THE ART
My art is a reflection of the environment. The images I create are a tribute to the plants, animals and architecture that I find in my surroundings and they, in turn, supply me with the enthusiasm and motivation I need to continue drawing.
Initially, all of my drawings were done in pen and ink by stippling. Stippling is an illustration technique where dots of varying sizes, and the density of those dots are used to provide 'value' (the degree of light or shade) in a drawing. The drawing may be either black and white or colour. Obviously, when a drawing has no colour the scale of value is critical - scale of value refers to the range of light and dark from deepest shadow to brightest light. In stippling, I can achieve a greater scale of value and more detail by using a large drawing surface (i.e. 11" x 16") and very small dots. The large drawings of wildlife take between 100-200 hours to complete. These are 11" x 16" images drawn with .18 - .30 size rapidograph nibs and are comprised of many millions of dots. And that, in a nutshell, is why I now do half my drawings in graphite (pencil and stick).
I accept commission work, although I reserve the rights associated with all of my work. My preference is to work in an 8" x 10" space on cold press board; that makes the area large enough to detailed work and small enough to do it in a reasonable amount of time.
Initially, all of my drawings were done in pen and ink by stippling. Stippling is an illustration technique where dots of varying sizes, and the density of those dots are used to provide 'value' (the degree of light or shade) in a drawing. The drawing may be either black and white or colour. Obviously, when a drawing has no colour the scale of value is critical - scale of value refers to the range of light and dark from deepest shadow to brightest light. In stippling, I can achieve a greater scale of value and more detail by using a large drawing surface (i.e. 11" x 16") and very small dots. The large drawings of wildlife take between 100-200 hours to complete. These are 11" x 16" images drawn with .18 - .30 size rapidograph nibs and are comprised of many millions of dots. And that, in a nutshell, is why I now do half my drawings in graphite (pencil and stick).
I accept commission work, although I reserve the rights associated with all of my work. My preference is to work in an 8" x 10" space on cold press board; that makes the area large enough to detailed work and small enough to do it in a reasonable amount of time.
THE ARTIST (Michael Beseau)
I work in pen and ink because the starkness of a black and white image appeals to me. It is simple: with a focus on the subject all of my concentration is on the image. It is dramatic: it provides opportunity for strong contrast and powerful vignette. Finally, it is a great challenge: it is an unforgiving medium. I work in graphite to stay sane.
MANAGEMENT (Erie Pentland)
Erie and I share a love of travel and wildlife (and gin and lemonade) and I use many of Erie's photographs as reference materials for the images I create. Erie is responsible for the business end of things as well as the creation of many of the materials we sell at venues like the Moss Street Paint-In. She also manages Ink on Ivory's Facebook presence.