I finished up the 5 abstracts that I've been working on the last couple weeks. They're all hung and ready for the open studios tomorrow night. Art on two floors, live music, and the Taquero Fusion food truck in the parking lot.
Here's a sneak peek at some of the work on display:
Cornelia Arts Building Open Studios
Friday, May 10, 6-10pm
1800 W. Cornelia, Studio #201
Chicago, IL 60657
Facebook Invite
Cornelia Website
Artslant Listing
Hope to see you!
After some earlier struggling, I'm feeling more in-synch creatively at the moment. I've bounced around a little since January 1st by experimenting with new media, subject matter and palate. For about the last week or so I've been creating some abstract paintings to shake things up.
These abstracts all have similar shapes and colors and are meant to be part of a set. The bottom one is finished and I'm still working on the top two pieces. I'm enjoying the freedom of letting the paintings take me where they want to go.
This is my first completed painting of 2013. It's based on a photograph I took walking around all day last fall. I was the only one on the street - no cars, no people. I tried to convey that sense of solitude in the painting. I used oil paint only for the first time ever (usually I use acrylic). I really liked how it glided across the panel (a discarded wood door). Definitely going to keep working with oils. Mounted with hooks and wire on the back, it's ready for hanging.
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As 2012 came to a close, I decided to create a self portrait - The Cornelian. It's based on a photograph taken in front of the Cornelia Arts Building where my studio is located. I haven't done a self portrait for a while, so I figured it would be a good exercise to go through since I've been a full time artist for one year now. I think the portrait reveals a several things: happiness, uncertainty, confidence and a bit of skepticism.
Reflecting back, I'd have to say that 2012 was a very successful year for me; I'm extremely grateful for all of the support I received. I started it off by taking an online class from Alyson Stanfield to work on my business plan and to help focus my priorities as an artist. I sold art consistently throughout the year and completed two commission paintings: West Loop Cityscape and Chicago Lakefront Skyline. I hooked up with Chicago Art Leasing which is giving me more exposure by renting out some of my art to businesses and homes. My studio was featured in the New York art blog, Hyperallergic - A View from the Easel; and I took an Experimental Drawing Techniques class to shake up my creativity.
During the second half of the year, I worked with two different art consultants on various submissions to license my art for hotel redesign projects. Last week, one of them came through -- four of my cityscape photographs will be printed large-scale for the Mile North Chicago hotel downtown. A second project for another hotel is still in the works. In addition to making connections with art consultants around the country, I explored some new online opportunities to help get my work in front of art collectors; such as ArtSlant, ArtBarcs, Chicago Art Database, ArtWorldChicago, Art Takes Times Square, and got my art represented in Xanadu's Online Gallery. I continue to show at the Writers Workspace and Transistor and will be exploring a lot more show and art licensing opportunities next year.
One last thing I'm proud of is helping my wife start up the Chicago Writers Conference. We ran a successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign where some of my art went to some generous contributors. I volunteered on the Board of Directors, created the marketing and communications plan, developed website content, created a mobile app, and shot photos of the speakers and reading events. It was a challenge to say the least but very rewarding and we learned a lot. We'll continue CWC with a series of workshops throughout the year and the second annual conference in October.
In early 2013, I'll be launching a new website redesign and I look forward to experimenting with oils to begin taking my art in some new directions.
Happy New Year!
-Kevin
I created "The Storyteller" last month for my wife's birthday. It was a secret project I worked on and surprised her with it when she came home from a business trip.
She's a writer and reads her stories around town at various live literary events. She also a former actress and improv performer. So, I wanted to capture her creative spirit with this painting.
I've been making it a point to go to different neighborhoods every week to walk around and take photos. Recently I've gravitated toward West Town, East Village, and Wicker Park. Before that it was Fulton Market/West Loop that inspired my new city abstracts series.
This neighborhood exploring has inspired some new abstracts and mixed media pieces and all around experimentation for my art. I fought the changes in my art a little but have decided to let these experiments just take me for a ride. I even signed up for an experimental drawing class to continue developing new ideas.
Anyway, here are some of the photos from my jaunts around town...
I've been in more of an experimental mood lately. I'm working on a series of abstract paintings but have also been creating the drawings below based on photos I took of the L tracks, steel bridges, water tanks and rooftops - focusing on the older city infrastructure. These follow a couple of other abstract paintings based on the L tracks.
I'm working to loosen up while also abstract the boring day-to-day city images we barely even notice. All images below are made with charcoal and acrylic paint on record album covers. You can view each drawing from the city abstracts series here.
Here is a shot of them all laid out on my studio floor:
This past week, I started a new series of paintings - abstracted images based on photos I shot of the L tracks. The two below were created from photos and sketches I made of the Brown Line near my studio.
After working on a very detailed skyline commission painting the last couple months, I attempted to loosen up and to create something more abstract but still recognizable. I used oil bars and acrylic on panel so the media is also somewhat of an experiment. Just changing to using oil bars gave me a more direct interaction with the image through drawing, smearing and mixing the colors with my fingers.
When placed next to each other, the wires and sharp angled lines move your eye around each painting and back-and-forth between each painting. By keeping it loose and exaggerating the shapes, I was able to give these paintings a sense of movement.
These two pieces have given me a new jumping off point both in media and subject matter. More city abstracts to come...
As planes buzzed the studio yesterday due to the air and water show, I worked on these two small abstracts. I painted them simultaneously to give them a cohesive color scheme. The soundtrack: Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
