Od Magic, Kinuko Y. Craft, oils & watercolour on clay board gesso panel
It's been a minute since I did one of these. I've been trying to document here some of my absolute favourite artists and gush a bit about why I love their work. You can see my previous entries here on:
Now I'm here to talk about Spectrum Fantastic Art Grandmaster Illustrator (2002) Kinuko Y. Craft, best known for her fairy tale-like paintings and, for me, the book covers for one of my favourite fantasy writers, Patricia A. McKillip.
Craft's work often features very similar figures, but her paintings feel magical, nevertheless. There is a classical-feeling aspect to them. A Rococo-like billowing and compositional gyration, as if blown by an impossibly strong wind that nevertheless acts like a pillow on which her figures rest.
The Bell at Sealy Head, Kinuko Y Craft, oils and watercolour on clay board gesso panel
These images are dense. In addition to a rendering style reminiscent of old masters, it is also illuminated like a monk would a bible. The edges of an image teem with pictures within pictures. Pillars of flora and fauna and dancing grotesques play across the canvas, and that density somehow turns into the negative space. It simply acts as a frame. With The Bell at Sealy Head (above), all the vibrant blues and greens wash together into a beautiful noise that your eyes can waft over as it draws you to its windblown subject.
Grail of the Summer Stars, Kinuko Y Craft, oils and watercolour on clay board gesso panel
Craft's favourite model, she has said, is a dancer, and this is something you tell at a glance from the posing of her work, and truly I wonder how many of her immense catalogue of works come from the blending of sketch and posed photograph of this one dancer.
Spirit Guides/Bard of the Bone Plain, Kinuko Y Craft, graphite & watercolour
I love that these images are collage-like in nature. There doesn't need to be a grounding in the environment. You are not meant to situation yourself in the space. These are dioramas constructed for you to get a view of. They are staged images overlaid densely you feel like you are about to float away like a bunch of leaves in the wind.