A new Goblin-in-Progress

It's been awhile since I've been able to do some off-the-top-of-my-head sketching. There have been--and still are--a lot of projects in the hopper, but I had an idea for a new work that couldn't wait.

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If you've visited before, you've seen some of my wood cut-outs for a spiritual gallery; I want this fellow to be a cut-out too, and he's going to be two-sided!

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The initial red pencil under-drawing gives the pen and ink a bit of color, which I like a lot. After the red penciling, I outline the whole drawing--fixing it up as I go--with a Pentel Brushpen. That gives me a good variance of line. Then the highlights go on with a Signo white pen. The crosshatched values go in next, with a lot of layering to blend the tones.

http://www.tomsarmo.com/

Here's the initial red-pencil backside. It was a good challenge to figure out the back of his feet and hands--they had to match the silhouette of the front view.

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Here's a collage shot of the completed rear that I posted on Instagram, and I'd appreciate it if you'd follow me there, as I add work regularly.

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And here's the front. I'll add color with acrylic inks, then mount the drawings on wood prior to the cutting.

Thanks for checking this out!

St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio

St. Francis and the Wolf. Mixed media wood cut-out.

It will be varnished, then framed in a shadow box.

Lately I've been working again on spiritual pieces for a local gallery. When asked to provide a St. Francis with wolf, I jumped at that. St. Francis was the name I chose at confirmation, because at the age of 12 becoming a veterinarian was at the top of my occupations list. 

Also, St. Francis has been a favorite subject of mine. His mission was always peace, and his life and teachings celebrated the natural world. He saw even poverty and death as friends rather than enemies to be feared. Best of all, St. Francis was a free-spirit--an eccentric--who rejected the greed and short-sightedness he observed in mankind, and he generously embraced those whom society rejected.

The image was first drawn in red pencil on toned paper, then inked. After highlights, I sprayed the drawing with archival acrylic spray. Mounted on wood, the piece was cut out using a scroll saw. The color--translucent acrylic inks thinned a bit with water.

The legend of St. Francis relates that he tamed a savage wolf that was eating up the folks at Gubbio. You can check out a fascinating and thorough examination of the story here:

Francis of Assisi and the Wolf of Gubbio

Thanks for checking out my blog, and supporting the works I do.

A Saint Michael Wood Cut-out

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Saint Michael the Archangel (detail).

Been working on ideas and sketches for a series of works to be shown at a spiritual gallery here in Colorado. I'l be posting more about that soon!

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Detail of the early stages

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Working on top of ochre-orange primed wood, I drew the angel with a brush and black paint, then began adding the tones using blue grey in four values. I like the rough look of the brush-and-paint, which I always hope will somewhat remain in the finished art.

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Once it was cut out (using a scroll saw), colored glazes were applied in many varying layers. All that's left now is to build the shadow-box frame in which he'll be displayed. Then on to the next saint--probably Saint Francis of Assisi.

Thanks for reading!

The (Magical) Hermit: A Painting Sequence

I start with sketches--in this case I just wanted to figure out the character of the tarot Hermit, so didn't worry about a composition rough. At this point I don't want to draw a perfect rendering because I want to keep my options for the painting open and flexible.

Often I use a terra cotta gesso as primer--a wood panel from the craft store is the surface here. I freehand the initial drawing using a brush and black acrylic, fixing and altering stuff with the gesso when necessary (it's very opaque). The benefits to not tracing or projecting my sketch: I don't get bored with re-drawing; good surprises happen at this stage; and the final drawing is looser--resulting in a more lively finished painting.

For this work, the next step was to put in the cool colors and establish rough shadows. Putting in the brightest light helped me gauge the other values as well.

 

Adding lighter values and more color comes next. I pre-mixed a limited palette of colors, greyed them down, then created value strings for each color. It makes the painting process go quickly as there's no guesswork or wasted paint. For this work: Greyed down orange, blue, green, and yellow.

There you have it--an oval (for no real reason), one-of-a-kind, tarot card on thick birchwood.

And you can own it! Here's the link:

The Hermit

Thanks for checking it out, and for your support of the arts!