The terrible Itch

http://tomsarmo.com/

Landscape thumbnail one

The two greatest things about my job (or maybe they're the worst?) are that the quest for ideas and images, and the prospects for improvement, are endless. So I keep searching for new approaches to art, and continuing my efforts to improve.

A commission has gotten me back on the landscape track. I love painting landscapes, but also enjoy drawing goofy illustrations. And I'm always fishing for a way to combine them. In fact, I want it so bad it kind of hurts.

http://tomsarmo.com/

Landscape thumbnail two
 

http://tomsarmo.com/

 Landscape thumbnail three

I like doing works like the two above, and am most often happy with the resulting paintings, but they are not what I need, deep down inside.

While the majority of the art-buying public seems drawn to realism and/or impressionism, I'm not there, either in my buying or my creating taste. Yes the verisimilitudinous (?) aspects of light are fascinating and wonderful, but I'm getting a bit weary of it in art. Something different is needed to scratch my Terrible Itch.

http://tomsarmo.com/

Thought I was almost there with this one, done a few years ago, then other ventures called and side-tracked the landscape efforts. It's okay--looking back, I was nowhere near the mark.

http://tomsarmo.com/

 Landscape thumbnail four

Am after it again, and I am excited.

http://tomsarmo.com/

Here's a whole sheet of the thumbnails. Lots of media combinations here, from graphite and prismacolor to mixtures of graphite, brushpen, pen and ink, and white ink.

Not even close to what I want/feel/need out of this, but

the quest endures, and I'm scratching. Wish me luck.

And thanks for the visit!