Studio Peek

Here's a peek inside my studio this afternoon. Lots of random paint, supplies, brushes. Finished art on the walls and the commission painting in progress sitting on the easel.

Cityscapes - new youtube video posted

I started a new youtube channel today: KevinSwallowArt. This is the first video - really just a slideshow of some paintings set to music by the band Tortoise. In the future, I'll be adding more slideshows but also videos from the studio.

Snow day!

Lots of snow coming down this afternoon, and after 7 days straight in the studio, today I'm taking a day off. Gotta refresh -- plus, I need to work on some office and business projects.

I'm now about halfway done with my West Loop commission painting. More layers, some colors changes and details to be added. I'm looking forward to having the collectors come for a studio visit next week so they can see where it's at in person.

West Loop Skyline - painting in progress

Water tanks - studio installation

I didn't do any painting today, but was able to hang some water tanks on one of my studio walls. Most are finished but a couple still in progress. Looking to get some inspiration for my West Loop Cityscape commission painting...

I also hung some screen prints of bicycles on the back red wall of my work bench.

The start of the West Loop Cityscape commission painting

A long and productive studio day - forging ahead with the commission painting...

Today, I painted over the charcoal sketch outlines in order to keep the composition as close to what I initially envisioned. If you look close, you can see that I also added the Lake Street El Train in front of the old grain silos just to the left of center. I also added a little color to add depth and to start playing with ideas for color scheme.

Sold painting - "Dreams Never End"

Yesterday, I sold this painting - special thanks to my friends and art collectors, Bill and Laura!

This painting is the first time I worked to combine city imagery with portraits. I'm looking to do more of that down the road and I'll look back to this piece or inspiration. The title is taken from a song of the same name from New Order's album, Movement.

It's one of my favorite paintings from my people series and I'll miss it, but I know it's going to a good home! I hear it will be given a prime spot over the fireplace mantle...

Dreams Never End, acrylic on canvas, 30x40, 2003

Sketch transferred to canvas

The photos have been taken and sketches done on paper. The next step in the commission painting was to get the composition down with charcoal on canvas.

West Loop Cityscape, composition sketch, charcoal on canvas

New Commission Painting

Happy New Year! Looking forward to what 2012 brings...

So far, the art projects are falling into place: a couple of sales, a commission painting as well as a potential art reproduction project for a hotel.

I've started working on some sketches for the commission painting. The collectors live in the West Loop area of Chicago and requested a cityscape featuring rooftop water tanks. Below are the initial sketches done with charcoal and graphite on paper, along with some photos I shot for inspiration and compositional ideas.

Sketches:

Photo references: