Shawn McKelvey is a California illustrator and landscape painter.
Unfortunately, his three blog-based sites include little background information, other than to say he has been a freelance illustrator since 1988, with clients in the advertising, entertainment and toy industries.
His commercial work includes children’s book illustrations, backgrounds and illustrations for licensed properties and board game backgrounds (bottom, center). The latter is a design/illustration area that I’ve always found fascinating, but is largely overlooked in illustration annuals and books.
Of most interest to me, though, were Mckelvey’s direct, confidently handled landscape paintings. Primarily painted en plein air as far as I can tell, they depict Southern California subjects both intimate and scenic. Most are medium-small, 11″x14″ or 8″x10″ (27x35cm or 20x25cm), and rather than selling them through eBay auctions, like many painter/bloggers, Mckelvey’s site simply lists a set price for most, with a direct contact email.
In addition to his Landscape painting blog and his illustration blog, Mckelvey has a blog for Daily Painting and Other Vices, in which he posts small still life subjects, primarily ashtrays, cigars, billiard balls and drinks. These are painted in a smaller format, I’m guessing 5″x7″ (12x17cm), and he states that he’s doing them to “…explore composition, color and edges… and to keep my brushes wet between paintings.”
