A New Victorian Watercolor Techniques Workshop

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One of my great loves is watercolor--the liquid flow of the color from the brush, its transformation as the grains fill the tiny hollows in the paper, its extreme versatility, and its ease of transport and clean-up.

And I love to share my experience with it in workshops! 

Coming this May; a two-day watercolor workshop: Victorian Watercolor Techniques for Artists and Illustrators, at Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colorado--a beautiful art center and gallery located just a few minutes West of Downtown Denver.

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There's a huge variety of watercolor techniques used by the artists and illustrators of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. I've studied and experimented with their techniques for years.

This is a detail by Arthur Rackham. 

I'll cover his watercolor techniques, and those of some of his contemporaries in the workshop!

Two other favorites: Helen Allingham (top) and William Henry Hunt (below).

Both of their techniques will be explored in the workshop, as well as the techniques of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

If you are after upping your game in watercolor, studying these masters will get you there!

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I will also cover my techniques for safely presenting watercolors without the expense of mats and frames. There'll be a ton of useful info!

 

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 I'm very happy that my watercolor illustration was picked to be in next year's Infected by Art 4, and excited to be able to share my watercolor knowledge in this upcoming workshop at Foothills.

 

I hope you'll join us--click on the link below for more info:

Tom Sarmo's Foothills Workshop

and

thanks for stopping by!

Two Things

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A two-part post this week; 

containing this goofy (and rather stiff) anthropomorphic pencil swatting at a dip-pen dragonfly...

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...and this detail of a fun, original painting that is being offered at auction to benefit one of my favorite organizations; the Denver Young Artists Orchestra

 

I can't say or write enough about how mesmerizing and professional the young musicians of the DYAO are. We enjoy their concerts year after year and continue to be blown away by the full and gorgeous classical music they produce. 

 

I'm excited to support them in any way I can!

My music-themed piece is an original; permanently mounted on 1" deep cradled birch, and carefully varnished with a rich and glossy UV protective coating. This artwork needs no frame--it's ready to hang or stand on a shelf or table in your home! Click on this link to see the whole piece:

The Wake-Up Call

If you've been watching the fantastic Mozart in the Jungle, you know that the production is doing an excellent job portraying the excitement and joy, and also the despair and difficulties inherent in being a musician (or truly, any artist or creative). Despite the challenges, the arts continue to flourish; in a big way thanks to benefactors, patrons, donations, and fund-raisers. 

 

So please, nurture all the arts, and the dedicated young musicians of the Denver Young Artists Orchestra. Check out their auction and if you can, support them by participating. In addition to my artwork, there are many fine items to consider.

 

Thanks very much for your support of the arts--especially Young Artists!

More Sketching with Scarlet

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When artists say they are "self-taught", I've heard they mean they've not been to college or art school. And if that makes them feel superior, well they must need that. Still, the label is foolish and full of pretense; I am happy to learn from everything and everyone I can, and to acknowledge the debt.

 

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 As I wrote in a recent post*, lately I began sketching with a scarlet Colerase pencil--learning of the technique from a fellow illustrator. Even though too many Colerase pencils have those hard, gritty things within the lead core, they are wonderfully freeing when you find a good one. I can throw down a gesture with the red, and then go into it with graphite, pen, or both--whatever seems to work.

 

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Done quite a few years ago, this acrylic painting has the scarlet under-painting technique I learned from a fellow painter. It has the same effect as the Colerase pencil in a way; the red paint here adds flash and life to the work.

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Now I need to go back into the sketchbook and finish some of these.

If I was self-taught, I'd still be drawing and painting the way I did when I was four; with a number two pencil on bond paper, or dragging out the Sparkle-Paint set.

Thanks for reading!

*Recent Post

 

 

 

 

 

A Lot of Monkey Business!

 My piece and Valerie Savarie's art for Monkey Business!  The show opens tomorrow night at 6:00 pm and runs through February 21st.

Here's the info direct from Valkarie Gallery:

valkarie
gallery

presents:

Monkey Business: Invitational Group Exhibition

January 27 - February 21, 2016
Opening Reception, Friday, January 28, 6 - 9pm
  2016 brings us the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese calendar and to celebrate, our kick off show is an invitational titled "Monkey Business". Each artist was given an 8" square panel to create their interpretation of the theme but need not include an actual monkey. There is sure to be a great variety of art including paintings, photography, drawings, mixed media and digital art.

Artists include: Jared David Paul Anderson, Adrianne Tamar Arachne, Aria ~ She Paints With Blood, Clay Brooks, Hannah Conlisk, Danyl Cook, Kalindi DeFrancis, Dorothy DePaulo, MJ Dowling, Kayla Edgar, Sharon Eisley, Corrina Espinosa, Erin Hagle, Christy Lynne Harris, Rob Jordan, JxRxKx, Doug Kacena, Lisa Luree, Bernadette Lusk, Pat Marek, Frank Martinez, Eric Matelski, Ryan Morse, Ray Muñoz, Robert Newman, Nixi, Penny & Alex Oliver, Hallie Packard, David Perea, Zachary Reece, Sammilo, Tom Sarmo, Valerie Savarie, Heather Sims, Heidi Snyder, Dane "Colfax" Stephenson, Melanie Steinway, Michael Vacchiano, John Van Horn, Jesse Van Horne, Brian Wall, Emily Wilcox and Zaitlin Ziesmer.

Here are more photos of only some of the cool works:

Adrienne Tamar Arachne

Kayla Edgar

Aria She Paints with Blood

Ryan Morse

Raymundo Munoz

Rob Jordan

Clay Brooks

Lisa Luree

John Van Horn

Pat Marek

Hallie Packard

There, you have a tiny preview of the show. Check out all of the pieces and prices by clicking on this link, then scrolling down to Monkey Business:

Monkey Business

And if you're in Denver, come to the opening, meet the artists, and add to your collection!

Thanks for reading--and supporting the arts (and the artists who contribute to them)!

Which Art-Path to take?

The age-old question:

Should artists stick to one, recognizable style/subject, or should artists do what they want and let their muse lead them?

Depends on what the artist wants and/or needs as an end result I suppose. But since a life in art isn't easy, I believe that knowing oneself--what is a fit for one's personality and disposition--is crucial if any contentment is to be had.

If an artist enjoys limits, or wants/needs recognition and financial reward, it may be that sticking to one recognizable style/subject/medium is the right answer. Certain personality-types thrive and create best under these circumstances, and it's a faster way to a brand and quick recognition.

If an artist wants/needs freedom to create, it may be that listening to the muse and exploring the possibilities is the answer to creating a body of work (and a life-in-art) that is rewarding.

I've worked as an artist, illustrator, and teacher for my whole career. All three are exciting, and together they pay the bills. Because of that combination, I've mostly been able to follow my muse wherever she's led. 

I want to feel the art surge in me whenever and however it chooses, at any given time--be it drawing from imagination, from life, painting in watercolor, or acrylic; working indoors or outdoors, at the museum or in my studio. If a character is prying apart the folds of my brain in its attempt to get onto the paper, I need to help it then and there.

I'm positive that my chosen path has somewhat limited my income and my notoriety, but the big pay-off has been in my ability to answer my muse's call; my contentment is dependent upon my ability to experiment, explore, and change things up as often as she demands.

As a result, different people have different ideas of my work, depending on what they've seen most, or to which subject or style they are personally drawn.

My first love is that of drawing characters like those above, and I'm fortunate that they resonate with many people. Sketching goofy creatures gives me great joy, and provides the main vault of ideas for finished gallery works and illustrations.

Some of my most loyal patrons have responded to my landscapes, and lately, plein air work has lead me outdoors again--and in new directions. Being reluctant to cage myself into a single landscape medium has probably slowed my growth, but I've never been in much of a hurry. 

The good thing--trying different media has given me the opportunity to explore. Feeling the variety of brush-drag on paper or canvas is only part of the fascination. Watching how watercolors bloom or the way oil paint lifts into peaks is akin to studying the different water patterns in a river while fishing. It's mesmerizing, relaxing, and gratifying.

I've done my share of spiritual art as well, but have managed to avoid the temptation to paint one of these pieces only for the monetary reward. If I love the saint or concept however, I'm all over it. Above are some preliminary sketches for a commissioned work that's coming together in the studio right now.

And I just finished a new piece for an upcoming invitational called  

Monkey Business at Valkarie Gallery .

It features a whole crop of amazing interpretations on the Year of the Monkey! I'll post more about the show (and my piece) next time.

The eclectic path I've followed is not for every artist; I love many who have dedicated themselves to a single style or medium, and I admire and learn from their works. I'm pretty sure there are more than two road-options, too.

Am I always contented--with my life or the art-road I'm on? Not always. But I'm pretty sure I took the best fork in the road--for me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Plein Air Night in the City

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 Last night we hit an alley behind Denver's Oxford Hotel for some plein air studies. If I've done night sketching before, my brain can't dredge up that memory. But it's doubtful I'll forget this outing; the atmosphere was haunting, the cold severe, and the light richly evocative. In this case, a fluorescent blue light was shining on the roof, contrasting with warm light from the panes.

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 Even though my New Year's resolution is to concentrate on watercolor, the fear of losing my paints to freezing temperatures had me scrounging the studio for an alternate medium. I chose an old pad of brown pastel paper and some Prismacolor sticks and pencils--even though I'm not fond of any of that. Sketching with gloves on created some unwanted smudging, but better that than frostbite.

This old, nineteenth-century window caught my eye immediately. I love the look of yellow-lit windows, and last night this warm one particularly beckoned. Not having night-sketching experience, we'd talked about the different colors of night lights over a beer beforehand, so I was really trying to sear the variety into my eyes, as well as get the values correct. I only had black, white and blue Prismacolors with me, so I added the yellow once back in the studio.

The other guys used water media, with vodka to keep things from freezing, but after an hour, frost was developing on their paintings and their water-cups were slushy.

Even my media choice was affected; when I got on the train for home, I watched my drawing become damp from the thawing wax of the Prismacolor pencils.

 And while I was leaning on a dumpster instead of Hardy's "coppice gate", I'm not going to forget the evening, or the beckoning light from that warm window.

I leant upon a coppice gate

      When Frost was spectre-grey,

And Winter's dregs made desolate

      The weakening eye of day.

The tangled bine-stems scored the sky

      Like strings of broken lyres,

And all mankind that haunted nigh

      Had sought their household fires.

                                                    
                                                             Thomas Hardy, from The Darkling Thrush 

Thanks for reading!

How to be an Expert?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

The Chase

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After a packed couple of months, my m.o. has always been to go fallow. Not on purpose; it just happens. I shut down creatively and productively for awhile. That time period varies, but it drives me crazy. Because of that, I'm always looking for quick ways to re-ignite the art-fire and get back to The Chase.

One time it didn't come back for a few years, and I'm not gonna lie--that scared me. It happened after a large show for which I had to create many works in a few short months. After way too much fallow time went by, I took a student's advice and changed media--I started working with clay, engaging in a different sort of chase. Eventually (nearly 5 long years later) I began to produce illustrations again. In the meantime, I learned a lot about ceramic clay, and I made some cool stuff.

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This year it's happened again, and I decided to not only change media, but to suspend my inner-critic and experiment with media. Thanks to a bunch of un-critical fellow illustrators, I'm able to do it and also have a good time. The painting above is one recent experiment with life painting using acrylic. The life painting sessions at Helikon Gallery are a blast--mostly because the gallery director and fellow participants are chill and unpretentious. Some artists might need a competitive atmosphere, but not me--I want to enjoy camaraderie and the freedom to do the art I need without feeling like anyone's sneering at my efforts.

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Above are some recent experiments with water-soluble oils at relaxing plein-air excursions--again, with friends who are lots of fun to be with...

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...one of whom had an interesting encounter with an avian critic as we were leaving the field.

 (And yes, that experience seemed to get a bit of creativity going again.) 

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Being able to hang out at weekly drink and draw sessions with a great bunch of artists also helps. Again, these sketches don't feel like my best, but they were experiments with unfamiliar media in an informal setting.

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Just the kind of thing I need right now--the chance to explore, experiment, talk art--and get the field planted and producing again.

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And because of all this, it's not taking me 5 years to re-plant the field. And I have to keep reminding myself that it's not about chasing success or contentment, it's about feeling success and contentment within the chase.

Thanks for reading!

 

Infected by Art: Volume III

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No question that I am stoked to have my top-hatted bird illustration in

Infected by Art: Volume Three; it is a gorgeous, large, and high quality book filled with contemporary fantasy and science fiction art directly from the worldwide competition of the same name!

 

"From fantastic scenes of science fiction to the worlds of fantasy and horror, this book has it all, and will appeal to anyone who appreciates the fantastic arts. Artwork included in Infected by Art Volume Three ranges from traditionally drawn and painted artwork to work done digitally, as well as sculpture. Each piece of art was hand picked by a select group of judges, including Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, Greg Hildebrandt, and John Schindehette."

Check out all the artists (and buy the book!) to see the amazing pieces in their full glory.

 

Here's the link to the art:

The Artwork

And the link to the book:

The Book

And here are detail shots of some of my favorites, with links to the artist's sites (please click on each name):

Thomas Gianni

Heather Hudson

Elliot Lang

Maegan Penley

Dylan Pierpont

Rob Rey

Crystal Sully

A big thank you to the judges, and

 

thank you for reading and exploring these and all the great artists in the book!