My last ARTUS post. If you didn’t see my previous posts about the Water, Fire , and Earth, you may want to go back and take a look at them. This is the Air, the true “sister” pen to the Water, done by the same artist. Since I covered how I came to own the Earth and Air yesterday, I’m not going over it again. You can read the story in the Earth post. Note: You can view any of the images below a little larger — much larger if you’re on mobile — by clicking on them.
Enjoy all of the delicious pen porn contained within this post. I take no responsibility for purchases resulting from them.
Let’s start with how it arrived. The Air came in the same type of branded wooden box that the Earth did, hardly surprising since they were sent together.
You can easily see the “family resemblance” in the painting styles and swirling patterns. These two are certainly more similar than the Earth and Fire are.
I had to put this photo in again as a reminder of just how great the whole set looks together.
The Cap
Like the Water, the cap and barrel designs are well balanced. Neither takes center stage, instead, they share the limelight.
Of course, the signature A is on the cap finial. This artist prefers a gold A and a dotted gradient over the white A and blended gradient. This one is a bit more interested when viewed in macro photos, but I couldn’t pick a favorite if my life depended on it.
At first glance, the Air doesn’t seem as complex as the other pens. However, when you “zoom in” and really take in the perfect gradients and the use of color, it’s clear just how talented the artist is. The pink accents are surprising, given the overall color scheme, but they fit in well.
The Section
Like the Water, the Air has inlaid elements, this time in silver and gold colored metals — maybe metals, I really don’t know. I love the use of different star shapes, it’s fun.
The Barrel
And here’s the beautiful barrel. The overall gradient from light to dark blue is offset by the swirls of white, gold, and pink. While the swirls around the upper barrel evoke air currents, the shaping near the end of the barrel calls mountain peaks to mind. I can picture them just peeking through clouds.
Like the Water, the shell inlays fit into the shaping organically, nothing seeming out of place or forced. Viewed alone like this, the end could be either mountain peaks or shell ridges. But, given the colors and swirls, that makes sense.
And, like all the others, the barrel finial features the artist’s signature. Artist Eduard Makarov signed this with last initial, first initial in the Cyrillic alphabet — МЭ. I only know this because it’s the same as the Water.
That’s the last of the Four Elements set! Would you like to see a post featuring the four of them together? I could take photos in different light sources. Then again, maybe you’re tired of pen porn posts? Let me know in the comments.
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