Black & White/Brush & Ink works on paper

Black & White/
Chiaroscuro/
Brush & Ink
Works on Paper
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"Colour delights only salesmen and magazines" – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Lack of colour is so liberating – I have been using brush and Chinese ink for more than 20 years, occasionally as book illustration (as in my 2000 book Wise Acres and 2012 Vanishing Vancouver – see my book page). There are scattered examples of it elsewhere on this site, notably in the Australian campervan trip, the Australian painting page, and in a handful of the trips catalogued on the travel page.

There were also a number in my 2017 show, most of which sold.

Most of the pictures below, set in reverse chronological order, are true "chiaroscuro" i.e. light-dark with no intermediate tones; they are the most interesting as compositions because of the challenge of creating an image where only shadows enclose space and create form, without any outlines, and where there is no atmospheric perspective at all – just geometric perspective. My arty friends tend to be more impressed by them. They definitely fit the polarized urban environment of rich-poor Vancouver.

However, I have begun to experiment with an ink stick and stone that I bought in Taiwan several years ago; in this more traditional way of painting, the space is modelled partly by tone and partly by composition.

These are all for sale, of course. Use the "Contact Me" link above for prices, etc.

Go to Chiaroscuro Drawings

INK STICK (TONE) DRAWINGS