Leonard Wos, Artist and Sports Cartoonist

Fell in love with drawing at an early age.  Remember copying covers from Classic Comic books in the fourth grade.  I actually convinced my mother to let me paint a mural of palm trees and the ocean on our living room wall.

Took the Famous Artists art correspondence course at the end of high school and the beginning of my Air Force stint.  Though I never completed the entire course, what I learned about drawing shapes, forms, humans and animals has become invaluable to me.

I also developed a penchant for sketching which is the best way to improve your eye and art skills.

At Phoenix College, Phoenix, AZ, I took a cartooning course co-taught by Paul Gringle who drew “Out Our Way” and Irv Phillips who drew “The Strange World of Mr. Mum” and was the cartoon editor for the New Yorker magazine.  Paul was an incredible cartoonist who passed on a tremendous amount of how-to knowledge about drawing cartoons.

Irv was the marketing expert.  “If you draw it, you should sell it.”  He knew the markets available and the best way to get published.  For our final exam, we had to submit a cartoon project. e.g. six weeks of a newspaper cartoon strip, 20 finished gag cartoons, etc.  He would send them to his agent in New York City to be evaluated.  We found out if we were good enough  to become professionals.

Because of their class and encouragement, I was able to get a job as the sports cartoonist for a local newspaper, The Scottsdale Daily Progress.  It was a weekly feature that highlighted the prowess of local sports figures, e.g. the high school baseball player of the year, and the like.  The pay wasn’t much but it was nice to be in print and occasionally I would get to meet a famous sports figure or go to a sporting event as one of ‘the press’.

I also was able to pick up the occasional sign job or draw caricatures for someone.

As my children entered school, I would go to their school and give cartoon classes. For instance, at Halloween we would draw a large mural with a haunted house, ‘scary trees’, ghosts and such.  The kids were great at picking up any cartooning tips I gave.  A good example is for St. Patrick’s Day we drew a mural with a leprechaun, rainbow and pot of gold.  After I showed them how to make the gold sparkle using sparkle lines, everything they drew from then on had something that sparkled.

I also began to paint in acrylics.  I found that the style I liked the best was a very detailed, photographic type.  My breakthrough came when I painted a landscape of the Grand canyon with Jason, my oldest son (age 4-5 at the time) in the foreground.  It took me a long time but I got a great deal of detail in the painting.  To prove it wasn’t a ‘fluke’, I painted another painting of Jason at Tonto Creek, AZ.  I have since painted all four of my children and most of my grandchildren in landscape settings.  When my children have had life changing moments, e.g. getting married, they have gotten their paintings.

A few years ago I switched from acrylics to oils.  The transition was pretty smooth.  If anything, I like the ability to work in an area longer without worrying about it drying to quickly.  The downside is that I can’t always go back to a canvas right away but have to wait a few days for the previous work to dry.

In 1990 I became interested in rowing and sculling.  I liked the way the rower’s movements ‘flowed’.  I purchased a Concept II ergometer (ERG) and began rowing in my garage.  I did take a learn to row class at the San Diego Rowing Club but the logistics of me getting to Mission Bay was too prohibitive to begin rowing on a regular basis.

I moved to an area much closer to Mission Bay and began sculling on the water in earnest.  What a joy!  When I went shopping for a condominium to live in the one major criteria was proximity to Mission Bay and SDRC .

I found a place close by and became a regular sculler there.

My first rowing painting is called “Sunrise on Mission Bay”.  As spectacular as sunrises can be, a sunrise on the water, with the reflection doubling the image, is the most spectacular.  My second rowing painting is “Scullers At the Tyngsboro Bridge” which was inspired by Eakins’ “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull”.  Like Eakins, I included a sculler in the foreground, bridge in the background and a small self-portrait.

Some of the other rowing paintings I have done, have been purchased as gifts  for people who are depicted in the paintings! Among them are  “Close Finish in San Diego” , a painting of a race at San Diego’s Crew Classic, and “3 eights and 26 Geese”, a painting of a scene at the Head Of the Charles in Boston, MA.  I try to capture the unique signature image of each rowing venue or regatta.

One of my commissioned pieces  is “Daybreak at West Point”.  It depicts the sun coming up on army crew activity outside of West Point’s boathouse, the Caufield Crew & Sailing Center. This was especially memorable for me, since one of my sons graduated from USMA.

I have kept painting rowing scenes which can be seen on my wife’s website, www.artofrowing.com.  I have also been able to resume cartooning by creating rowing and erging cartoons.  In addition to the traditional cartoons, I decided that the Art of Rowing needed “Great Moments in Rowing Art”.  By printing classic art works like the Mona Lisa, and then converting them to a rowing theme like ‘Mona Lisa in a Single’ we have been able to create a set of fun images appreciated by rowers and non-rowers alike.

Recently, my wife has launched a new website, www.artofskating.com as a complimentary winter sport site.  This has opened up a whole new subject for me to explore.

- Lenny Wos

By Rich Williams

The friends of Lenny Wos are reminded every year of his artistic talent when they receive his personal, hand-colored Christmas card. His cartoon style is a contrast to the serene colors in his formal paintings of rowing, such as “Scullers at the Tyngsboro Bridge”.

Leonard Wos (rhymes with toss) was born and raised in Clifton, New Jersey, served four years in the Air Force, and took his first art class in cartooning while studying nights at Arizona State University. He honed his pen-and-ink skills during two years as a weekly sports cartoonist for the Scottsdale Daily Progress, catching the motion of high school athletes and the local Phoenix team.

He graduated summa cum laude with a business degree, left his job at the post office, and started his career in materials management. But he always had his hand near an easel, whether it was sports cartoons in the San Diego area, or visiting the classrooms of his children to give informal lessons in drawing.

“My paintings always have a personal touch,” he said, referring to the informal portraits of his children in idyllic settings. These adorn the walls of his condo on the banks of Lake Quinsigamond in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

“I focus on the joy of rowing,” Wos said, in contrast to more traditional competitive, racing themes of other painters. “One of the neat things about rowing on Lake Quinsigamond is the wildlife…mallards, cormorants, great blue herons”.  Wos has been rowing since 1991, when he moved to San Diego. He took one class and was hooked. He logs his daily rowing, and so far he’s traveled 19,000 miles, including inside workouts on a rowing machine. His goal is to row around the world, which would be about 23,000 miles from his starting point in San Diego. The imaginary route he’s taking is painted on a map of the world, which he has painted on his oars.

Acrylics on canvas were Wos’s medium in the past for his paintings and he is now painting with oils.  For on-site sketches he likes to use pen and ink and watercolor.  Although Bright Water Gallery is now promoting his work, Wos isn’t about to give up his day job as a software trainer. But you may see more of his work in different forms, such as postcards, holiday cards, and first class art prints.

Originals and prints of Leonard Wos’s work are available, as well as commissions. See www.leonardwos.com – the artist may be reached directly at lennywos@gmail.com