A new painting in progress: NoLita (NYC) - water tank
I started this painting today - it's large: 36x48. Based on a photograph I took this past December in NoLita (North of Little Italy) in New York City, I shot it while walking around the neighborhood after great slice of New York thin crust pizza from Pomodoro Pizza at Spring and Mulberry. I tend to hit this place each time I'm in NYC. It has big windows and is a great place to re-fuel and people watch.
I used a sketch of the photo as reference to start this piece. I began by laying an initial wash of paint on the canvas and then sketched the composition with charcoal. It's nice to work big this way and I'm hoping to keep this one loose and expressive with some really bold color.
Abstract paintings - off to a new home!
Special thanks to Amy, the owner of The Writers WorkSpace in Chicago and her husband Lee. They made my day today by buying two abstract paintings (shown below) that have been on display at WWS.
I'm excited that they will be owned by someone who truly supports the arts. For over 5 years, WWS has been a place for local writers to work and for local artists to exhibit their work. I'm happy to be a part of it and hope that the writers get some inspiration from my art or, at the very least, just enjoy looking at it.
Commission Painting (detail)
The commission painting is essentially done. I'll be meeting the collectors later this week for final review and approval. All that will be left is to varnish it. Below is a detailed view of the middle section of the painting.
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.
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| West Loop Skyline - painting in progress |
Water tanks - studio installation
The start of the West Loop Cityscape 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...
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
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:
