SIX years ago it began............

This is an opening declaration of fellow ink artists to elevating pen and ink works to the appreciation of fine art... to begin, here is an example - "Mother Lode", 32"x40" -

First Thoughts...

One of the things which I hope to see here is taking an old art form, ink, and elevating it to more than mere sketches and even drawings, which in general are means to ends - and instead have the ink works be as ends in themselves, Fine Art in other words, finished works that stand on their own... to a degree, this was accomplished near the end of the 19th century as illustrators began flourishing and works by such artists as Howard Pyle, Franklin Booth and Joseph Clement Coll plied their expertise and imagination - but there is a difference between illustration and fine art, similar as they may be, namely that illustrating is a means to the end of showing visualizations of particular tales in such as books or magazines, not, as Fine Art per se... however, by the same score, many of what passes as Fine Art also in effect illustrated - myths, portraits, visual recordings of areas, animals, objects and so forth... so the line is blurred, in part because little attention had been paid to seeking to understand the nature of Fine Art and why it differs from pre-photographic recordings, or propaganda posters, or decorative art - especially this latter... hopefully, in time, a collection of these Fine Art renderings can be gathered and exhibited and in their viewing help establish the high quality of composition, inventiveness, and skill that goes into their creations - and as such be seen for the Fine Art works they really are...