Winter Sun: A Wood Cut-Out

https://www.tomsarmo.com

Last year I delved into monochromatic painting in earnest. Greyed-blues on top of a terra cotta primer became a favorite, although muted orange on top of chrome green took a close second. 

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Planned this one out using paper cut-outs arranged within the frame. You can see from the photo upper left that the original face was a sour-looking old-man-face, haha. That changed pretty quickly.

Once the proportions were figured out, the buildings and the sun were drawn with brush and black acrylic, thickly outlined, and cut with a scroll saw (which is a fun and deeply satisfying part of the process).

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And then I painted it, assembled it, and varnished it!

Don't want to add tedious details here, but if you have questions, I am happy to answer any. Just message me on Instagram: 

@tomsarmo_art 

(because Blogspot won't let me respond here anymore for some reason, and unfortunately there's no help or support).

Thanks!

Back at it: A Captain Ahab Wood Cut-Out

https://www.tomsarmo.com/

It's been a full-calendar-year, and blogging got back-burnered until now.

This post gets back on track with a wood cut-out piece made for the Character and Narrative exhibition at Foothills Art Center. The exhibition closed at the end of October, 2019.

https://www.tomsarmo.com/

The process in this case was sketching, measuring (not my strong suit), and cutting out the pieces.

I like to prime the wood with a colored ground--usually terra cotta, sometimes green chrome or ochre.

The monochrome blue-grey in this case was applied from dark shadows to middle tones with highlights last.

I finished Ahab, whale, and frame with crackle glaze and burnt umber ink wash.

Thanks for re-visiting my blog :)

For more of my artworks, please follow me on Instagram @tomsarmo_art

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35 Seconds of Creepy

The Art Critic Contemplates the Artist

Acrylic on canvas, 12" x 30"

I loved 1930's horror movies as a kid--some I love even now. The wonders of modern video technology allowed me to film this painting in '30s style :)

This piece is another in a long line of skeleton/death images I seem compelled to create right now.

This particular piece--like all art--is open to interpretation by you, the viewer. I guess the title is a clue to what I was thinking though.

You can see the preliminary sketch idea here:

Art Critic prelim

Thanks for your interest in my artwork! If you'd like, 

follow me on Instagram

@tomsarmo_art

Some Plein Air, and an Experiment, cont'd

Been working on many projects in the studio, but also taking some time to do a bit of on-location drawing and painting with some fellow DIS members. This study is of a garden off an alley in my neighborhood. The place has always fascinated me. I finished this at around 12:30 pm. It is 5" x 7".

Yeah it's November in Denver and there's still green grass and living plants. That's creepy. 

I took this photo around 10:00 am, before I began the pen drawing which I then filled in with watercolor. Then we got hungry and left for lunch.

Here are a couple more, done a few weeks earlier. Both studies are approx. 3" x 4".

An update from the last two posts: I'm still completely off of Facebook (outside of checking on events) and

 only occasionally looking at Instagram.

 

What I've noticed in 20 days since the beginning of An Experiment :

 

1. Still feeling better mentally; much lighter and more content.

 

2. I'm now sleeping through the night, every night. 

(Prior to bailing on social media I'd gotten used to waking around two or three am and not being able to fall back asleep for an hour or so. Previously, I seldom looked at screens late in the evening and never checked my phone during the night, so the new sleep habits have nothing to do with that. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I don't think so.)

 

3. I'm reading a ton, compared to the last 6 months. That's no coincidence.

 

4. Still really don't want to jump back onto social media--it sounds less and less inviting.

I must be incredibly sensitive to Facebook. Oh well.

 

And that's about it--thanks for the visit!

 

My Art Book (and a Sticker Pack)!

My artwork from the past three years, compiled in a really nice, 96 page volume!

This past year brought a solo exhibition for me at Helikon Gallery. Along with the show, the gallery director and illustrator, Cayce Goldberg, designed this 96 page book.

I got to watch--and add my thoughts--as he worked on laying out the covers and pages. It was a fascinating process, and I've nothing but admiration for Cayce's skills as a writer and designer.

 

 Many of the page layouts feature the finished work along with the initial sketch and process photos...

 

...along with pages that show close-up details of my drawings and paintings (with my short commentaries about technique, or process, or thoughts about influences).

 

There are even great layouts of my sketches (and a few "portraits" of my friends) designed consistently by theme...

...including pages that deal with my fascination with Alice's Adventures.

It's a volume that pretty much covers my work and process, and I'm very proud of it.

 

The gallery even created a companion sticker pack to go along with the book and exhibition!

If what I create happens to resonate for you, both book and sticker pack are available here:

My shop

 

Your purchase helps me continue to make art, 

and I very much appreciate your interest and support--thank you!

How to be an Expert?

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

Numbers.

I read somewhere that one has to put 100,000 hours practicing a skill in order to become an "expert" at that skill. First, that seems sort of a random number. Second, I'm not certain if that means in general--for example, one would be an "expert artist" if one completed 100,000 hours drawing, painting, and sculpting; or if it means in specifics--100,000 hours painting from the model, 100,000 hours painting still lifes, 100,000 hours drawing goofy characters, etc.

I don't know what the author meant, and it seriously is kind of a dumb thing to try to quantify.

Most of the illustrators/artists I know are many years my junior, and they are more skilled than I.

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

I've put years worth of hours into practicing art, in many different forms. Even conservatively, my figures still get me to 160,000. I'm not sure what that author's definition of expert might be, but I'd be hard pressed to label myself as one.

Don't get me wrong; I know a lot about art--both art history and art techniques, and am confident in many of my abilities. But I'm maybe most confident in my ability to learn. By practicing. And that's all I really care about.

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

So I continue to hit the Life Painting sessions at Helikon Gallery (where I mostly life draw), and get outside to paint, and draw and paint in my studio--and anywhere else it's appropriate. My aim's not to become someone's definition of an expert, but to keep getting better at it all; including the ability to share what I've learned--of the abilities I have at any given time--with others.

If I'd have liked numbers, I wouldn't have become an artist in the first place.

Thanks for reading.

Blob Inspiration

https://www.facebook.com/TomSarmo.Art

Last spring I got obsessed with blob-creatures. Pretty sure these were dredged up from a childhood spent pushing money into gumball machines. Once I got a plastic eyeball that opened and closed when tipped.

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And once I got a green rubber blob with six, rubber-hairy legs.  I treasured both of them, having spent a lot of quarters for a year or so before getting those two. They've been packed away in a box in the basement for decades, but obviously still cast their spell.

Thanks for reading this inane post. 

 

(To make it a bit more edifying, here's the process: First I sketched these in H pencil on toned paper. They were then outlined using a Pentel Brush Pen. I shaded them with cross-hatching using a crow quill nib and india ink. Highlights were added using a fine brush and white acrylic gouache. The color on the green blobs is translucent acrylic ink flowed right over the gouache, and the white cross-hatched background was done with a Gelli Roll pen.)

Break out the Oil?

 The Green Door Leaves Home (detail of a work in progress). Oil on canvas.

Just added another love to my media list: Water soluble oil paint--in this case Winsor & Newton Water Mixable Oil Colour.

Watercolor will always be on the list, and while I love acrylics, and have indulged in them for years, they tend to frustrate me because they dry so fast on the palette.

When I began my quest for color control ( http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/2013/01/focus-and-attention-fix-part-2-black.html )

my biggest issue became mixing up a big grey pile of acrylic for color strings, and then having it all dry while I looked for a resource, fed the dog, or rummaged in the fridge. Scooping the paint into (so-called) airtight cups and storing those in baggies with wet paper towel kind of put me over the edge.

I am sure that a quicker brain (and slow-dry medium) would have helped, but my need for smarts proved unnecessary when a friend gave me a set of water soluble oils.

 They can be used over acrylics, they dry slowly enough for me to experiment, and they don't stink up my little studio space with solvents. 

Still life in progress

 Detail of still life in progress Oil on canvas.

Maybe I will stick with these oils exclusively, maybe not. Ambivalence strikes again. 

I've pretty much accepted that as my lot, so I'll roll with being decisively uncertain. And enjoy the daily medium-of-choice, whatever it will be.

As always, thanks for the visit!