Lakescape on an Overcast Day

“Lakescape on an Overcast Day” includes some whimsical ‘eyes’ in the foreground bushes. All fauna eyes are pure chance. I highlighted these through further pencil work to accentuate their creature-like qualities.

A prominent all-seeing climate change eye appears in the midst of the lake. This ‘eye’ occurred completely by chance without design or forethought by me. I kept the mid-ground trees and bushes (above the waterline) without heavy pencil shading, to make for a pleasing visual contrast within my composition.

Please enjoy, thank you.

Ridge Willow – Spirit of the Trees

The Spirit of the Trees can be seen as a lady’s face at the upper mid-left of the canvas. Her face is forlorn from habitat destruction, the loss of our world’s trees. The Spirit is holding up the sky with the trees of her hair.

The Spirit is listening with cat’s ears to the sounds of positive climate change. Her voice is strong winds through the trees and all the birds singing in harmony together.

The Spirit appeared, miraculously.

Please note from a technical viewpoint my artwork is a mixture of dashes, dots and lines. This is my interpretation from a specific Van Gogh style. Movement and feeling feature throughout the composition.

The face of a woman is purely chance in the trees. Although for those intimately knowing my works, this is extraordinary coincidence in actual likeness.

Whilst producing this artwork my inspiration found considerable affinity to a recent conservation speech by Greta Thunberg and Samela Sateré–Mawé – Climate and Humanitarian activists.

Please enjoy 🙂

Wren’s Nest Pond in Low Tide

The four wooden posts you see in the sketch, above, entitled “Wren’s Nest Pond in Low Tide” are completely covered with water during winter, lest an inch or three.

You can see another set of posts from the same pond, taken from a slightly different angle, in “Wren’s Nest Pond – One” [16th March 2021] here: https://theunfathomableartist.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/wrens-nest-pond-one-and-two-sketches/

I think the posts are used to fortify the edge of the bank. It probably has some construction reinforcement underneath the waterline for this purpose.

This is the first draft of sketching for my artwork:

Earlier first draft of “Wren’s Nest Pond in Low Tide” on 27th September 2021 by Matt The Unfathomable Artist.

The water is grey-green and murky. My sketch is intended to contrast this with the surrounding beauty. Here is the photographic inspiration for my sketch:

Photograph for “Wren’s Nest Pond in Low Tide” by Matt The Unfathomable Artist.

Would you have believed in the water from my first draft? Personally I wanted this water to shine, because I feel the water of the pond is shining at us.

I’m happy with this artwork as I see the layers of themes throughout my conservation sketches, from my Local Nature Reserve, in this piece.

From the Fused Horse Chestnut Tree

Sat upon the metal gate under the fused Horse Chestnut Tree, I noticed a beautiful composition of the ‘King James VI & I Oak of 1612’.

I happily waited for a walker with his dog to pass by, then quickly photographed the picture. My Impressionist sketch is directly inspired by my photograph, having taken approximately one and half an hour to produce.

Here is a digital edit to highlight the dark tones for my sketch detail, including the paper texture:

“From the Fused Horse Chestnut Tree” – digital edit to provide depth tones and paper texture.

My sketch incorporates various techniques, most, such as pencil overlays and the fleetness of working being usual practice amongst professional artists. Other techniques included in this sketch (and some of my other sketches) are my own way of producing pencil work details. Of course, each artist has their personal methods for working canvas, sketches, watercolours or sculptures et al.

I doubt my unusual techniques have not found other artists doing same or similar in the world of art. What I am saying is I discovered the way I create my sketch details through my own practice and experimentation. This is an important process in finding your artistic style.

By the way, the two eyes in the overhanging leaves (upper mid-right) were further developed from naturally occurring pencil work. The eyes that appeared in the old Oak tree were entirely and completely by chance. I found the manner my pencil lines are produced seems to create ‘eyes’ in my work.

I thought this was particularly interesting, so in previous sketches I decided to make this an element of my landscape sketch work. I think ‘Buzzards Wood‘ is probably the first time I noticed this phenomena in my work.

Shall we take a look at the photograph my sketch is derived? Here it is:

“From the Fused Horse Chestnut Tree – photograph” [15th September 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist,

In effect I have slightly brought forward the perspective, as we see in the photograph. My sketch is a few feet nearer to the fallen Horse Chestnut Tree branch at the lower mid centre of the picture. The branch has significance to my work, as I will make known at some later time.

In my sketch I give the sense of light and shade upon the field grass. Also the delineation of light throughout the overhanging leaves.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and my photographically derived Impressionist sketch :]

Surreal & Pop Art Egyptian Rabbits

“Pop Art Egyptian Rabbit with ISBN & Barcode“[9th September 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, Pop Art sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 280gsm 250mm x 300mm fine art gesso primed canvas [pad], 7279 x 6004 pixels in digitally edited image shown.

At the lower-right corner of this artwork the 13-digit ISBN numbers read, in their English alpha-numerical conversion – ‘Earth Sale’.

The machine code numbers, made of a series of 0’s and 1’s, are replicated from my previous artwork – ‘Surreal Egyptian Rabbit with Venus’.

Nucleic and astronomic ideas feature without a predefined actuality.

“Surreal Egyptian Rabbit with Venus” [8th September 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, surrealist sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 230gsm 270mm x 195mm fine art paper, 7599 x 6033 pixels in digitally edited image shown.

This artwork “Surreal Egyptian Rabbit with Venus” is a new composition inspired from ‘Surreal Egyptian Rabbits’.

[Please note I have not fully cropped the image above.]

“Surreal Egyptian Rabbits” [7th September 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, surrealist sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 230gsm 270mm x 195mm fine art paper, 7289 x 5559 pixels in digital image shown.

This artwork is a first edition surrealist sketch from my own Impressionist artwork entitled “Two Rabbits Munching” (see sketch image below). Three rabbits of the field have become ancient Egyptian representations in symbolic form. A sword appears as a shadow to the pathway with a scythe or axe-like appearance snaking over the grasses below.

One rabbit’s head is hiding or partly obscured. Vegetation eyes look at us within long grass stalks growing at the feet of a moth. The letters SOS can be seen in the mid-ground grasses.

“Two Rabbits Munching” [6th September 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 230gsm 270mm x 195mm fine art paper, 7223 x 5392 pixels in digital image shown.

This sketch is composed from a spontaneous photograph during a breezy thought-walk all around my local Nature Reserve.

These particular hedgerow rabbits frequent Buzzard’s Wood Hollow and the Meadow Three grass verges.

Hilariously, further along the obscured mid-placed path there are some adventurous rabbits that use the smooth flat sculptural Water Vole Ground Stone as their convenient dropping offerings place!

As if hunger-laden grass is far too improper for their furry behinds.

Here is the grainy photograph from whence the sketch is derived. I included the vagueness of the rabbits in the sketch although I chose two rabbits rather than three for the composition:

Photograph from Hay Meadow 6th September 2021 [mobilephone camera only]

Notice how, just as in my sketch, the far left rabbit is poised for running.

Hope you enjoy 🐇 🙂

Father of Sci-Fi

Father of Sci-Fi

the Heat Hearth Ray is here

temperature gauges molten high

and we keepeth saying

thou hast Locusts for Eyes,

Digging deep, molechian

releasing gaseous meths insane

cursive wooden canes

corruption rife

Father of Woe and Strife,

Old Man of Borneo cries

because his homely home fries

the skipping Unicorn of the North died

took its place with the dodo

and white blackened lies,

The predator never softens

its invisible man-like face

with fossil fuelled Gatling paint

charmed mummied balms

beware of baying similed bait,

Watching morphological clay

take on iron bayonetted Centurion

Dalekian-like turreted firepowered display,

Degenerated eliminated biological decay

Gray calls out to fish bellied Lover of They

‘Listen, I have seen these terra-aliens

with row upon row of destructed guillotined

bloody finned melee!’,

Did Man only crawl out since 18th Century

mangle-mired oily burned dimly lit

Anti-Cyclic way?

“MΣ” Starry version with Carbon version

“MΣ [Starry version]” [25^th June 2021]
by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, digital sketch originally using 3H HB 3B pencils, includes 3.00 gamma correction, original sketch on A4 135gsm Artist’s paper, digital sketch 4698 x 4115 pixels.

The image entitled “MΣ [Starry version]” [25^th June 2021] is the culmination of personal artistic experimentation. Whilst I sat in the garden, eating grapes, supping an enjoyable beverage I suddenly felt inspired to produce a digital symbol.

The idea is to create a branding for cryptography technologies that can be trusted with sustainability and resources.

“Presently I do not believe that [most all] cryptocurrencies offer environmentally moral solutions.“

At first I kind of doodled on the page, using my standard ‘M’ found upon my paper artworks throughout my digital social media. However, my early doodles didn’t represent the word ‘technological’ in any way.

Seemingly we cannot avoid digital life to some extent, its part of our modern culture. Unless you live in a remote jungle happily building tree houses. Even there modern culture has encroached upon differing sensibilities in parallels to national colonialism circa 18th century.

Quickly I began to create the stylistic ‘M’ you see in these artworks, above and below:

“MΣ [Carbon version]” [24^th June 2021]
by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch in digital representation using 3H HB 3B pencils, includes 0.70 gamma correction, originaly on A4 135gsm Artist’s paper, 4698 x 4115 pixels.

Furthermore I had thought about producing my own digital font over past months. I feel this M provides a starting basis for all other characters in my ‘computerised script’.

With the advent of mass communication through the internet, along with social media, we can see there is a sort of power struggle between censorship, human rights, humanitarian issues, accountability and anti-ecological commercialism.

These are complex societal mechanisms of emotion, belief and earnest interest in ensuring a well maintained sustainable planet Earth.

Through “MΣ [Starry version]” there is the idea of Universal purity, Orion the Hunter, natural constellations, molecular detail and telescopic beauty.

“Self Portrait within the Universe”

Artwork includes luminary light with digitally edited photography to create this image.

The title for this artwork is based upon an ancient quotation. “Self Portrait within the Universe” includes direct visual references to unfathomable phenomena.

“Rabbit in Meadow Sunset”

“Rabbit in Meadow Sunset” [17th June 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist is my most recent Meadow Conservation series of sketched artworks. Featuring the fields of my local nature reserve.

It originally looked like this:

earlier draft version of “Rabbit in Meadow Sunset”

However, having subsequently photographed an adorable baby rabbit on one of my walks that day I decided to include the rabbit in my sketch.

I believed that for my Meadow Conservation series of artworks, the first draft was too eerie for the beauty I wished to highlight in the field. On the paper, the final version is slightly greater in contrast than in the first image above.

I think it looks even better when you actually see it for yourself, as the dark highlights are closer in values to the first draft on the paper.

Here is the cute lil baby rabbit.. it.. is.. really really.. a joyous little creature:

DIstant photograph of a baby rabbit on a field near Ridge Willow [June 2021]

Through my appreciation of past masters I am seeing the inspiration of Picasso, Van Gogh, and in this rabbit, Edvard Munch in my work. The style of my drawing the rabbit’s expression was completely chance, through over-sketching work on the paper.

Not until I zoomed in on the baby rabbit’s head did I see an unintended facial expression.

Immediately I thought, Munch of inspiration. I also chose to keep the ‘eyes in the grass’ just above right of the rabbit. A small dog went chasing the rabbits away, so perhaps this is why I inadvertently drew the rabbit showing ghastly surprise.

The reason I kept this expression in my artwork is to kind of picture the effect manmade negative climate change and habitat destruction is having on wildlife.

I might sketch this lovely baby rabbit again, to show its qualities in a non-stylistic, realist way.

Chess in Art

“Passing” [7th June 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch with 3H HB 3B pencils signed in black ink on A4 250gsm Artist’s paper.

This artwork title, “Passing” [7th June 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, is a literal translation of an early board game called ‘Senet’ popular in ancient Egypt from at least c2600BCE – 3100BCE.

I have known to play the game of chess from an early age, due to my Dad having a great interest in chess throughout his life. Reading books, owning chess computers, playing over the board at chess clubs et al. My Dad was secretary at county and local club level.

I myself captained a local chess club playing home and away events, won a club classical over-the-board Swiss Tournament and made runner-up in a club classical over the board annual All Play All competition.

Here is my Swiss Tournament winner’s trophy in 2003 (without showing my personal name inscribed on the trophy for anonymity):

My Swiss Tournament 2003 Winner’s trophy won at a Chess Club over the board annual competition.

Every chess player appreciates that to receive a competition trophy is a very happy achievement. Even more so knowing some of my opponents had competed successfully at county level. One of my opponents from this 2003 tournament had previously drew a chess Grandmaster (GM) in an over-the-board simultaneous competition!

The reason I created this artwork shown above is for my love of chess, the beauty of the game and its place in art history.

Here is the spiritually symbolic ancient Egyptian board game of Senet being played by Queen Nefertari [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertari]:

Nefertari (1295–1255 BC) playing the ancient Egyptian game **‘Senet’** [photography of the wall relief by The Yorck Project – 2002)

As an artwork it’s particularly interesting to note Queen Nefertari is seated upon a square chequered drapered chair. Clearly we also see Senet pieces displayed in-game on the table board, not unlike modern chess pieces!!

This communicates to us the thinking abilities of ancient human beings, culturally, spiritually and intellectually. Whilst our sciences and some religious ideas might differ through centuries of new learning, human intelligence is really a preservation of society, our individual life course and personal/collective decisions.

“J’adoube”

The Unfathomable Artist

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