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All images © Mark Powell, shared with permission

Vintage Ephemera Backdrops Mark Powell’s Intimate Ballpoint Pen Drawings

From playing cards and posters to envelopes and postcards scrawled with notes, the untraditional canvases holding Mark Powell’s artworks are tapestries of memories and experiences past. The Brighton-based artist (previously) sutures scraps of vintage ephemera and draws in ballpoint pen, rendering intimate portraits, birds, and scenes brimming with emotion in realistic detail. Some of his most recent works include monochromatic etchings that capture a heron’s fine, wispy feathers and a diptych of hands, two softly grasping a tulip and another wrapped taught in a rope.

Powell shares glimpses into his process and studio on Instagram, and you can find originals and prints in his shop.

 

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of hands on a typewriter on postcards

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of a bird on postcards

A photo of a ballpoint pen portriat on playing cards

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of two elephants on envelopes

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of a bird on postcards

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of two hands with a tulip and a hand with rope on postcards

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of hands on a typewriter on postcards

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of a bird on a poster

A photo of a ballpoint pen drawing of a bird on postcards

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