Details!

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

 A little fellow--a tiny detail from The Wizard.

Helikon Gallery's director and fellow illustrator Cayce Goldberg suggested we produce a book to go along with my exhibition, and I was blown away by his creative approach to book design. Filled with full color paintings, the book features many close-ups and details!

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

 Bringing the reader's attention to the details within the artworks was only one of his ideas--and it was a lot of fun! As we worked on the book, Cayce searched the paintings for small, interesting components, which he then added to individual pages.

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

Here's a shot of one of the interior pages. The skull is a detail from the painting, The Hermit.

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

This is the back cover of Innate Tapestries: The Endless Stage, with cut-out details from The Hermit, and other complete paintings within the book.

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

 Detail crop of The Owl and the Pussycat.

For me, a great deal of the enjoyment came from revisiting my own paintings in a new way. Studying the details close-up is not what I'm used to--often, painting is a process that's sort of unconscious working, so I'm not always totally aware of what's going into the artwork. That sounds strange, but it's true.

 

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

Detail from The Voyage of the Aeolus.

 

Combing the works for details led to some pleasant surprises about how my hand works with the media, too.

 

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

Here is a blown-up detail of the cricket from the painting, Pinocchio...

 

http://www.tomsarmo.com/home

 ...and the complete painting in the book.

 

I hope you found checking out the details enjoyable--thank you for visiting and supporting my art!

 The signed, 96 page, limited edition book is available here:

The Art of Tom Sarmo

 

Thanks again!