Art Critic--Another Death Image

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Art Critic (detail crop). Mixed media (Colored pencil, India ink, white gouache) on toned paper.

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Art Critic

What can I say--I like drawing skeletons  :D

Thanks for the visit!

Mischievous Death

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Skeletons and skulls have been an intermittent subject for me. The idea of "memento mori" appeals for certain, but many death-images have been swirling up from my unconscious mind since last September for some reason.

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While death is a serious subject, and I sometimes treat it as such (see previous post ), the idea of a mischievous personification intrigues me. Hence this work-in-progress.

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The first two photos above are drawings done on slightly textured, brown toned paper. I began this one on 300 lb. watercolor paper (because watercolor was to be the main media). I like to sketch out the picture using red pencil.

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I fixed up the red sketch with a fine brush dipped in india ink...

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...then toned the paper using Quinacridone Gold watercolor. Next, highlights with white acrylic paint. All the cross-hatching followed with a crow-quill pen and ink, and blue-green inks accented the skeleton's eyes and pin.

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Sometimes but not always, I sketch out little ideas first.

So much for death--I'm not one to delve into much philosophy in this blog; save that for quiet conversation over a beer :)

Thanks for checking out my art!

Something a Bit Different

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Timekeeper (detail). Mixed media (pen and ink, red pencil, white ink).

I worked on many art pieces this past year, some colorful, some storybook-like, and some humorous. But last September some darker images were stirring inside me.

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Timekeeper

When I was invited to participate in an un-traditional landscape show--Otherworlds--at Helikon Gallery, I worked on  Timekeeper and its companion piece...

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...Musician. Mixed media (pen and ink, red pencil, white ink).

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Musician (detail)

The original work, Timekeeper, has sold, but quality prints are available.

Musician is available as an original 8" x 10", framed as shown above, and also as a quality print. 

For information, please contact

  Helikon Gallery

Email: info@helikongallery.com

Phone: 720-502-5635

 Thank you in advance for your support of the arts, artists, and wonderful galleries like Helikon.

Another Goblin and a Creature-in-Progress

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Working on lots of new characters--and many of them turning into wood cut-outs--for a new, long-term project. Here's one!

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And here's another--a work-in-progress.

I'll keep you posted, as more are on the way :)

Thanks for the visit!

Goofy Goblins in Pen and Ink

https://helikongallery.com/product-category/studio-artists/tom-sarmo/

I'm working with pen and ink lately, and pretty much exclusively. Always have loved it, and am enjoying every minute of my studio time.

https://helikongallery.com/product-category/studio-artists/tom-sarmo/

Much of the works are goofy goblins, but I've done a few creepier pieces recently too, which I'll post next time.

https://helikongallery.com/product-category/studio-artists/tom-sarmo/

Many of these are pieces for larger, more complicated works-in-progress, and I'm excited each time a new one flows out onto the paper.

https://helikongallery.com/product-category/studio-artists/tom-sarmo/

They are all done on the same brown paper with the same colored pencil, brushpen, and pen and ink. They just look different depending on the light under which they're photographed.

Thanks for reading--hope you'll check back as the works progress!

Nahcotta Gallery: Enormous Tiny Art 23!

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On the Path. (Pre-colored detail of the larger, now-finished work.) Pen and ink plus colored inks.

Pleased to announce the opening of the Enormous Tiny Art Show (23) at Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH

And I'm excited to have eight works in the show--including On the Path!

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The Hatter Before the King (detail crop). Pen and ink plus colored inks.

Even though the opening is not until March 2, you can read a bit about me and purchase art now online here:

Tom Sarmo's Art

And see all the sweet artworks by great artists here:

Enormous Tiny Art Show (23)

Thanks for looking and supporting art and artists!

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.

https://www.instagram.com/tomsarmo_art/

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!

https://www.instagram.com/tomsarmo_art/

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.

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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.

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!

 

Angry Goblin Process

A bit of a sequence to this artwork with some less-than-steller iPhone photos.

The drawing began with red colored pencil--Verithin Poppy in this case. White highlights added with a Signo white gel pen. Crosshatching was next.

The finished ink drawing is lightly sprayed with acrylic gloss coating, then color added with transparent acrylic inks.

I like the way the red pencil shows in the final work, and also how the acrylic washes 

soften the india ink lines.

(A follow-up to last week's post: Still experimenting with zero Facebook (outside of keeping up with local events). Continue to feel much lighter and have slept incredibly well this past week. That may be a coincidence, but nonetheless I have no desire to go back to Fb. Not posting on Instagram, but am keeping up with those I follow. IG doesn't seem to bug me as much as other social media, maybe because it's mostly photos of art.)

Thanks for the visit!

Macbeth and a Ghost: Afterword at Helikon Gallery

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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.

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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.

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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".

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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!

Death gets a lot of Idea-Help

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Death might run out of ideas from time to time, but people always manage to assist him with new and effective ways of killing their brothers and sisters. Poison gas? Sure! Automatic weapons aimed at concert-goers? Why not?

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Couldn't keep reading the repetitious news full of lame politician's "thoughts and prayers", so I drew instead.

This one, like most of my sketches, began with a red Verithin pencil on toned paper. (I like Kona Classic best because I can use wet media on it if I choose.) Beginning a drawing with red pencil rather than graphite seems to keep my initial gestures looser, and I like the original red lines still visible in the finished art.

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The red gestural sketch is then tightened up with either a Pentel brushpen or a brush and India ink. Then, most often, I add the white highlights, before the shading begins--in this case, a fine-point white Signo pen was used for the white. The cross-hatching follows; I like Maica brand Hi-Tek-C pens if a crow quill and ink bottle isn't handy.

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This drawing is small--4" x 6". It's the third work of October--or "Inktober". The previous two were sort of humorous. Who knows what the news will bring in the coming days.

Thanks for the visit--I wish you peace.

Origins and Processes

 

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 A Meeting, detail crop. 

Toned paper, plus (in order of use) Verithin colored pencil, Pentel Brushpen, Uni-Ball Signo white pen, Maica Pilot Hi-TEC-C pen, transparent acrylic inks).

Visitors to my studio often ask from where my ideas come. They come from many sources; books I have read or am reading, past and current experiences, conversations with fellow illustrators, and dreams. This one definitely came from a faceless voice--in a otherwise forgotten dream--that exclaimed "We meet ourselves!" Kept hearing that in my head all the next day

 so I started sketching the alligator-like creature, and the rest of the drawing emerged. And yes, I know that the image is weird as all get-out.

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Didn't take the time to take many in-process shots, but you can see

 the red Verithin pencil under-drawing here. At that point I put the drawing away.

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Had a bunch of acrylic paint that I'd used for a previous painting. Not wanting to waste it, I sketched out a similar image onto a cradled hardboard using charcoal. Refined that using a brush and black acrylic, then painted this version (detail crop).

But the previous drawing kept calling to me, so I returned to it and finished it after a lot of cross-hatching :)

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Here are both artworks for comparison. Other than creating pieces based upon a dream-exclamation, I'd wanted to explore the effect of light shining from within. In this case it was coming from within the creature-tail. 

They're each 8" x 10", and will be among many works for of a three-person show at Valkarie Gallery this October! More about that soon.

Thanks for reading!

The Voyage of the Aeolus: A Process

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The Voyage of the Aeolus, detail

I really like pen and ink, crosshatching, costumed characters, and theater sets (the look of toy theaters in particular). And I like looking at other artist's processes. This post shows all of that, and my own methods for this type of colored ink artwork.

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For this piece, my interest centered around a voyage. The first thumbnail sketch was a rudimentary one featuring a top-hatted figure who quickly evolved into a pirate with his bird-buddy. I like to start these types of works with a red Verithin pencil, and then use a Pentel Brushpen for the varying width outline. My favorite paper is Kona Classic because its tough surface takes many layers of hatching without shredding, and is a great surface for water-media too.

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In this case, a Pilot High-Tec C pen was used for the crosshatching, and I'm never without a Uni-Ball Signo white pen for highlights.

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Sorry, this is the only photo I have of the initial pencil drawing (had to yank it off of a Facebook post).

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Obviously I changed the look of the pirate--a younger face better-suited the fantasy-like atmosphere, and for this final piece I used Acryla white gouache for the highlights.

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Once the highlights and values are finished, I give the piece a coating of UV blocking acrylic gloss spray. Then the color is added with watered-down, transparent acrylic inks. And that's about it!

It's a fun process--feel free to comment or email me with any questions you might have.

Thanks for checking this out!