comments on my work and shows his "Wall of Kirk". He also reveals a few secrets about my past...
watch here.

Peering into Darkness

2011-09-25T12:27:00.004-04:00

Peering into Darkness
Richard A. Kirk
© 2011

This is my latest work, Peering into Darkness. It will be featured in the upcoming Cute and Creepy show in Tallahassee, Florida this October along with three other pieces. I hope you enjoy the drawing. Remember, you can click on the image to see a larger version. The title was inspired by a line from Poe's The Raven but at its heart it is more in the spirit some aspects of John Crowley's Little, Big and George MacDonald's Lilith. That said, the image is a personal image and a sister piece to my other works Cuckoo's Promise and the Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel.

The Harrow and the Harvest

2011-09-21T22:51:00.005-04:00

Art by John Dyer Baizley for Gillian Welch's The Harrow and the Harvest

A cover for Gillian Welch's fantastic album. You just don't see beautifully illustrated CD's like this very often. It's caught my eye more than a few times, so I thought I'd share it here. I love the artistry and craft in this project and that they made the decision to produce the art in black and white. Check the link above to watch a video that shows the production of the art.

Richard.

Louise Bourgeois

2011-09-20T22:50:00.004-04:00

Maman, a sculpture by one of my favorite artists Louise Bourgeois. I was so pleased to be able to see it in person this summer.

Birth of Death Prints

2011-09-15T11:05:00.004-04:00

This is an image called Birth of Death. It was a very popular print at a recent convention (sell out, yeah!) so I had a few more made up for people that contacted me after the fact. Anyways, I have 9 left and I am offering them at the great price of 25 bucks each + shipping. The image is approximately 11" x 7" and the paper (German etching paper, no less) is 14" x 9" so you won't go broke framing it. Anyway, if you want one, email me through email (see contact link to the right) or FB. Payment will be via Paypal - all prints ship flat in a foam core folder.

Thanks!
Richard.

Details from Peering into Darkness

2011-09-15T07:16:00.002-04:00

Here are a few quick and dirty scans of the new piece in progress. Enjoy!

Richard.

Detail from Peering into Darkness
all images © 2011 Richard A. Kirk

Work in Progress

Detail from Peering into Darkness

This figure represents the limits of knowledge, that strange place we get to when we think we have something all figured out and feel compelled to frame that knowledge as though it were a unassailable truth. Notice that the book is blank.

Work in progress

Into that Darkness Peering

2011-09-05T16:13:00.002-04:00

Into that Darkness Peering is a new piece that I am working on. Here are a few scans from early in the process.

The completed pencil underdrawing

Ink rendering begins!

A detail
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

Fan Epo 2011

2011-09-05T15:25:00.004-04:00

FanExpo, held at the Toronto Convention Centre in late August, was a fantastic experience as always. We saw a lot of old friends and made many new ones in what has become for us an annual tradition.

Thanks to all those people that came out and bought prints and copies of my book The Lost Machine. We are already excited about next years show. Until then, here are a few random snaps, most from behind the table where I spent almost all of the four days.

This photograph © David Goodfellow 2011

Actor Doug Bradley, well known
for his portrayal of Pinhead in the Hellraiser films,
came by with artist Steph Sciullo (not seen)
and picked up a few prints.

Tim Glasgow (musician) and Sarah Legault (artist) are
friends from London, Ontario. I was lucky enough to
pick up one of Sarah's fantastic dolls and some comics:
Vincent P. Usher and Twig Boy.

An awesome steampunk costume

More great costumes!

Artist Monika Ptok-Byard and husband Aaron. We always
look forward to seeing Monika and Aaron. This year they
saved me from wandering aimlessly looking or my booth on
day one. This year I was lucky enough to get two of Monika's
beautiful prints.

A few more costume shots...

Monocyte

2011-08-30T14:56:00.005-04:00

Interior art for Monocyte
Richard A. Kirk
© 2011

Today I can show you a detail from an illustration I did for the upcoming comic Monocyte. Monocyte is written and drawn by Menton J. Matthews and Kasra Ghanbari and a few special guests like Ashley Wood, David Stoupakis and George Pratt The first issue will be published in October 2011 by IDW with three more coming every second month.

Richard.

The Insect Block

2011-08-04T11:34:00.003-04:00

The Black-Legged Meadow Katydid had been most unsettling but he had faced it by turning the wooden number block in his hand, which is to say, he had followed the procedure that he had been taught in a calm and exemplary manner. The Katydid had been an unambiguous number three. A three designation indicated that the katydid was a polemical journalist and critic of art and architecture. Bordas Coelacantha had heaved a sigh of relief and buried his face in his pillow with the contentment of a child sleeping late on his name day.

Bordas Coelacantha's eyes popped open. But what of the click beetle?

He sat on the side of the bed. His insides felt odd, as though someone had poured a bag of dry rice into the top of his head and it was slowly sifting through to the soles of his feet. The block sat on his mattress, blank on every face. He picked it up. The wood was dark from years of handling, its grain as familiar to him as the creases in the hand that held it. He concentrated on the click beetle crushing his eyes with the heels of his hand and turning the block in his fingers like a spider wrapping its prey. Then without looking, he crossed the floor and laid the block on the window ledge the better to see the number that had surely, by the grace of a merciful God, appeared. Nothing. In bright full spectrum, dust laden sunlight, sweet bugger all.

Sitting at his desk, he began a list of things the click beetle might possibly be.

A printer of portfolios.

A retired manufacturing engineer.

A cumulative error sorter.

None of these was in the least convincing, or comforting, and he soon expired on the floor with the cube crushed in his palm like a tree grown around a burl. The hours passed. Feet thumped past his apartment door and receded, an airship droned overhead and the lover of the woman next door rattled past his window on the uncertain fire escape. It grew dark. The wood cube in his hand became a stone in his heart. Then it came to him. He opened his hand and the cube fell to the floor. It's elongated moon shadow pointed to the bathroom door.

Bordas Coelacantha rose to his feet and ran stiff legged to the bathroom cupboard where the pipes twisted and sweated into the wall. He lit a match with a trembling hand. The click beetle lay on its back.

"Who the blazes are you?" he thundered.

The beetle clicked, arced through the air and landed on the linoleum. "I am Emily Chamberlain Balmforth, and I am here to discuss the curves and interlacing of William Morris's willow wallpaper designs." Bordas Coelacantha slumped against the walls, weak with relief. The match flame died on his fingertips and the darkness was filled with the scuttling of a thousand tiny hooked feet. "Oh no," he whispered.

And Then...

2011-08-02T22:23:00.002-04:00

Sketchbook page featuring the character Ms. Retina
© Richard A. Kirk 2011
(For a project I am working on that you probably won't see for a few months and which will be incomprehensible and disturbing when it surfaces.)

August, it had to come sooner or later. It is the month I've been waiting for when the real work begins: making art, preparing and shipping work for shows, FanExpo, projects heating up. Heavy lifting from now until Christmas. I feel very grateful for all of it.

One exciting bit of news not yet mentioned here is that I was just nominated for the World Fantasy "Best Artist" award. It is a huge honor and the other nominees are all brilliant. Also nominated in other categories are Caitlin R. Kiernan for the Ammonite Violin, which I did art for, and Jeff VanderMeer (who I will soon be collaborating with) for The Third Bear.

It kills me that I can not yet show you some of the illustration work I am doing for Weaveworld, but rest assured I am putting in some good hours into it. My novel Necessary Monsters is also ticking along steadily.

Hope everyone is having a stellar summer.

R

Al Love In Remembrance

2011-07-29T17:51:00.007-04:00

Allan Keith Love
1954 - 2011

This week I learned that my dear friend Al Love had died. He was only 57 but he had packed at least twice that many years worth of living into his life. I met Al when he was a figure model in my high school art class in the 70's. Al was a kind, gentle and generous man. I am posting these pictures of him through the years as a remembrance.

Richard.

Al shortly after we met in the late 1970s. Wyoming, Ontario.

Sometime around 1985. Toronto, Ontario.

1986 or 87, Farmhouse, London, Ontario.

1987. London, Ontario.

Early 1990s. Grand Bend, Ontario

Early 2000s. Al modeling one of his sweaters. Grand Bend, Ontario

Early 2000's. Al knitting. Grand Bend, Ontario

Early 2000s. Grand Bend, Ontario

2005. Grand Bend, Ontario.

2006. Grand Bend, Ontario

Air Born

2011-07-28T21:01:00.005-04:00

I cannot help myself. I had to write some flash fiction to go with this image. So here is Airborn, unedited and from the hip...

Air Born

I will deliver this thing but I will not touch it, despite its amber eyes and cinnamon breath, thought Amonito. But he knew that permission to float the limbless clerk (employee number 1017209) would require lengthy preliminary discussion with the Master of Entomology and a thoroughgoing review of article 2.15 on Sectioned Time Locking. Stopping time in one small bubble was not difficult. As a boy he had left many a puzzled bird locked in time over the meadow behind the boarded up manse. Locking something in time and then moving it where you wanted it to go, well, that was a damn sight more complicated.

The clerk, Luecke, had been transferred to the Clock Office in the Highstreet. As it would take the larval employee the balance of August to arrive at his destination, Amonito had been dispatched to, as the Director commented dryly "shift the unpleasant little entity." The move was seen a reward for Luecke's landmark paper, Challenging Assumptions, Deadlines, Pollen Allocations and the Critical Path of the Copperhead Bee. Though subjected to peer-review, and widely felt to be a stunning and slightly cheeky work of erudition, Amonito knew its true nature. From behind the card catalogue, he had, months ago, observed Luecke cutting and pasting pieces of text from old books, with his sharp teeth and sticky saliva. Cheeky indeed, the clerk was a fraud of the first water. Amonito would have nothing to do with a fraud.

Seeking guidance in his moral quandary, Amonito had consulted the Deck of Questions (consolidated edition). He had received the following, somewhat perplexing meditation: the diver is always at one atmosphere. Was he the diver, or was Luecke? What was meant by atmosphere? He wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in his slipper. Incomprehensible though it was, the persistent nag of the folded meditation was a comfort.

As he stood in the open passage between the library and the Entomology Building working the folded piece of paper to the contour of his heel, Amonito remembered something. Luecke was one of the airborn. In the city’s air, billions, maybe trillions, of near invisible eggs were suspended. Occasionally, one of these eggs would, with a fortuitous combination of sunlight and humidity, hatch and begin to grow. The airborn retained their lighter than air quality through out their lives! Aminito did not have to mess with Sectioned Time Locking or meditations. All he had to do was snip the lead fishing weights from Luecke's coat and float the menace to the Clock Office like a child’s birthday balloon.

It was some time after Luecke's unfortunate and admittedly uncontrolled disappearance into the ether that Amonito came across the book of recipes in the library. It was an old, leather bound book with a ribbon to keep one's place. He opened it on Luecke’s favorite study table. Several of the cut and pasted recipes actually looked quite tasty: rabbit pie, cicada soup with rye bread croutons and best of all deadly nightshade greens with squash beetle vinaigrette. Luecke, it seemed, had been a larva of taste. Amonito shut the book with a slap and peered into the fifty foot stacks where the dying light of day gilded the backs of ancient learning. There was a space at the very top that would just fit Luecke's book. Amonito put the book in the flat of his palms and blew it into the air. The dust smelled of cinnamon.

Keyhole Warrior

2011-07-27T22:41:00.002-04:00

Keyhole Warrior (detail)
by Richard A. Kirk
© 2011

5 hours of pointillist inking today on a book illustration. I'm really happy with the direction it's going. Unfortunately, I can't share it with you for a few months! In the meantime, today's post is decorated with a close up crop of an ink wash drawing. This was done with the burnt umber version of the ink I mentioned last night. Great stuff. Now if I could only find a local supplier that has Pebeo Colorex Brilliant Watercolours, I would be really thrilled.

I had a great conversation this afternoon with Peter H., one of the organizers for the 2012 World Fantasy Convention. I am the Artist Guest of Honor. It is still over a year away but I am already looking forward to it. Lots of exciting stuff coming up for that. Stay tuned.

I'll sign off tonight by recommending "The Here and Now" by UK band Architects. Great young hard rock band.

Ink

2011-07-26T22:08:00.003-04:00

The Sad Assassin
by Richard A. Kirk
© 2011

Air Born
by Richard A. Kirk
© 2011

Tonight I am posting a couple of ink drawings that I did last week. These were done in brush with carbon black Liquitex acrylic ink. I love these inks for the way they lie on the paper. There is none of the sheen or brush marks you get with other inks. I compared with Windsor Newton and FW. It is a great choice for illustration as scanning black inks tends to reveal the flaws in coverage and requires some messing around with levels. I would rather problem solve before the image hits the computer.

These drawings represent a style I plan on using for comic/ graphic novels when I get some free time. I have some cool ideas for one offs. My inspiration comes from Lynd Ward (see previous post) as much as anything more current. In the meantime I'll keep putting out these one off sketch's as a break from my more technically intense works. These work allow me to tell a story in a relatively quick single image. Incidentally, if you are interested in picking one up, head on over to my webstore.

Speaking of the store - sometime between now and the end of August I'll be posting some new print offerings as well as some originals. As always, if you are interested in seeing a pricelist of available originals, let me know through the email link on my site.

I did some good writing today on the novel. Necessary Monsters will ultimately hit 100,00 words. At some point I'll post a teaser or two.

Richard.

Books

2011-07-25T14:48:00.003-04:00

Two books I came across in the past couple of days. God's Man (1929) belongs to an academic library, A Manual of Style (1949) was found in a flea market. I am an avid reader but quite often a book will also reach out to me as an object of beauty. I had to share these two.

The Lost Machine Reviews

2011-07-09T19:32:00.004-04:00

Interior illustration from The Lost Machine
© Richard A. Kirk

It has been about a year since I published The Lost Machine, my dark fantasy novella. Quite recently, it received a couple of very positive reviews. The links are provided below.

Erzebet Yellowboy: Cabinet des Fees

Jeff VanderMeer: Ecstatic Days

Thank you to all the wonderful people that bought the book and have provided support. The full length follow-up novel Necessary Monsters will be published some time in 2012.

Richard.

Tortoise Beetle

2011-07-05T23:20:00.003-04:00

Clavate Tortoise Beetle
© Richard A. Kirk 2011 (the photo, not the beetle).

This tiny creature (no larger than a baby's fingernail) was found today on my storm door window, which is how I was able to photograph it from beneath. The endless levels of detail in our world are a source of great inspiration for me. It manifests itself in my work through an extreme degree of detail so that there are rewards to be had at almost every level of attention. Richard Dadd worked on his masterpiece The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke for many years, working and working the surface, so that one can only be left to imagine that in addition to the incredible image he left us, there is entombed in its paint yet another level of hidden detail (and then there is the painting that died with him, the one in his mind). Another work that comes to mind is Finnegan's Wake with its seemingly endless layers. Not that I would put myself in the same category as a Dadd or a Joyce, but as an artist I strive to create those layers through meaning and image. I hope people will revisit my images again and again, finding something they haven't yet seen.

Richard.

Riverwalk

2011-07-04T22:50:00.004-04:00

Today was a good day to get out and take a walk down by the river with my daughter (who has an unbelievable ability to spot insects in the tangle of vegetation). We found the best place to look for insects was down on the mud flats. There were the expected flies and wasps but we lucked on a couple of beautiful butterflies and some other interesting things. I hope you enjoy this collection of images from our outing.

I have to look this one up. The butterflies are in such beautiful condition this early in the season.

Great fungus growing on an insect eaten beech log. Have to check in with my friend Michael Wolik for an ID.

Daddy long legs

Damselfly

Swallowtail

Get a room, honestly.

Fly Fotos

2011-07-03T23:00:00.003-04:00

All photos © Richard A. Kirk

I do recognize that my hobby of photographing insects has a rather limited audience but this blog is among other things a record of the things that influence my art. So in that spirit I give you three flies. Well two flies, but lets not split hairs.

A fairly balanced day in the studio today. Ink rendering all morning to Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver and other folksy stuff. Tonight was set aside for writing on Necessary Monsters. Getting to the end of the day and looking back to find out that the multi-tasking actually worked is a pretty warm feeling, slightly better than an organized cutlery drawer and slightly less than having a fly sit still long enough to get its picture taken. Such is the life of the artist.

Taking pictures of flies put me in mind of Jeremy Holmes's There Was and Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, which I absolutely love. Check him out here at Mutt Ink.

Cover of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
by Jeremy Holmes

Richard.

Thunderstorm

2011-07-02T22:30:00.003-04:00

About 8pm tonight a big thunderstorm rolled in from the south west. Of course I had to run out and risk getting hit by lightning so that I could get some pictures. These photographs are color! Unfortunately, what they don't show are the layers of movement. There was a very fast low moving layer and a top layer the was dropping like a waterfall into the lower level. At one point the clouds directly overhead began a rotation, which was a little spooky.

An hour or so later, the sky was an eerie Martian red, or maybe it just looked that way because we were hunkered down watching Battle: Los Angeles.

Richard.

Luminous Metal Poster

2011-07-01T20:41:00.002-04:00

This is a poster for the Luminous Metal silverpoint show coming up this August. Lots of great artists in this one. The poster features A Short Lived Thing.

Penciled a new illustration for Weaveworld today and when I went to start rendering it I found out that my pen had decided to explode in inside its cap. Happens all the time but man is it irritating when you are psyched to start drawing and you have to spend 10 minutes washing out your nib in the bathroom sink (which I have well and truly wrecked over the years). Anyway, little dramas aside, I did get some ink down. Tomorrow I need to get the drawing done for a silverpoint and lock into some writing for a while.

Listening to June Hymn by the Decemberists. Beautiful song, wow. Colin Meloy sure can turn a line.

A barony of ivy in the trees
Expanding out its empire by degrees
And all the branches burst to bloom
In the boom
Heaven sent this cardinal maroon
To decorate our living room

Richard.

Private Collections

2011-06-30T23:46:00.002-04:00

Aaron started out as a collector of my work many years ago, and has since become a dear friend. He recently sent me a few snaps of my work that he has on his walls. This top one shows The Dust Mill, which I have to admit is one of my personal favorites.

This may of been one of the first pieces Aaron acquired from me. It is called Salambo and was an illustration drawn for Tales of Pain and Wonder by Caitlin R. Kiernan. At one point Aaron made the image into a t-shirt, which looked pretty awesome.

Tucked into this great shelf of comics is The Lost Machine and a print of an ink drawing I made when my daughter was born called The Fish Parade.

On this wall we have two illustrations created for To Charles Fort, With Love, by Caitlin R. Kiernan and one from King Rat by China Mieville.

Screw the art, I want this man's bookshelves! Okay, here be a few silverpoints from The Secret Society project. They are waiting to be joined by the rest in the series and then they will be framed.

Another of my favorites, Ominous Root, and The Stolen Key. The latter was a commission that I did for Aaron several years ago.

Richard.

Larva

2011-06-30T16:04:00.008-04:00

I had a desire to get into the garden this afternoon before Canada Day arrives and the sound of pools, chainsaws, lawnmowers, semi-inebriated passers by, dogs, fireworks and everything else closes in with that happy long weekend din. I took my camera for a little small game hunting and came away with very little (all of the creatures seem to be sensibly lying low in the heat). I did locate this creature, smaller than a piece of confetti, resting on a leaf. It seems to be some kind of beetle or bug larva.

The Canada Post strike is over, which mean if you ordered a book from me, it is now on the way. Sorry for the delay!

Now that July is here preparations for a few different events start to kick in. For those that are interested, you can check the sidebar of this blog for the various events/ projects that are happening.

Work on my novel Necessary Monsters is coming along really well thanks to a few sessions in front of the flip chart to work out some thorny plot issues. My entry point into the story has completely changed, but it feels strong. The Red Lamprey, originally intended to be a stand alone novella, now forms one distinct arc of the overall story. It was always intended to be a bridge story but there are so many connections that a full overhaul was really the only logical way to go. Much of what, some time ago was going to be Necessary Monsters will now comprise a completely separate story. My goal is to have the whole things done by the end of the summer, at which point I can start illustrations.

In the meantime, I am hard at work on illustrations for other books and will be beginning a new silverpoint for a show coming up in Troy, New York called Luminous Metal in August. I'll also be launching into illustrations for the project mentioned previously with Jeff VanderMeer, and there are a few surprises in the works as always.

Richard.

Squidanthropy: New Tales from Ambergris

2011-06-14T15:21:00.002-04:00

I am very excited to announce that I will be doing a book with author Jeff VanderMeer. I love his book City of Saints and Madmen, which is the leaping off point for this project. Much more on this later but I'll let Jeff have the last word for now by quoting the piece he wrote for his blog Ecstatic Days:

"…Okay, so “Squidanthropy” might not be the final title, but I am happy to say that Centipede Press and my agent are wrapping up the details on a new collection of Ambergris stories, to be illustrated by the amazing Richard A. Kirk…

…except, it’s a little more complicated than that, as these things sometimes are….

Richard read City of Saints & Madmen recently and sent me a facebook message to say how much he liked it. I noticed he was an artist, and so I checked out his work. You don’t necessarily like someone’s stuff just because they liked yours, but in this case I was blown away. I have to admit I’d never seen his art before, and it’s wonderful. (It didn’t hurt that I then read his fiction—see below—and liked that, too.)

So since Richard had said he’d like to do a project someday, I pinged him and asked if he’d consider doing art inspired by his reading of City of Saints. I would then write Ambergris fiction inspired by his art. I suggested this because I’m genuinely curious as to what Richard comes up with, but also because I don’t currently have a way in to writing more Ambergris short fiction. I know from past experience that all I really need is the right kind of trigger, however.

Also, I want to get back to writing more short fiction, and short fiction that’s in my personal sweet spot. I can and do write personal fiction in a variety of modes, but lately I’ve been hankering for a return to the kinds of things explored through my Ambergris stories. What will probably result, too, will be tales set throughout the period of time covered by City of Saints.

Although the project is being pre-sold, there’re no pre-conditions on the stories, which is very attractive to me. Richard will create about 10 originals and a title page/cover (I believe). As he finishes an illustration, I will then write a story around it, so I can easily slot these stories around existing commitments. Some will no doubt be short, others may linger awhile. I’m going to go wherever his art takes me. The finished book will be between 35,000 and 60,000 words, depending. And since it’s Centipede, you know it will be absolutely beautiful. I’m very excited.

When I have pre-order information, I’ll let you know"

Poppies

2011-06-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

Usually the poppies in my garden get blown to smithereens by wind, rain, or some other minor catastrophe. This year however, a few cool sunny days have brought them out beautifully. These photographs were taken this morning. The top one is a fairly common type but amazing not the less. The one below is a very striking red and the texture of the unfolding leaves is like some kind of very delicate crinkled paper.

photographs © Richard A. Kirk 2011

Framed!

2011-06-13T14:06:00.004-04:00

Iconoclasts
photo © Jacob Ludvigsen

A big thanks goes out to Jacob Ludvigsen in Denmark who sent me this photo of the framed Iconoclast silverpoints from my Human Organizations project. It is such a thrill for me to see this kind of installation shot. Do you have any installation shots of my work? Email them and I'll post them here.

It seems incredible but I already starting to think seriously about Fan Expo in Toronto! I am in the process of putting together new prints and of course I will have copies of The Lost Machine available. I am on the guest list under comic guests. Check it out here: Fan Expo 2011

Finally tonight, a shout out to Caitlin R. Kiernan, who's collection Two Worlds and In Between is Publisher's Weekly's Pick of the Week.

Richard.

Lost Machine

2011-06-12T21:28:00.003-04:00

Irridis from The Lost Machine
© Richard A. Kirk

It is coming up on a year since I published my novella The Lost Machine. In the past few days I have been working on my next book, The Red Lamprey. Not satisfied to be a novella, it is quickly becoming novel length. So it was wonderful to read a review of LM over on Jeff VanderMeer's blog Ecstatic Days.

Three originals from the Stranger! show went up on the Radiolaria Studios Etsy site in the past few days. One has already gone, so if you are looking to pick up a smaller original piece head on over.

All for now. Something wicked this way comes. Stay tuned!

Circle of Wolves Finished!

2011-06-07T21:17:00.002-04:00

Circle of Wolves
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

This is the final art for the Circle of Wolves release by the band The Distortion Mirrors. It is now ready for the typography. I hope you enjoyed a peek into the progression from drawing to completed image.

It is now time to turn my attention back to illustrations for Clive Barker's Weaveworld!

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #10

2011-06-02T23:34:00.003-04:00

Circle of Wolves
work in progress #10
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

10th Session - This session was tricky because of the need to transition from the focal point to the periphery of the piece. I did it by reducing my gradations, using two ink dilutions alternatively to simplify form.

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #9

2011-05-29T22:19:00.001-04:00

Circle of Wolves
work in progress #9
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

9th Session - In this session I re-drew the character on the left. It seemed kind of flat to me. I'm glad I did, I like the new one much better. It supports the rest of the composition better. I also went in and penciled the vegetation with more detail.

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #8

2011-05-27T23:21:00.002-04:00

Circle of Wolves

work in progress #8
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

Added a couple more creatures in this session. The next couple of sessions will really start to things pull together.

Richard.

io9

2011-05-27T10:28:00.003-04:00

Ann VanderMeer, who among many other things is the Editor in Chief at Weird Tales Magazine, very kindly posted a gallery of my work to the io9 website this week. Check it out if you missed it, and be sure to check out the rest of the site while you are there.

Artist Andy Paciorek also posted a gallery. Andy does wonderful work. Make sure to look through his galleries while you are there.

For the last couple of days I have been working on the Distortion Mirrors CD. I will probably throw up a couple of work in progress shots over the weekend.

Lots going on - I have several new projects brewing that I can't talk about just yet, but soon, soon.

Richard.

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #7

2011-05-24T22:56:00.000-04:00

Circle of Wolves
work in progress #7
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

7th Session - I have to admit this is the part that I have been really looking forward to - the creatures at the base of the composition. These wolves are a motley collection of monsters, some wolf-like, some more rat, some bird-like or even mechanical. Fun!

Hiding From Humans

2011-05-23T23:05:00.002-04:00

Hiding From Humans

ink, 2011
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

Lamp Girl

acrylic ink, watercolor, 2011
© Richard A. Kirk

I thought it would be fun to share a couple of sketches I did over the weekend. So there you are.

Random note: It looks like I will be at Wizard Comic Con in Toronto next March.

Richard.

A King with the Heads of his Rivals

2011-05-20T21:59:00.002-04:00

Acylic ink drawing
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

Working with ink in this way is polar opposite to the way I normally work. The flat black is great fun to work with. It scratches a different itch. I was tempted to add some color but I didn't want to lose that almost die cut graphic feel.

Richard.

Mushrooms and Mammals

2011-05-19T21:44:00.002-04:00

Character concept sketch
acrylic ink
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

I have two things to share with you tonight. I have been working with some acrylic inks (as seen last night). This is another image in the same vein. Much of my very early work was in watercolour, so coming back to it has been ridiculously fun.

Circle of Wolves
work in progress #6
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

Of course I have also been working hard on the Distortion Mirrors commission. You can see from the above that I've been focusing on the wing where there is an interplay of textures (feathers and sticks). It is absorbing work but slow. It sounds a bit odd, but I need to maintain a concentrated mental sense of "feather" or "stick" to make this happen. Paradoxically, this has to be done without too much intensity. It's all very zen. Thankfully I came across a trove of podcasts of "Q" on the CBC website that provides just the perfect degree of distraction!

Richard.

Side Bar

2011-05-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

Character sketch
© Richard A. Kirk 2011

One of the projects that is percolating in the back of my mind is a writing and drawing a comic. I've always loved comics, from the English comics of the 70s that my grandmother used to send through the mail, to Heavy Metal in its heyday. These images I am showing tonight are a couple of concept sketches I did to help me realize what this project might look like. It is exciting to contemplate working in this "voice that is very different than the other work that I do. I hope you enjoy this little peek at a cool side project.

Richard.

2011-05-17T22:10:00.002-04:00

I've commented before how my working environment, music, stuff I am reading and so on set a kind of environment for the production of particular pieces. So much so that I can actually often recall these things years later by looking at a drawing. This piece, which is the last drawing of a series of silverpoints called Quorum, is firmly rooted in acoustic Jethro Tull and Jeff VanderMeer's fabulous book City of Saints and Madmen. On odd combination to be sure but somehow it all works. For the Distortion Mirrors art, in addition to the bands music, I am listening to a lot of weird electronica, like Seefeel.

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #5

2011-05-17T07:35:00.002-04:00

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #3 & 4

2011-05-13T20:06:00.003-04:00

The above is a detail of the art for Circle of Wolves by The Distortion Mirrors. It represents the 3rd and 4th sessions, so about 4 hours of work from the last work in progress image. I am using a couple of different brushes, a Cotman 00 and a Gold Sable 0000. The Cotman is actually giving me a finer mark despite being a tiny bit longer. Because of the extra length I have to be cautious not to overload as the pressure of the water will force too thick a mark. I have to be insanely careful when choosing brushes because the slightest deformity of the tip can make the difference between a good session and a hair pulling nightmare (me, not the brush). It is a little comical when you think about it. Anyway I do spend an inordinate amount of time examining brush tips in art supply stores, especially the big box places where for some inexplicable reason people like to pull off the little clear (yes clear) plastic tubes from the ferrule and then jam them back on with little regard for the person who actually buys the brush. It is the brush equivalent to going into the corner store and popping the lid off every carton of milk until you find the one you like. You know who you are. Stop it.

Anyway, The Distortion Mirrors have a new web site, and since they were kind enough to call me visionary, I provide the link here as a public service.

Richard.

Iconoclast 5

2011-05-10T21:37:00.003-04:00

I hesitate to say this too loud, but I think winter has gone from Ontario. This evening we had a lazy thunderstorm roll through and the garden is suddenly greening up. Poppies are emerging, hostas and lily of the valley are sticking their pencil-like spikes up through the soil.

I'm very busy in the studio these days working on several projects simultaneously, or at least in rotation. Some of these things I can't show because it would be premature, but I will try to put up what I can. Tonight's image is a silverpoint from my series called Human Organizations: Iconoclasts. This one is number 5. If you are on FB you can check out a lot of these images in the album called Human Organizations. When I get some time, I'll put them up on my website.

In the midst of creating new works, I am preparing some prints for FanExpo in August. There will be some new images and some old favorites.

Remember, if you would like to purchase a copy of my novella The Lost Machine, you can do so here.

Secret Society Tattoo

2011-05-02T16:42:00.004-04:00

Secret Society Member #3
The Human Organizations Project
by Richard A. Kirk

Detail of tattoo
tattoo artist: Cruz

Eric Gutierrez sent me these fantastic images this weekend. The tattoo is based on a silverpoint drawing that I did as part of a series called The Secret Society. Seeing it interpreted as a tattoo is amazing! I love the monochromatic ink with the white highlights. This piece is about mystery and esoteric knowledge.

Richard.

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #2

2011-04-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

2nd session. I'm starting to model the form - tricky when the form must come from disparate elements. The whole thing needs to "read" as body. I rely heavily on the human mind's anthropocentrism.

Stone

2011-04-20T17:02:00.004-04:00

A Devonian stone. How amazing would it be to find a piece of stone like this on another planet?

Circle of Wolves Work in Progress #1

2011-04-19T22:07:00.002-04:00

This is the result of the first inking session for this piece, approximately 2 hours work. I decided to work on the central figure first. The combination of brush and smooth finish of the hot press paper make it possibly to divide the white space with a near infinite series of divisions. It feels great to be back on the brushes after several weeks of pen work.

Richard.

The Reflecting Sky

2011-04-19T14:58:00.003-04:00

We are living an in interstitial time. Winter has become one of those dinner guests that, gloves in hand, talk interminably at the front door, a program locking the system, a fish bone in the throat and an eternally clogged drain, all in one. The only way I can keep my sanity is by trying to find the beauty in it. So I take random pictures of things with my iPhone. It forces me to observe this rather lustreless time, the way a finger running along a line of print trains the mind on its meaning. So here are a few shots from today. They are lo-fi, badly composed captures of things that caught my eye today.

Richard.

Circle of Wolves

2011-04-17T22:26:00.002-04:00

One of the projects that I am currently working on is an EP cover for a band called The Distortion Mirrors. The EP is called Circle of Wolves. We thought it would be fund to document the creation of the art through a series of creator blog entries. So this is the first. It is a scan of the underdrawing. Although it is fairly detailed, it is really a jumping off point for a lot of creativity to come. Much content which is only suggested with a few gestural lines will be fleshed out into strange plants an creature. I hope you will check in to follow the progress.

Tree trunk in Springbank Park, London, Ontario
April 2011

This is unfortunately what is left of one of my favorite trees. It must have been at least 100 years old. It stood very close to a bend in the park road at the most western fringe, not far from the river. It was one of those old trees that fell apart over the years but still had a kind of ravaged majesty. One day while driving by, I saw a city crew taking it down. Close inspection of the trunk provided the explanation - rotten to the core - but it was still a great disappointment to no longer see its form in the park. The patterns that the ants, were quietly making in the wood all these years are fascinating. At first glance, it reminded me of a satellite image of a river spilling into the ocean. Goodbye awesome tree.

Richard.

Birds and Mirrors

2011-04-14T18:27:00.003-04:00

bird nest found today

I found this bird nest in my garden, just outside my back door. I am not sure if it is a remnant of last year or a false start from this year. Anyhow, its lines caught my eye and I photographed it for reference. It, or some impression of it will end up in a drawing one day. It is humbling how casually the elements of the world function to create forms of such incredible complexity, fragility and beauty without any sense of such abstractions.

Lately, I have been concentrating on illustration's for Weaveworld - pointillism - working in 7" x 10" spaces which are taking about two weeks each. I am taking the technique into new places with this project - more density, trying to let it express the illustrations in a way that another technique would not. It is slow, difficult work but I am loving it. I am catching up on a lot of podcasts while I work.

This weekend, I will be starting a piece of art for a band called The Distortion Mirrors. My intention, is to post progress on the piece here, so interested people can check it out. You can stream the band's new music on their myspace page. I am excited about this new image. The band has given me great freedom in working with their themes bringing the commission close to the core of my own artistic production.

Richard.

The Last Days of Winter

2011-03-27T10:45:00.002-04:00

The past couple of weeks have been focused on completing the last draft of The Red Lamprey. It is finished now, except for a bit of sanding and copy editing. The next step will be to create the illustrations and begin laying it out as a book. I have also been working on illustrations for Clive Barker's Weaveworld. So as you can see it has been a lot of locked away, good old fashioned studio production. Good activities for the end of winter.

This week a couple of exciting opportunities have opened up - a new book project, and a show. I'll share more on those things when the time is right. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this pen drawing that I did at the tail end of 2010.

Cheers, Richard.

WW25

2011-03-14T16:23:00.002-04:00

At the moment I am working on an illustration for Clive Barker's Weaveworld, 25th Anniversary Edition. Let's just agree to call it WW25 for the sake of brevity, since it will probably get mentioned quite a lot in the next few months. Oddly, WW25 looks disconcertingly like World War 25, but we will ignore that. The illustration I am doing is of the witch, Immacolata. If you have read the book, you know that she is a very interesting creature, by turns beautiful and horrifying. I was immediately drawn to her as a subject. When I am illustrating a book I tend not to go in sequential order. I gravitate to the illustrations that call out first. Immacolata is definitely a navigational point of reference for the rest of the book.

The Red Lamprey is well along in 2nd draft and the art for the title page is done. I did the image on acid free bristol which I have decided is a great material for 4th grade science projects but is extremely worrisome as a serious paper. I know others will disagree. I had to try it because I noticed that a lot of other people are using it for ink work. Like Micron markers, it has little use for me beyond a convenience for sketching at a con or roughing out some thoughts. I keep coming back to Arches hotpress as the ideal medium. I was excited about Yupo but although it was an interesting surface, it doesn't suit my handling of the ink.

Okay, back to work!

Richard.

Winter, still

2011-03-04T07:18:00.004-05:00

My southern friends tell me that spring is on the way. Birds are beginning to sing and trees are showing signs of life, somewhere. Meanwhile, my back yard is covered with a layer of ice so hard and uneven it looks like a catastrophe at a glass factory. The crows are back, which is something, I guess. They come at the end of winter every year to sit in the pine trees outside the house and shriek from about 5am onwards. This is good, because it reminds my dog to wake me up. Clearly he has not heard Ambrose Bierce's observation that morning is "when men of reason go to bed."

I have been quietly working on a number of projects this week. I am working through the 2nd draft of The Red Lamprey (new novel) and it is coming along really well. It is closing in on twice the length of The Lost Machine, which might mean it is more novel than novella. These distinctions are always a bit perplexing. I have also started the art for the book, which feels great. I will be posting the illustrated title page in the not to distant future as a bit of a teaser. In addition, I have been working on some book and music projects. The image above is a sample drawing that I did for a project that will see the light of day most likely in 2012.

In the studio I've been listening to Adele, PJ Harvey and The Black Dog. This week also brought into my hands the 16th Edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which is just pure geeky pleasure.

Go forth and create.

Richard.

The Distortion Mirrors

2011-02-25T23:05:00.002-05:00

Here is some very cool news to end the week with! If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know I am a big music fan, with a taste for electronics. Well, I am thrilled to tell you that I will be creating art for a forth coming EP, "Circle of Wolves" (click on the link for a music sample) from a new band called The Distortion Mirrors.

From their page, here is a description of the band: "Distortion Mirrors are: Lukas Worle (vox, vocoders, synths, noises,sonics, programming) and Josiah Brooks (guitars,noises, backing vox). Distortion Mirrors are a two piece [actually a five piece now] NY band featuring guitars that sound like keyboards, and keyboards that sound like guitars. Distortion Mirrors haunting soundscapes encompass influences as varied as Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Peter Gabriel and Smashing Pumpkins. They recently have wrapped up their forthcoming E.P. "Circle of Wolves" with renowned producer Sylvia Massy."

Now, go listen to the sample. What are you waiting for?

Richard.

Luminous Metal

2011-02-24T14:48:00.003-05:00

This is exciting, if like me you are a lover of metalpoint drawing. I have been invited to participate in an upcoming show at the Clement Art Gallery in Troy, New York. The show is called Luminous Metal: Contemporary Drawings in Metalpoint. I'll have 3 new silverpoint drawings in the show, which opens August 26 and runs to September 29. As mentioned on this blog previously, The Cute and Creepy show at the Museum of Fine Art at Florida State University opens on October 7! August 26 also falls right in the middle of FanExpo in Toronto. Gasp!

I am very excited about the Luminous Metal show because it is the first time that I have been in a show where metal point is the sole focus. Other participating artists are:

Dennis Angel
Aaron Board
Jeannine Cook
Jon Gernon
Banjie Getsinger Nicolas
Jeff Lewis
Tom Mazzullo
Carol O' Neill
and Charles Steckler

Stranger! Opening

2011-02-23T14:58:00.004-05:00

"The Tearer" captured in front of Clive Barker's painting.

Last night I attended the opening of the Stranger! show mounted by the Shadowood Collective at The Arts Project in London, Ontario. This is the second year that I have participated in the show and I have to say that organizers Vincent Morcone, Anthony Veilleux, and Sarah Legault did an exceptional job.

The array of art on the walls was diverse and professional. One one side of the gallery were the Tinies, framed miniature prints from a large group of artists. On the other side of the gallery were original works by myself, Tom Taggart, Clive Barker, Anita Kunz, Sarah Legault, Anthony Veilleux, Vincent Marcone, Ryan Price and others. Down the middle of the gallery was a Harley Davidson sporting Sarah's designs, a table full of scary looking but delicious treats, and Mark Thibideau with his amazing rack of synthesizers.

From the moment the doors were opened the crowd filled the space and the energy held right until the close. I have posted a few snaps that I managed to take between some great conversations, a fashion show, a short film viewing and a body suspension demonstration. If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and check out the art, which will be up until March 5.

I just wanted to say special thanks to the people who traveled from out of town, even out of country! to see my work. You know who you are! It was great to have the chance for those face to face conversations and to share this show with you.

There are a couple of cool announcements coming up related to my work so please check back later in the week.

Cheers, Richard.

Some of the artwork shown by Tom Taggart from the US.
Tom and I both did work on the Clive Barker
"Imajica" CCG,(created by our mutual
friend Hans Rueffert) back in the day.

Mark Thibideau working his musical alchemy.
Had great conversations about vintage synths, about
which I know a little (as a fan of electronic music),
and Mark knows everything!

Sarah Legault's art on a gorgeous Harley Davidson.
The temptation to sit on this thing was almost palpable.

A bunch of people having an great night out.

My work to the right (if you had to be told that you're
at the wrong blog) and Clive Barker's piece to the left.

Munchies

This is just a small selection of some of the fashions
that were on display during the course of the show.

In the theatre, the audience awaits the viewing of
2 short films and a body suspension demonstration by
Iwascured.

All photos © Richard A. Kirk, 2011

Stranger! Opening Tomorrow

2011-02-21T20:06:00.003-05:00

Offish Wrack

Another busy weekend writing and drawing! Tomorrow is the opening of The Shadowood Collectives: Stranger!, at The Arts Project in London, Ontario. The two images above are miniatures I created just for the show that will be available as prints. I will also have 5 larger originals in the show. If you can, please drop by!

Richard.

The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel Finished!

2011-02-17T22:17:00.003-05:00

I finished this piece tonight. I live in an area of the world where Devonian rock surfaces frequently in the landscape. As a result of this, the idea of fossil rich rock has become part of my visual vocabulary. I love the idea of the Wastrel being balanced on a reference to deep time.

I got two great pieces of news today, which I hope to share with you this weekend. In the meantime, I'd like to remind you about the Stranger! show that opens this coming Tuesday night at The Arts Project in London, Ontario. I am planning on being at the show and would love to meet you! There are a number of amazing artists as well as tons of other things going on including a fashion show. It will be tons of fun.

Cheers, Richard.

Sunday

2011-02-13T16:12:00.002-05:00

The Wastrel is moving along. This piece was started in January and I am working on it during breaks from other projects. With luck, I'll have it done by this time next week.

Richard.

Bits and Pieces of News

2011-02-10T14:58:00.003-05:00

Just in, some further details on the upcoming Cute and Creepy show in October, courtesy of Carrie Anne Baade. Just take a look at that list of artists!

Cute & Creepy, Curated by Carrie Anne Baade
Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts

SHOW DATES: October 7– November 20, 2011

An Exhibition of Contemporary Grotesquerie at The Museum of Fine Art at Florida State University opening October of 2011 curated by Carrie Ann Baade.

The following artists will be included in the exhibit:

* Kris Kuksi
* Kathie Olivas
* Jessica Joslin
* Kelly Boehmer
* Timothy Cummings
* Thomas Woodruff
* Scott G. Brooks
* Elizabeth McGrath
* Marion Peck
* Greg "Craola" Simkins
* Chris Mars
* Richard A. Kirk
* Laurie Hogin
* Judith Schaechter
* Laurie Lipton
* Lori Field
* Chet Zar
* Christian Rex van Minnen
* Ray Caesar
* Martin Wittfooth
* Jessica Joslin
* Mark Hosford
* Kate Clark
* Travis Louie

February brings good news for the Radiolaria Studios end of things. For the past few weeks the cold Canadian winter has given me plenty of opportunities to sit in my studio and write. I am pleased to be able to report that a major milestone has been reached for my new novel, The Red Lamprey. Last night I finished the first draft! Actually, that is slightly inaccurate as much of it has experienced several sweeps. Even though there is a lot of work still to do, it is very satisfying to write, "The End" and feel a little firm ground under my feet. Now that the story has its shape, I can begin the process of turning it into a book. Editing, polishing, tweaking will all happen over the next few weeks, and best of all, I can now start working on the illustrations! The Red Lamprey will have more illustrations than The Lost Machine. The story itself is longer too. I expect the completed book will be about 150 pages in length. Watch this space for further developments!

Remember, copies of The Lost Machine are still available on my website. Why not blow some of that tax return on a fun read!

Richard.

Wastrel Work in Progress #6

2011-02-02T17:57:00.002-05:00

Back to work on the Wastrel. I kind of like the points on this one, the way the tendrils, balls and pillbugs form different coordinates in the piece, as though it could be a coded map. In the next few days I'll be filling out the figure and finish the piece where I started, down at the bottom.

One another note: Collectors and anyone interested in an original drawing, I have a number of original pieces for sale. If you are seriously interested, send me an email and request a pricelist in PDF. The pricelist is up to date and has a thumbnail of each piece and the usual details such as size.

Also, there are still copies of my novella The Lost Machine available for purchase on my website. Payments are accepted through Paypal. I will happily sign your copy and do a small sketch in inside the book, simply let me know when ordering. In addition to the books, there is a selection of prints.

Cheers, Richard.

The Ominous Radio

2011-02-01T07:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I was nursing my pricey Starbucks drink and working on a chapter of The Red Lamprey when I was reminded that I was actually writing two books, one over top of the other.

The first book is the one where I write down everything I want to happen, everything that the character is thinking and feeling.It is the place where all of the problem solving happens. In the moment it feels like "the book", that these are quite plausibly the words that six months from now someone will be reading and thinking Booker. Well, perhaps not the last part. But then, when a certain amount of the caffeine is metabolized and I go back through however many pages, it is easy to see that this isn't the case.

I like the metaphor of a radio with the back off. For the sake of the visual, imagine a scary looking early 20th century radio stuffed with ominous glowing tubes and the smell of scorched dust, which may or may not be wired correctly. The first book feels a little like that. The next part of the task, to risk belaboring the metaphor, is to translate all of that madness into the slick illuminated dial and speaker at the front that requires no more effort to reach the voice than the click of a Bakelite knob.

I'm not sure I'd want to be able to jump right to that second book. I love all that clunky back end stuff. For me the real pleasure of fiction writing comes all parts of the process. Working out an idea, Frankensteining the thing together and then slowly locating its essence.

January Wrap-up

2011-01-31T07:47:00.002-05:00

Poster for Stranger!

Over the weekend I have been working on miniatures for the Stranger! show. I returned to the Rapidograph pen for these because I wanted them to be part of the family of miniatures I did for the last Shadowood show, The Monstrous Tinies. Pointillism with a technical pen is a slow process. There is absolutely no way to speed the process without losing quality. Each dot laid down has to be precise, not dragged into a comma shape and moire effect has to be avoided (where an unintended pattern begins to emerge in the distribution of the dots). There is something in this constrained pace that I actually find relaxing once I have worked through the impatience that comes with the excitement of starting a new piece. Anyway, by the end of today, I should have the third one done and I will be turning to other projects. Once the giclee prints for Stranger! are available, I'll mention it here. Of course if you are going to the show, you will be able to pick one up there.

January was a good start to the year, but man, it went by fast. I did The Cuckoo's Promise and started The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel. The Stranger! miniatures and some other bits and pieces. I also did quite a bit of writing on The Red Lamprey. In February I will be working on Weaveworld, Lingua Fungi, commissions, and Red Lamprey Art. That's a lot for a short month. Speaking of Weaveworld, if you haven't seen it, the back page of issue 300 of Fangoria has the ad for the book. Richard

Dr. Malignare

2011-01-27T21:50:00.003-05:00

Dr. Malignare is a miniature drawing created for the Stranger! show being mounted by the Shadowood Collective on February 22, 2011, at the Arts Project in London, Ontario. I will be doing a couple more but this is the only peek before the show.

I can't help myself. When I draw these characters, they always come with a backstory. The good doctor is an evil apothecarist, who substitutes according to whim.

Enjoy, and if you are nearby, come to the show!

Megrim

2011-01-24T20:54:00.004-05:00

Megrim is an old French word for migraine. Unfortunately I have a more than passing acquaintance. I created this drawing as a little break from Wastrel. It is sometimes useful to keep fresh on a long drawing by throwing in some smaller pieces.

Fangoria posted a peek of the issue #301 cover (#301 has a profile of my work). I've been a big Matheson fan for years, so I was delighted to see the image.

Cheers, Richard.

The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel - Background Finished.

2011-01-23T21:45:00.002-05:00

The background is complete but what I really wanted to show you with this WIP was the transition in inking style to a much tighter rendering for the subject - so far the pillbugs. This will serve to pop the subject off the background.

Richard.

Wastrel Continued...

2011-01-20T15:37:00.004-05:00

I can tell this piece is getting under my skin because I worked on it last night with a bad weather induced headache and slightly less cognitive capacity than a cutlery drawer. But I just hate to lose a night in the studio. So I put on some music and ground through two hours of inking before reaching the outer threshold of tolerance. Most artists will I think recognize that place, where to continue would be kind of noble but very ill advised. Like riding out on a battlefield with a ceremonial sword and scented letter for your enemy. You’re likely to be robbed and stuffed head first into a cannon before you get twenty feet. So I stopped. It has probably taken me twenty years to be able to do that without walking into the next room and announcing portentously, “that’s it, it’s gone.” Now I just sit on the couch nervously rubbing my palms on my knees. Seriously, I am glad I did stop because when I got up this morning I felt much more focused and between sitting up in bed and boiling the kettle I’d solved the problem I was having with the Wastrel piece, gained an insight on the protagonist in The Red Lamprey and visualized the title page of the book. Not bad. I offer this small example to stressed out artists everywhere.

I’ve been invited to take part in a project called Antipodes, initiated by Ben Tolman, an amazing ink artist. It looks like fun. If you want to treat yourself to some eye-popping ink work check it out.

Richard.

Crossroads and Milestones

2011-01-18T22:36:00.003-05:00

It's about at this point in the drawing when I start to get excited about where things are going. I start being really careful about where I sit the tea on the drawing table and keep the chair away pulled out so my dog can't jump up when I am out of the room. Yes, I do leave the table for periods at a time. Seriously, I am beginning to think about how I want to handle the top of the drawing. There are two directions that I can take this in that will give the piece an entirely different feel. I have one more night to decide. It is nice that even in a drawing as tightly structured as this, there is a lot of room to play. It is this play, the excitement of seeing what will be revealed, that motivates me.

The Red Lamprey (the new novel, for the not so constant reader) has now officially surpassed The Lost Machine in word count. Not of great significance really but it was a fun milestone. Reaching it felt a little bit like the end of the first act. The characters are well and truly um.. well you know. Bad things are happening and I just wrote a walk-on from a major baddie from Necessary Monsters.

Right then, bed.

Richard.

The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel: Session 2

2011-01-17T22:27:00.002-05:00

This the second inking session for this piece. I am going to leave the left side now in order to concentrate on the right. Once that is done I will head into the rest of the background.

I found out this week that FanExpo in Toronto is going to be four days this year instead of the usual 3. That is exciting news indeed.

I updated the Radiolaria Studios blog earlier today. Here is the link, if you are interested!

Cheers, Richard.

The Cart before Horse before the Cart

2011-01-13T13:29:00.007-05:00

Tonight I did the first inking session on the new piece. It represents about 3 hours, not including tea breaks. My strategy is to ink in the whole background before touching the figure and the pillbugs.

I also managed to work on Red Lamprey today. I finished a chapter which lies at the half way point. It is a real challenge to balance these days. When I start doing one thing, it's difficult to pull myself off it. The chapter has some very weird stuff happening in a fish tank, a very large fish tank. That's all I'm saying.

A friend of mine asked me today, what comes first, the image or the title. The answer is (drum roll) in the middle. At this point in my artistic production, when I create a drawing it takes some time for it to reveal it's intentions. I work very intuitively, meaning I try not to "think up something to draw" any more than I think up something to dream at night. It just happens. About halfway into the drawing, the pencil lines start to darken, that means that I am finding my way to the heart of the matter. That is where the title forms. Once I have the title, the rest of the drawing coheres around the first stages of the drawing and the pieces new identity, and this is a process that continues as I begin to add ink to the drawing. It's not always that tidy of course but that is, schematically at least, how it happens.

It is really difficult to isolate where ideas come from. I think everyone's subconscious mind is a little image engine. For the artist, the trick of it, is to try to crystallize those images before they disappear.

Okay.. here is a better page for the Shadowood Show that I mentioned last night. I am going to have a few originals in this show and some, probably 3 miniatures. My friend Tom Taggart is in this show. Check him out if you haven't seen his stuff. It is great!

Well, the dog, Pekoe the studio rat, (actually a yorkie, dachshund, chihuahua mix) has fallen asleep between my feet, so I guess that's his subtle message for me to call it a day.

Cheers, Richard.

The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel

2011-01-12T17:36:00.002-05:00

The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel. This is the underdrawing of a new piece I am working on. It is 10" x 13.5" and will be rendered in ink. I bumped up the levels in PS in order to make it visible but otherwise it is just the graphite you are seeing. I like to start my pieces with a fairly solid line drawing. The fun for me lies in the interpretation of the forms through modeling. My plan is to work on this in the background while I begin some pieces for various shows. It is extremely useful to be able to shuttle back and forth between pieces as a way to keep a fresh perspective without losing momentum. Since I created the drawing I have decided to work the piece in brush rather than pointillism. I am really loving those brushes lately.

I received news today that the catalogue for the Cute and Creepy show in the fall is starting to come together. I am very excited about the show which is being curated by my friend and painter Carrie Ann Baade. The list of the other artists is very impressive. Stay tuned!

Richard.

Stranger!

2011-01-11T22:44:00.004-05:00

Poster for Stranger!
by Vincent Marcone of My Pet Skeleton

On February 22, this year I'll be taking part in the Shadowood Collective's show Stranger!. I participated in the show last year and it was energetic and crazy, in the best sense. Aside from the art, there was a fashion show and a body suspension demonstration and live music. I'll post more details as they become available but all indications point to this years show being even bigger and better!

Tonight was a clean-up night. Whenever I have been working on a piece for a couple of weeks, it is nice to take a breather, clean up the studio and take care of business that has been building up. I couldn't help tweaking the drawing for my next piece titled "The Unaccountable Absence of the Wastrel". I am not sure what the conjures up in your head but I can guarantee it isn't this! It should be fun. I'm going back to the technical pen for this one, to do some hardcore pointillism. I'll probably drop in a few work in progress shots as I go along, so if you are interested, make sure to drop in on the blog.

Richard.