Macbeth and a Ghost: Afterword at Helikon Gallery

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

Macbeth and Macduff (preliminary sketch). Ink with watercolor, approx. 3" x 5"

Over and over again, Helikon Gallery presents unique and amazing shows. This November I'm pleased to be part of Afterword: A Tribute to Literature 

Shakespeare's Macbeth is a favorite. The sketch above was a preliminary for the piece I was planning on submitting.

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

Macbeth Sees Banquo's Ghost (preliminary sketch) Red pencil and ink, approx. 4" x 5"

I was fascinated by the witches in Macbeth, but terrified by the ghost of Banquo, so instead of my initial idea of Macbeth and Macduff's final battle or a painting with the witches, I ended up thinking about a composition that included Banquo's ghost. I did three or four different thumbnail compositions for the piece, but liked this one best.

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

This is the initial pencil drawing on brown paper, enhanced so you can see the lines, which were actually drawn pretty lightly. The finished piece is 8" x 10".

http://tomsarmo.blogspot.com/

The crosshatching followed the establishment of the first white highlights and a good tweaking of the figures. The biggest challenge was making Banquo's Ghost transparent, but with the good suggestions of some fellow illustrators, I did it!

You can see the finished, full-color piece by clicking on the link to the show and scrolling down:

Afterword: A Tribute to Literature

I'm excited to be exhibiting my work alongside some gloriously amazing works by other artists and illustrators--please check out all their pieces on Helikon's site!

Hope you can come to the show either for the Opening Reception on November 1, 2017, or on First Friday the following Friday, November 3rd.

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

Unattainable

Egon Schiele, Decaying Mill

 There's a thing that bugs me. 

 

Not that that this thing makes me angry; I mean it's a thing that I can't resolve in my life or in my head or in my gut. That bugs me. And this is it:

Music and literature move me in hugely emotional ways. Body engulfing ways; heart exploding ways. All the time.  And artworks don't do that very often. Actually, I can't recall being moved by an artwork in that extreme reactive way ever.

 

I'm not much of a writer, and I'm definitely not a musician, but I am an artist. So what the heck is up with me?

Don't get me wrong--I love art, and I love looking at artwork. But what artworks do is seep into me over a long period of time, following the viewing. And I often can't let go of the need to see them again, or own them. I think about them, and feel a longing, but it is a much milder, and maybe more intellectual reaction than the emotional engulfment engendered by a piece of music I'm hearing, or a book passage I am reading. The search for an artwork experience that matches the intensity of a music or literature experience dogs me.

I'm curious--bugged is more accurate--if this is even a possibility. Am I searching for that which cannot be? Probably need to somehow quit thinking about it, but I can't.

Separate Ways

Thanks for checking out this post--Your thoughts and ideas on this will be welcome.

I can change my mind, not my blood

                                                     --Teddy Thompson