Steve McDonald

"Turbine #2" from the series "out of the void"
70" x 70" Archival print on Linen with hand-applied Acrylic color

"Out of the Void #5" 36" x36"  ink and water-based paints on linen

"Hillside Retreat"

"India" 60" x 45" Chalk, watercolors and pencil on paper

"The Ice-Cream Man "   24" x 24" Digital drawing with hand-applied color on paper.

Steve McDonald is an artist based in Bali that shows his art in Toronto and London. His intricate line drawings of aerial landscapes, cityscapes and cryptic machinery are executed on various scales and in multiple media, from pens, markers and paints to digital, and various combinations thereof. He also creates
numerous abstract kaleidoscopic prints in a similar vein, as well as digital paint portraiture. But it's these elaborate line drawn scenes that enthrall me the most. The mechanistic formality of the subject matter is countered with loose flowing line work that lends both machine and city a breathing organic quality. This is as it should be. Such creations may be initially designed with mathematical precision in their details but the final products are, in the act of actually building them, and even more so in using them, warped, frayed, bent, broken and patched. In the end they more closely resemble the constructs of ants or corals and other more primitive lifeforms than they do the perfectly mechanistic blueprinted plans that human beings initially envisioned. Mr. McDonald's work is wide ranging and his ideas and themes are not limited to what I've shown here.

You can see a good deal more at his website: www.steviemcd.com
But I would highly recommend browsing through his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/artbysteve) for even More material.

"View from the Tower" in progress
Pencil, charcoal and acrylic on board  72" x 72" . 

Ortega López

Why it is that certain pieces of well executed realism have the power to move me, as these do, while others leave me cold, may remain forever something of a mystery. Certainly these paintings evoke a potent atmosphere. The emptiness of the scenes is suggestive, for such scenes are rarely so empty in our actual experience. This lends them an emotional quality that resonates for me. They carry in them more than a hint of loneliness or, perhaps, contemplative isolation. His compositions heighten the effect being both austere and graceful in their formality. The craftsmanship is no less exceptional. Subtle value shifts in what would otherwise be an empty part of the composition are brushed in roughly but with absolute confidence, just as a landscape painter must play with the subtle variations in hue and tone in a distant field. Ortega López brings the same effort and understanding to a concrete floor or a patch of dirt. To be sure, much of this is all part of a clear traditional academic approach. But few artists employ these techniques so well, and most who do are so captivated by the more traditional subject matter of bucolic landscapes that we rarely get to see contemporary scenes executed with equal grace.

See more at his website: ortegalopez.com (in Spanish and English)
or check out his blog ortegalopez.blogspot.com (in Spanish)

And definitely click on these images to view them larger.



















title unknown 180x160cm oil on canvas 2009























"Estudio Urbana" 50x50cm oil on wood 2009






















"La Playa" 46x55cm oil on wood 2009

















"Estudio de Flores" 40x30cm oil on wood 2009






















"Naturaleza Construida" 120x115cm oil on wood 2008

Damon Kowarsky

I immediately loved these birds-eye view of ancient cities, clearly drawn with an eye for accurate detail but also the free flowing hand of a confident artist. (He apparently works a lot as a scientific and archaeological illustrator).
And it's nice to include a print-maker. http://art.damon.fastmail.net/














"Looking Down II" 28x45cm














"Aminabad I" 19x30cm


















"City I"

Kim Cogan

Back to some more traditional work. These are gorgeously painted and of course I just can't resist a good night scene. There's plenty of daylight equally well done at kimcogan.com
(please click on these, especially the second piece, to see a little more detail)

















"Night Owl" 38x50in. 2009













"Williamsburg at Midnight" 34x64in. 2008
















"Room Without a View" 24x36in. 2009

Daniel Duytter

Here's some very impressive cityscapes capturing the very same twilight as mr. Reeves but in a more realistic vein. More at myartspace.com.
These first two actually form a diptych but I couldn't post them side by side.




































"Champs and After the Rain, NYC" 1m. x 1m. each























"Evening Moscow" 60cm x 80cm

Rob Reeves

A lot of the people I've been posting are clearly well established artists. Here's a guy trying to get things going, painting away in the evenings, after work and putting the kids to bed. So I can relate. You can follow his efforts on his blog and see more expressionist cityscapes at robreevesstudio.com






















"Twilight in Red and Black"


















Twilight (?) 36" x 48"