Monday, November 22, 2010

Inspiration: Strange Brew?


I'm certainly not above any idea. Especially when it comes to taking inspiration from the screwball comedy Strange Brew. This idea was brewed up (sorry for the pun) while I was working on photo color correcting a picture taken of the old Schmidt's/Landmark Brewery on West 7th in St. Paul.

It happened to be late one night when my wife was scrolling through instant stream Netflix and came upon Strange Brew. I had seen snippets of it before, but never in it's entirety. Not only was the film good, it was also educational. I never knew you could grow a mouse inside an empty bottle of beer and get a full refund.

So earlier that day I went over to St. Paul to shoot some pictures. While I was driving down West 7th, it hit me. I absolutely have to take a picture of this amazing brewery. It happened to be in the middle of the day with an overcast sky which didn't make for a very exciting shot. So I knew I had to work my Photoshop magic to whip this picture into something dramatic. All it took was a little dose of Bob and Doug McKenzie to pull this off.

Anyway, this old Schmidt's Brewery had a similar architectural feel as the fictional Elsinore Brewery. In the movie, the brewery was always dark and ominous. And that's just what I needed to do to the photo I took. Make a daylight overcast picture look dark and ominous.

This West 7th "brew castle" is truly a thing of beauty. When I dug deeper into it's history, I discovered insightful information that could make this photo montage even more rich. By adding an old Schmidt's beer truck making it's way eastward, it tells a little story about our St. Paul neighborhoods history, eh.

Monday, November 15, 2010

A Cowboy plus Benton


I guess I have thrown all the rules out the window with these particular montages. In the top picture, I have featured three Americanic figures standing in front of a bizarre gun store right in St. Louis Park called The Frontiersman Gun Shop. I have driven by this place many times and each time I have said to myself, "I gotta paint that". The "three armed amigos" are a cowboy, a Daniel Boone type character, and a retro mid-20th century hunter.

The bottom picture features the early 20th century regional artist Thomas Hart Benton painting a picture of Lake Calhoun. The narrative here is, I wasn't sure if I could do justice to painting a Lake Calhoun scene, but I new that Benton could. You can see for yourself.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

New Photomontage Prints

Due to the overwhelming reception of the New York City photomontage prints at the last spring show, I have decided to do more of them. This time the subject matter will be the Twin Cities.
Here is just a taste of what is to come at the December show.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Orchestra Sketch


Here is a sketch that I have been working on with the Minnesota Orchestra. There will be a couple corrections to this drawing, but the bulk of it will remain. It will later be made into a 4ft x 5ft acrylic painting (flat).

The overall theme is to capture a summer evening at the Hall displaying a whimsical feel of orchestral musicians, school fieldtrip kids, jazz ensemble, and street performers all standing outside of Peevey Plaza. Should be a really fun piece!

Monday, November 8, 2010

NYC . . . Done!



This has been a week of running around trying to get stuff ready for next months holiday show. With the completion of my new painting titled The Brooklyn Bridge - New York City, I have made it my top priority to get it photographed and color corrected so we can have posters and prints ready by this month.

NYC is the latest installment of my coast to coast U.S. city skyline series. It now joins the ranks of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Chicago, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington DC. There is some consideration for the next city I paint to be Boston, Miami, or maybe New Orleans. I think each city has it's own unique feel. Creatively, I don't think I can miss on any of these.

Coming up next

I am currently working on more photomontage work. Except, this time it will be all local scenes. These too will be limited edition prints in which I'm hoping to have 10 different montages that represent different spots of the Twin Cities.

Additionally, I will be working on a commission for the Minnesota Orchestra which will be finished sometime in early January 2011.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

New York


Just got back from a trip to New York. After walking the Brooklyn Bridge (yet another time), I finally found inspiration for my latest painting, "The Brooklyn Bridge / New York City".
There are so many different ways to show off this city, but the one I wanted to start with, was this kick ass bridge, and the surrounding Manhattan skyline. For me, bridges represent the gateways of the city. This project has been a long time coming and I'm looking forward to having it completed in the next couple weeks.

Above photo is an incomplete closeup of the work. Original size is 84" x 39".

Thursday, August 19, 2010

A Time For Comedy



You know, it has almost been a year since Rick Bronson's House of Comedy had their grand opening in the Mall of America. It was this very room where myself, and the help of others, installed the 32 foot original artwork that drapes over the 14 foot stage. The room is quite large and the piece holds its own as the center point. I have been to many other comedy clubs, but have never seen one like this. I was so proud to be a part of it's design.

Pictured above: L to R pic 1. Kevin Nealon, pic 2. Jerry Ariganello (my right-hand man), Rick Bronson, Michael Birawer, pic 3. Norm MacDonald.

Friday, August 13, 2010

In Studio 8/13/10



Well, I am definitely on schedule for the completion of the Washington DC piece. You will not have to wait for the mid-term elections to be counted in November. With fingers crossed, I should have this ready by the end of the month.

The photos above show the progress of where things are at presently. As you can see there is still quite a bit of black that needs to be blocked in. The challenge I am faced with, is to make sure the streets and bridges keep to some geographic legibility. Over to the right of the piece is Arlington Virginia which will show a portion of the Pentagon. The very center of the piece will show the Lincoln Memorial with Jefferson Memorial slightly off to the center right. Stay tuned for more progress shots.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

In Studio 8/03/10

Been scratching my head on this DC piece. After all of the scenes I have painted, I am still discovering new and better ways to work. One of the new ways is drawing with a paintbrush to establish each of the shapes of buildings, trees, etc., where before I would draw them strictly with a pencil. I feel like the brush draws things in a more expressive way. I guess I should have known this, but was always afraid to change the most basic technique for fear of messing up a formula.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

O'Gara's Done. Gallery open Thursday


Come and see the latest painting, O'Gara's at Bent Gallery This Thursday July 29. The Doors will be open from 5:30pm to 9pm. Click on the link below and then click "Map" on contact page for directions: http://michaelbirawer.com/contact.html. Hope to see you there.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Day of Rest

One thing about me that is for sure, is that I am an artist that likes his rest. If I don't get my eight hours, I am not pleasant to be around. Otherwise, I am the nicest guy in the world. Well, thankfully, I got my 8 last night and am now considering taking the day off from painting, creating, and keeping my thinking to a bare minimum. Nikki and I are thinking of maybe going to see a movie this evening and maybe watching the Twins today. I guess I just have little to say about art today. But tomorrow I pick up the pallet and brush again with full enthusiasm!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

O'Gara's...Step by Step


I wanted to show some of the process of creating my latest piece called O'Gara's. The above photos show how the painting develops step by step. I am currently at this stage (far right picture) and as you can see, there are still shapes that need to be painted in. I am at a point where I can really get a good sense of how this piece will turn out. So far, so good.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Today's DC scramble

This morning I am contemplating how to approach my Washington D.C. piece. I know it will be 3 dimensional and approx. 6 feet wide by 3 high. But the real question I ask myself is, how do I cram all of those monuments into one composition? While I eat my scrambled eggs this morning, I will also scramble for ideas on how to make this composition work.

As a quick update on O'Gara's, I am making excellent progress on the painting. I am shooting for finishing it sometime next week.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Upcoming works

Super pleased to have released two new cities under my belt: Golden Gate - San Francisco and Kerry Park - Seattle. Those prints are now available on canvas. http://michaelbirawer.com/store.html. The posters will be ready in about a week.

I have taken the last two weeks off to work on house projects, but now that they are done, here is what's coming up in the next couple months: I have began working on two new commissions including the long awaited St. Paul locale, O'Gara's Bar and a scene of Washington DC.
Hopefully these will be ready for print by September.