Time-lapse progress video of my next piece!
Sold Paintings from Facebook Sale
I have been offering a exclusive Facebook only sale that will continue on through November into December! If you are interested in viewing this sale go to my Austin Howlett Art Facebook page by following this link https://www.facebook.com/austinhowlettart/
As of this blog post I have sold 3 original pieces since November 1st!
"Never Alone" "Envelop" and "Rush"
"Watching Over" Sold!
I'm happy to have sold "Watching Over" at the Conception Art Show! It was so nice to have a deep and reflective conversation with this couple about the emotions and concepts tied to this piece.
In the end this is what my art is about, connecting with people and their experiences and allowing them to reflect through my artwork. I know this piece will be contemplated and appreciated everyday.
"Moment" and "Hesitation" have sold!
Thanks to my month long display at Odyssey Beerwerks in Arvada, a lucky individual spotted two paintings that he needed in his home!
Hesitation
Moment
Two "Terra Human" paintings SOLD!
After a bit of a slow day at the Lynons Art Walk on Saturday Katy and I had a big surprise! A man rushed into our booth saying that he was driving by on the street in front of all the art booths and one of my paintings "Terra Firma" caught his eye. He was excited to see all of my work and loved talking about what each piece meant to him. I was very exited to sell "Hidden" and "Disappearance" to this enthusiastic man after talking about the pieces for a few minutes. He mentioned that he was very excited to decorate his home with these new paintings.
Update: Here are the paintings framed by their owner!
Piney Lake Commission
At the end of January I was very excited to receive another commission! My new client was looking for a colorful and bold landscape painting of Piney Lake with the Gore Mountain Range in the background. After my client approved a final sketch and a color palette I was very excited to start painting. Making this piece really tested my skill and patience and I feel it was good for me to revisit landscape painting again. Here is the final sketch that the client approved.
And here is the final product!
Abstract Commission 2017
Towards the end of 2016 I received a commission that really got me excited about the new year! My client referenced the styles and color palettes of "Underwater Trees" and "White Forest" and wanted a new custom oil painting in these styles. I am really excited about this opportunity to jump back into my purely abstract techniques and develop something new and exciting. I'm looking to not only draw inspiration from forests and foliage but hopefully some other components of nature such as vast landscapes and hills.
Underwater Trees
White Forest
Here is the new painting about 12 hours in. Within the hours of working on this piece a sort of starting point emerged from which everything else seems to flow. This small area at the bottom of canvas towards the left creates some momentum for all the movement in the painting. Hopefully with more layers of paint I can enhance the feathery affect making the textures lighter and less solid.
And here is the final product!
1st Place at the Own an Original Show!
So it is safe to say that I was already extremely honored to be accepted to this show once I realized how long it has been going on and the amazing quality of the work that is accepted. So you can imagine my excitement and disbelief when I received an email two days before the show telling me one of my paintings ("Desert Walkers") was awarded 1st place! The reception for this show was amazing for many reasons but certain highlights for me were the comments and feedback I got from viewers of my paintings. The people at this show were very comfortable speaking to artists and this made me very happy to listen to feedback and also explain my own thoughts. The comments that really stuck out to me were ones that compared my paintings to recent world events. One viewer compared "Desert Walkers" to the Syrian refugee crisis and the long and hard journeys many refugees are forced to take. Another viewer looked at "Cloaked" and saw the oppression of the native American people and their often unheard voices. These types of comments really stuck out to me because I didn't think of these themes and concepts when I was making these pieces. Not that this is a bad thing of course but I found it interesting that when a person can craft an image in just the right way the work takes on a life of its own and it is really out of the makers control. My girlfriend and I discussed this after the show and realized that I approach the creation of my paintings with a certain amount of innocence and vulnerability and this allows my personal emotions and thoughts to bleed naturally into the work.
Accepted to the Own an Original Show!
I'm very excited to announce that I two of my oil paintings have been accepted to this show in November! (Cloaked and Desert Walkers) These great shows in Denver have proved to be excellent ways to gain exposure as an artist and meet other interesting artists and people. I have been humbled by many of these shows because I tend to have much less experience than other participants but in a way this fact gives me confidence in my work and my enthusiasm.
In my opinion the two pieces that were selected (Cloaked and Desert Walkers) make an interesting pair because the styles are very different aesthetically but the overall mood and emotion are similar and build on each other. I have realized recently that most of my work deals with the concept of isolation in a very neutral sense. My pieces do not show isolation as negative or positive but more contemplative and essential for the human mind.
Final Product
I finished my commissioned piece and the results are great! This piece was for a very kind family who wanted a family portrait in the style of my previous robot paintings and I was very happy create this work for them. The family sent me some photos of them so I could adapt their physical traits to the stylized robots. I also wanted they robots to be emerged in a dynamic Colorado landscape so used Raspberry Mountain as the background. This piece was a joy to work on and the family was pleased :)
Commission and Show
I am currently finishing up a commissioned piece for nice man who liked my Robot Father and Son piece at Little Machine Brewery. He requested a sort of family portrait but with each family member as a robot. I loved this idea from the start and have really enjoyed working on the piece.
I just recently had two of my paintings accepted to the Lone Tree Art Expo! The pieces were Rain Squall and Fracture. I spent a few hours painting the sides of these pieces so that they are show ready and look extra professional :)