Instagram story viewer> @sarmed.m.art> Posts

Sarmed Mirza

@sarmed.m.art

8.6K

followers

768

following

Artist • ReGenesis Installation
Art Gym™ Trainer • Build creative stamina
Start, return & keep making art
🎁 Free Starter Kit↓
👥 Free Art Community↓

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Surreal to see these small things on the cover of The National.
@scotnational

Each one is 2×3 inches, impasto, painted in oils. A tiny ecosystem. Lifeforms that accumulated slowly, through years of observation and looking closely at things. I didn’t know what I was making for a long time. And that was OK.

This was their first outing. Shown at the RSA in its 200th year, as part of the SSA 127th Annual. That combination of firsts felt meaningful.

@societyscottishartists @royal_scottish_academy

Available as individual works, small grids, or the full installation.

Photo credit: Tina Norris @tinanorrisphotography

Painted on wonderful Ampersand gessobords @ampersand_art

#contemporarypainting #scottishart #micropainting #oilpainting #abstractpainting taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

58

6

6 months ago

Comment DRAW and I will send you the free guide.

I learned the classical method of drawing at the Edinburgh Atelier of Fine Art.

Hours of observation.

Careful measurement.

Learning how to truly see.

But there was a problem.

Knowing how to draw didn’t always mean I ‘would’ draw.

Like many artists, I went through long periods of procrastination and resistance.

Sometimes I felt as if my creativity was sitting on the sidelines while life carried on without it.

That’s why I started experimenting with very simple exercises like this.

Not to make art.

Not to make masterpieces.

But to make it easier to begin.

Tiny variations.

Tiny repetitions.

A way of teaching my hand to return.

Looking back, I wish someone had taught me this earlier.

Because talent isn’t much use if you can’t consistently access it.

These little Art Gym exercises became one of the ways I learned to reconnect with my creativity.

✏️ Comment DRAW and I’ll send you my free Art of Attention Creative Habit Starter Kit, including the simple exercises that helped me build a more consistent creative habit.

#ArtOfAttention #CreativeHabit #DrawingPractice #ArtistLife sketchbookpractice taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

565

182

3 months ago

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be curating the next Postcard Art Exhibit in Glasgow and it will be in the support of autism and those with special learning needs via Project Ability. @paeartforacause

A huge thank you to @david_sandum and Carole @plein_air_liaison whose vision, hard work, and generosity have helped this wonderful international project grow and connect artists, organisations, and communities across borders.

Tomorrow, the exhibition opens in The Hague under the guidance of @art_by_tessamaagdenberg. Wishing everyone involved a fantastic exhibition, great conversations, and many visitors.

I’m excited to begin shaping the Glasgow edition and exploring how we can continue using art to create connections, spark dialogue, and celebrate creativity in all its forms.

There will be plenty more updates to come, so please follow this account and Project Ability to stay up to date with opportunities, announcements, and ways to get involved.

Here’s to the continued journey of Postcard Art Exhibit and to the amazing artists and supporters who make it possible.

#postcardartexhibit #art #glasgowart #ContemporaryArt #artistcommunity taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

487

184

4 months ago

OUR POWER | GoMA, Glasgow
It was wonderful to attend the launch of Our Power at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art, a community arts project by the @mentalhealthfoundation

This was my second time being part of a project at GoMA, and I had the privilege of being one of the artists leading a workshop using art and the written word to explore racial microaggressions, identity and belonging.

What stays with me most is the generosity of the participants who opened their hearts, shared their stories and trusted us with their experiences.

Racism is ugly. It is political. And it is never harmless.

Any form of supremacy is rooted in ignorance, regardless of how educated or sophisticated its proponents might appear.

It can disguise itself as pride, tradition, identity or even the protection of a community. But beneath that disguise lies the same old idea: that some people are inherently worth more than others.

That is not community. It is exclusion, oppression and, ultimately, destruction. It is a side of humanity I will never choose to stand on.

But belonging should never require us to become less of who we are.

To me, reclaiming our power is partly about recognising that we can build community wherever we ourselves, without surrendering our histories or identities. We can carry our past with dignity while making room for one another in the present.

Art cannot solve all of this. But it can open conversations, make space for difficult truths and remind us the humanity we share.

My heartfelt thanks to Tim Street, Sofia Abdul-Rehman and Rosie Burrell at the Mental Health Foundation, Angela Massafra and Josey Green at GoMA, and the many others who made this project possible.

Above all, thank you to the participants. Your openness, courage and generosity are what give this project its meaning.

Our humanity is not diminished by our differences. It is diminished when we refuse to recognise one another's.

P.S someone spotted that I wrote onversations rather than conversations in the video, apparently I lost a C 😄 Perhaps onversations are conversations that go on and on and on. Exactly what we need atm.

#ourpower #communityart #antiracism @glasgowgoma @henna_hub_uk taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

74

18

3 days ago

For my personal project in front of the camera Sarmed Mirza who is a Glasgow-based multidisciplinary award winning artist, filmmaker and educator whose work moves between contemporary realism and abstraction. His practice explores human connection, memory, identity and the act of paying attention. Sarmed is also passionate about helping others discover their creative potential through art and education.

Website: https://sarmed.com
Instagram: @sarmed.m.art taken in Glasgow, Scotland by @sarmed.m.art

50

11

7 days ago

From my Glasgow studio to the Outer Hebrides. Quite a journey for this collection of tiny paintings.

I’m really happy to share that Gathering, from my Zero Ground: ReGenesis series, has been selected for PERPETUAL MOTION | SSA at An Lanntair in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.

These small paintings began as individual experiments in colour, movement and imagined lifeforms. Over time they started gathering into something larger, a kind of speculative ecology. It feels especially fitting to see the work travel to the Outer Hebrides and become part of an exhibition exploring movement, migration and change.

A huge thank you to the Society of Scottish Artists team @scottishsocietyartists for continuing to create such thoughtful opportunities for artists across Scotland, and to An Lanntair for welcoming the work. @anlanntair

Also grateful to the lovely people who helped me with photographs of the venue when I realised I hadn’t actually made it to Stornoway yet.

Now I’m seriously tempted to make the journey myself. 😊

Photo credit (An Lanntair building): John Maher @johnmaher.photo

#ReGenesis #ContemporaryArt #ScottishArt #oilpainting #outerhebrides taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

67

15

14 days ago

A rather extraordinary few weeks. Some of it I saw coming. Most of it I didn’t.

My solo exhibition is running at Skypark Glasgow. Monument Valley and ReGenesis: Gathering have been accepted for the Visual Arts Scotland 2027 Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy.

ReGenesis has been longlisted for The Artist Prize. Memory of Water will be part of the Edinburgh Macmillan Art Show. And my third essay has been published by the Society of Scottish Artists.

Another work ‘Gathering’ from ReGenesis is also selected for an showing at An Lanntair in Stornoway as part of the Society of Scottish Artists exhibition. So a little piece of this strange ecology has made its way to the Outer Hebrides too.

I’ve been making things all my life, but I started drawing seriously in 2017. I had no idea any of this was coming.
I still don’t really know where it’s going.

I’m learning that I don’t need to.

Sometimes you’re just making the work. Then suddenly, several threads meet at once.

My new essay, What I Was Making When I Didn’t Know I Was Making It, is linked in my bio.

#ContemporaryArt #ScottishArt #VisualArtsScotland #RoyalScottishAcademy #ArtistLife @zealous_co @skyparkglasgow @macmillancancer @edinmacmillanartshow @visualartsscotland @scottishsocietyartists @royal_scottish_academy taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

51

10

18 days ago

ReGenesis has been longlisted for The Artist Prize.

This work began with a journey away from realism and deeper into imagination.

I started working with pure oil paint almost sculpturally, building these small forms and meeting them as they appeared. Some felt like landscapes, some like organisms, some like something in between, caught before they fully appeared or disappeared.

Over time, the process became a place of comfort for me during a personally challenging period.

So to see ReGenesis move from the studio floor, to the Royal Scottish Academy, to Skypark, and now onto the longlist for The Artist Prize feels incredibly meaningful.

More than anything, I’m grateful that these strange little forms are being seen, spent time with, and enjoyed by other people.

ReGenesis is still becoming.

#ReGenesis #TheArtistPrize #ScottishArtist #ContemporaryArt #OilPainting @zealous_co @skyparkglasgow taken in Glasgow, United Kingdom by @sarmed.m.art

158

14

a month ago

Comment DRAW and I’ll send you my free Art Gym guide. ✏️

People who hadn’t drawn or painted for 20 or even 30 years are starting again, some simply from trying the first Art Gym ideas in the free guide.

That matters to me because losing your art practice can happen at any level.

Your hand has a memory. But when you stop using it, starting again can feel strangely difficult. And a lot of experienced artists make it harder by thinking small exercises are pointless, too basic, or somehow beneath them.

They’re not.

You don’t train for a marathon by only running marathons.

That’s the thinking behind Art Gym: small, deliberate exercises that help you return to making while also training the underlying skills of observation, proportion, values, accuracy, mark-making and creative stamina.

If you’re struggling to make art consistently, don’t assume there’s something wrong with you or that you simply need more discipline. There are practical ways to train the return.

And if you’re making consistently right now, keep these ideas in your toolkit. Life interrupts us. Momentum disappears. Knowing how to come back is a skill in itself.

Comment DRAW and I’ll send you the free guide.

#ArtGym #CreativePractice #DrawingPractice #ArtistLife #CreativeHabits by @sarmed.m.art

328

27

a month ago

Comment DRAW and I’ll send you my FREE Art Gym Starter Kit with 3 simple exercises to help you start, focus and keep making. ✍️

Why do I draw like this when I can draw like that?

These stick figures aren’t particularly good. That’s partly the point. 😂

I do things like this for fun because I don’t want my art practice to become so serious that everything has to be good, important or worthy of showing someone.

Because “something great or nothing” is a dangerous bargain for an artist.

The practice dries up. Then a little distraction here, a busy week there, and suddenly weeks or months have gone by without making anything.

And when you finally try to return, the shore can feel so far away you don’t even know where to land.

So I keep doing silly little things.

Stick figures. Lines. Doodles. Tiny sketches. Things I’m not particularly good at.

They keep me curious. They keep me humble. Most importantly, they keep my hand moving.

And I’ve found that when you keep your hand moving, something interesting happens:

your hand starts wanting to move.

You don’t always have to make great art.

Sometimes you just need to keep the relationship with making alive.

Comment DRAW and I’ll send you the free Art Gym Starter Kit.

If you struggle to keep making art consistently, join us in art with courage, free creative community Every Saturday we make together live, you can ask questions, get feedback, and stay connected to your practice instead of falling out of it again.

Link in bio.

#ArtPractice #CreativeHabit #ArtistLife #SketchbookPractice #ArtWithCourage by @sarmed.m.art

114

23

a month ago

Comment DRAW and I’ll send you my free guide with 3 simple exercises to help you start, focus and keep making art.

Link also in bio.

We spend a lot of time learning how to draw and paint, but much less time learning how to keep turning up.

Between bigger projects, I deliberately make things that don’t need to become anything. Lines. Shapes. Doodles. A few minutes with a cheap sketchbook.

The point isn’t to make good art. It’s to keep the engine warm.

Do it regularly and returning to the page starts becoming easier. Your hand remembers that it likes to move, and you stay connected to making instead of having to drag yourself back after every gap.

Small practice. Low stakes. Keep going.

#ArtPractice #CreativeHabits #SketchbookPractice #DrawingPractice #artistmindset by @sarmed.m.art

98

23

2 months ago

Glasgow-based painter and printmaker Sarmed Mirza grounds himself in the natural world. As a sailplane glider pilot he has viewed the earth from above, in contrast his daily meditation practice is at ground level among the trees. His intricate paintings of leaves encourage us to pause and notice the everyday wonder around us.

His simple philosophy is this: the way we attend to the world shapes how we live in it and how we leave it.

He invites you to look closer at the beauty around you. A fallen leaf, a swaying branch, the birdsong behind the traffic.

Follow @sarmed.m.art exhibition open until mid September

#artinhospitals #scottishartist #leafprint #uhcw #artexhibitions taken in UHCW University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire by @sarmed.m.art

29

5

2 months ago