I’m very pleased with how this commission turned out. It took longer than planned, but it pushed me out of my comfort zone in several ways. I had never painted an interior space before. Still, I got to include my favorite subject, a cityscape, and it’s of Andersonville, my home neighborhood for 26 years. That connection made the project more meaningful to me.
This painting began with the collectors’ vision. I used photographs I shot and photographs they provided to create sketches for the composition.
The finished painting is an interior with an exterior view, based on their former guest room and office. Out the window, I reimagined the Andersonville streetscape. On the teal wall hangs a painting of the Chicago lakefront at sunrise, between Hollywood Beach and Foster Beach. It’s one of my favorite places to sit along the lake, and it’s where the collectors got engaged. The paintings within the painting are a nod to Van Gogh’s The Bedroom, a favorite of mine at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The dresser, which doubles as a Murphy bed, carries additional personal meaning for the collectors. The painting as a whole represents the story of the beginning of their love and marriage. I gave the collectors the option to choose the title, and they chose one that reflects that meaning: A New Beginning—And All That Was to Come.
To see the progress of the painting, composition sketches, and photo references, click on the gallery images below to view full screen.
A New Beginning—And All That Was to Come, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40”, 2026, by Kevin Swallow