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


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:

 


Three new water tank paintings

These paintings were just completed in the last 2 weeks while I worked on some new ones. All are based on photographs I took in New York and Chicago. I also just started on a commission painting featuring the West Loop skyline and its water tanks which has helped fuel my new-found energy for painting cityscapes and water tanks.


The Village - Bleeker St., acrylic on canvas, 24x30, 2011
Tribeca, acrylic on panel, 24x24, 2011
Pencil Tank - Roscoe Village, acrylic on canvas, 24x30, 2011

10 New Colored Cityscape Photographs

I've been taking a lot of new photographs lately and working on some digital imaging for a hotel reproduction project (more to come on that soon). Below are some results where I've added different effects, textures and colors using Photoshop. Some photos are brand new and some are older photos that I recently digitally enhanced. These are all part of my colored cityscape photo series and available in various sizes.

Towering Heights, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Fire Escapes, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Arches, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Fine Arts Building, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Wrigley Building, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
West Loop Skyline, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
The Blue Tank, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011

Marina Towers - River View, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Hancock and Skyline, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011
Pencil Factory, digitally enhanced photograph, 2011

A couple of water tank paintings in progress

Continuing my series of water tank paintings with these two works in progress. They're at the beginning stages, building up the layers quickly and trying to keep them loose.

I'm inspired by my recent trip to New York where I took a lot of photographs of water tanks in SoHo, The Village and the Lower East Side. In the past month, I have also done some Chicago walkabouts, taking photos of water tanks and architecture in River North and the Loop to provide some inspiration.

Chelsea - NYC painting in progress

Worked some more layers into this painting the last few days. Definitely more to go, but I'm liking the color palate and the looser feel.

Previously, I haven't incorporated many fire escapes into my paintings, but I'm liking it so far. It brings a more urban feel to the composition, creating strong diagonal shapes that lead your eye across the canvas.

Paintings: faceless people -- lost in a crowd

What I like about this series of paintings is the quick, loose brush strokes I used. They are based on photos and sketches of people on the street in New York City. I tried to capture the frenetic energy and movement of being on the street in Manhattan. This is also the first time I've used multiple people in a painting. Faceless people -- lost in a crowd. Usually, I just feature one person, so this was also an experiment in subject matter.

Painted most of these in late 2009. I am currently working on a new series of water tanks/cityscapes where I'm looking to bring back some of this looseness and immediacy.

There She Goes Again, acrylic on wood panel, 20x20, 2009


Times Square Crosswalk, acrylic on panel, 18x24, 2010


Yellow Dress, acrylic on canvas paper, 12x16, 2009


Blonde Cell Phone, acrylic on canvas paper, 12x16, 2009


Heading to the Subway, acrylic on canvas paper, 12x16, 2009


Headphones and Crowd, acrylic on canvas panel, 14x18, 2009