From the Fused Horse Chestnut Tree

Sat upon the metal gate under the fused Horse Chestnut Tree, I noticed a beautiful composition of the ‘James 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’ [https://theunfathomableartist.wordpress.com/2021/03/25/buzzards-wood-sketch/] 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 🐇 🙂

Hay Bales Sketches

“Harvest from Wildflower Meadow” [31st August 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 250gsm A4 Artist’s paper, 7667 x 5490 pixels in digital image shown above.

This sketch above is composed from a lovely photographic composition on my walk home, immediately after making ‘Harvest in Hay Meadow’ (shown immediately below). I am very happy with the feeling expressed in my sketch entitled ‘Harvest from Wildflower Meadow”.

The hay bales are the same ones shown previously (see below), although only five bales feature in this sketched photograph.

“Harvest in Hay Meadow” [29th August 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, study sketch with 3H, HB and 3B graphite pencils on 250gsm A4 Artist’s paper, 8002 x 5654 pixels in digital image shown immediately above.

I arrived at Wildflower Meadow (meadow one) to see hay freshly strewn across the field. I took a photograph at the entrance ready to sit at the metal gate in Hay Meadow (meadow three) by Wren’s Nest Pond. There were no hay bales in the field.

Half an hour later, after quickly sketching, having returned to Wildflower Meadow I found thirteen rectangular hay bales in the field.

I decided to photograph this from the original photographed sketch point, to place the nine bales into the perspective. Please note whilst both sketches are from Wildflower Meadow, I named the first hay meadow purely to differentiate between the two sketches. All three meadows in the Nature Reserve are harvested for hay.

Hope you enjoy my sketches to help make your day.

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 Observant Squirrel” – sketch

“The Observant Squirrel” [11th June 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch with 3H HB 3B pencils signed in black ink on A4 250gsm Artist’s paper.

This dear squirrel is composed from a video still photograph, curiously eating whilst observing me. The squirrel preferred a quiet supper it would seem.

Squirrels, otters, wolverines, honey badgers and raccoons all have distinctly comical personalities. Seconds after you see dear squirrel in this sketch, it drops the stick it was chewing upon and then, lightning quickly turning its head, looks directly at me.

As if to say ‘excuse me, sir, I am very busy doing squirrel things.’.

Naturally hilarious.

“Buzzards Wood Hollow” – sketch

“Buzzards Wood Hollow” [9th June 2021] by Matt The Unfathomable Artist, sketch with 3H HB 3B pencils signed in black ink on A4 250gsm Artist’s paper.

I photographed a few compositions of the entrance to Buzzards Wood via the central hollow from Meadow Three. This opening is directly opposite to Ridge Willow and Wrens Wood. There are three additional entranceways into Buzzards Wood.

There are four pathways within and immediately surrounding Buzzards Wood. Whenever I’m writing regarding Buzzards Wood I’m usually referring to the Nature Reserve area. However, Buzzards Wood technically also encompasses the wood to the rear (bow, north) beyond the Nature Reserve itself, in my opinion.

Buzzards fly regularly over the meadows, woods, and towards the north, where there is a local fishing pond. The post at the lower right of my sketch actually used to be a wooden bench. I rather hope it is restored as a bench as this is a great sitting place, centrally in Meadow Three.

Further along to this bench is a ‘watervole ground stone’. Rabbits do seem to enjoy using the flat stone surface as a convenient toilet, haha. A ‘rabbit ground stone’ can be viewed inside Buzzards Wood at the pathway crossroads, nicely covered by the shade of trees to enjoy. Rabbits frequent all three meadows, the private land to the west and all around the 29 acre lake to the south.

Another ‘ground stone’ meets with you to the left as one enters Meadow Three from Meadow One, walking up a small number of steps.

My sketch style in this article strongly reminds me of the beautifully artistic childrens animations I used to watch as a boy.

In keeping with that theme I included fanciful eyes and faces, Picasso-esque, to add fun to some of these series of artworks.