Smolko Show Well Worth It

There are easily a half dozen or so colored pencil artists in the United States I admire and would hang their artwork in my home without a second thought. The top of that list for me, however, is John Smolko from northeast Ohio.

If you are unfamiliar with John's artwork, then I have included several of his paintings here on the blog. To see them in person, however, is the real treat. And you can have that opportunity as John is the featured artist in a one-man show at Wilmington College in Wilmington, OH. More than a dozen of his paintings are on display at the Harcum Art Gallery on the college campus through March 1. The gallery, which is inside the Boyd Cultural Arts Center, is open for viewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week.

That handsome fellow standing next to me is John Smolko at his art reception in Wilmington.

After I taught myself how to draw about 7+ years ago, the next area of concentration was colored pencil. Over the years, for all its pluses and minuses, I found myself moving away from the media mainly because colored pencils just inhale your time. The building up of layer after layer after layer was tedious and really wore me down. For the longest time I maintained that colored pencils artists could achieve significant results with just three or four colors instead of layering six or eight or 10 colors to get to the final one. In any other media, quite frankly, your really don't need to mix more than three colors to get where you want to go.

Then I discovered John Smolko. Immediately I was drawn to the impressionistic feel of his work. You could also see that he achieved dynamic results without the laborious process of building layer upon layer.
If you can see the painting behind John and me in the photograph here, you can see what I am talking about. But to give you further insight to that particular painting, I took a close-up photograph so that I could study the details of the stroke as well as the use of color. 

Close-up of John Smolko artwork

John's knowledge and use of color is truly amazing. And if you look closely, you can see that he accomplishes his goals with both his combination of stroke and his selection of color.  There are areas where there is simply one color over the top of a piece of colored museum board. 

 One of my favorite pieces is below:

Pardon the glare/reflection from the glass on the painting

 

 And, again, I have provided another close up of the same painting.

In addition to the color selections that Smolko makes in his paintings is his unique technique of controlled scribbles. If you look closely you can see that all the marks, while appearing random, are actually where John wants them to be. He truly is a master of the "simple" scribble.

Finally, his most recent piece ...

As an artist we are constantly changing and evolving and it is particularly interesting to note how John's technique has grown more bold in recent years.

I had the great fortune of taking a workshop from John in Rising Sun last July and it completely changed my approach -- and attitude -- toward colored pencil. As you can tell from the painting that forms the basis of my logo at the top of the blog, I have embraced John's style completely.

All his pieces are the same size -- 40 x 32 and you will note that he draws approximately a 1-inch border around the painting itself. As John noted in his workshop, that border not only defines the location of your work, but it also provides a built-in "mat" for your work.

John is a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America (CPSA), and taught high school art in Aurora, Ohio for more than 25 years. If you have the opportunity to take a workshop from him, it would be a more than worth your time and investment! 

I have also included a link to John Smolko's website on my blog page so you can take a further look at many more of John's outstanding artwork.