Chun the Unavoidable

            Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

                   by Jack Clendenen

    I've been off Instagram for about 2 months (hallelujah), and thankfully, I have been using that time to create more projects. Take this one, for example, that I made in about 30 hours in December 2024. 'Twas a Christmas gift for my brother who blessed me with The Dying Earth - my first Jack Vance novel.

    It was an exciting challenge to take a crack at capturing 'Essence de Chun'. With little to go on but this brief description, "Over his shiny black back he wore a robe of eyeballs threaded on silk." It was liberating to trust that I could follow the scent anywhere.

    I took inspiration from Toshiro Mifune in Yojimbo (1961), from whom I modeled Chun's silk robe and topknot (or Chonmage) hairstyle. The chonmage was designed to hold a samurai's helmet securely in place during battle and prevent it from slipping off.

    The piece was composed with acrylic paint on canvas paper, Winsor & Newton ink, watercolors and a sketch pencil.

    

Initial sketch

                                                    Fu Manchu? Too corny. Had to try it though!

                                I wanted his mouth to look like he's in the middle of saying "Chun"

                                                                               Tendril Eyes

Thanks for checking out! More to come...