Circe 1921

Rupert Bunny made this drawing called 'Circe' with what looks like colored pencils, and you can really see the process in the way the marks build up. The texture! It's so present, isn't it? The colored pencil is layered, but never blends into the surface, giving the whole image a kind of vibrant hum. Look at the way he renders the figure of Circe, that peach colour is layered and transparent, but the blue of the other figure, the colour is applied with a more heavy hand. Then there are areas with almost no colour, giving the impression of being unfinished, or unresolved. Bunny's 'Circe' reminds me a little of the work of Arthur Rackham, that quality of fairy tales and weird illustration. Ultimately, with art, it's not about nailing down one meaning. It's about embracing the unknown, the stuff that wiggles and squirms just beyond our grasp.