Painter Thomas Swanston captures the life-changing experience of observing a natural migration. When the Atlanta-based painter witnessed flocks of birds in the sky over his farm one day, he became fascinated with Sandhill cranes, an interest which would change the trajectory of his art.
Swanston began annual trips to the Central Platte River Valley in Nebraska to photograph and observe the over 600,000 birds that migrate through the area. Swanston witnessed how the birds’ travels are rhythmic, with a pattern of departure and return, and are part of the natural flow of the planet.
Drawing on these first-hand experiences, he depicts the cranes through a host of media and techniques. He uses materials ranging from gold leaf, silver and pewter to oxidized copper, palladium and gouache. The gilding allows his paintings to change according to the light.
A 1978 graduate from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Swanston complemented his Bachelor of Arts degree with studies at the New York Studio School. After enrolling in 1980, he became one of the first to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Parsons School of Design and met his wife and fellow artist, Gail Foster. Together, they now run their own art center, StudioSwan.
Swanston later attended AIR Serenbe, a nonprofit that connects individuals to nature. He played a major role in founding its art program, which continues to support artists today.
Swanston has exhibited his work in numerous solo and group shows. His art is in private collections around the world, including Ritz-Carlton hotels in the United Arab Emirates, Japan and China and Four Seasons hotels in California, Wyoming and Morocco.
Swanston and his wife continue to share their passions for art and nature from their studios in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Thomas Swanston’s paintings and mixed media.
$18,500
Pink Landing
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
"Migration of Silver Geece" Large Painting of Birds and Trees with Gold Leaf
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Austin, TX
Mixed Media on Canvas 50 x 56 in. A stunningly beautiful painting that portrays the grace and wild beauty of migrating geese with a combination of naturalistic subject matter and ab...
Gold Leaf
Fugue Triptych
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
Lines From a Past
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
$3,900
Farewell
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the works will photograph and look different under various types of light. Using gilded shapes intertwined with abstract washes of color and light, Swanston creates paintings that visually evolve and transform in conjunction with the natural light of a passing day. He brings the beauty of nature into the home and captures the idea that art originates not only through personal introspection, but through the contemplation of nature and place. The environment plays a key role in the construction of Swanston’s paintings and guides the context of each work. Underneath the gold leaf and acrylic paint lies a deeper conversation about species preservation and habitat loss, both conservation efforts important to the artist. Swanston utilizes beauty as the vehicle by which he entices the viewer and provides the bridge for a critical discussion about environmental protection. Thomas Swanston was born 1956 in Annapolis Md...
Gold Leaf
Deep into Twilight
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
Thomas Swanston was born 1956 in Annapolis Md., Naval Hospital. He graduated from Hobart & William Smith Colleges 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts, with studi...
Gold, Silver
Up in Blue
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
It is a tall, vertical painting. The mixed media is composed of oil paint and gold leaf with smaller silver leaf birds at the bottom of the composition. The bird silhouettes look lik...
Gold Leaf
$2,000
H 17 in W 17 in
Dog Years - Brightly Colored Self Portrait of Artist as a Aqua Colored Dog
By Marcos Raya
Located in Chicago, IL
***This artwork is currently on exhibit at the Instituto Cervantes, Chicago until September 2025. If purchased this artwork will be available to ship after September 1, 2025. Contact the gallery with questions. Raya, like every productive artist, is a collection of actions, utopias and talents. He is an acrylic painter and a muralist; an installation artist and a practitioner of the theory of the fragment as a synthesis of the whole; he is Chicano but his work has no passport; he is an obsessive self-portraitist (I, as the multiplicity locked within the I) and his an advocate of his community (in the fullest sense of the world); his is from Chicago and - being a nation onto himself - is a native of his art education; his yearns for the Tijuana of tomorrow while being a full-fledged inhabitant of the Tijuana of half a century back; he admires high-tech while being a fan of Frida Kahlo. --Carlos Monsivais Marcos Raya Dog Years oil on canvas 17h x 17w in 43.18h x 43.18w cm MSR054 Marcos Raya brings together old and new works in a variety of media that mostly explores the sociological impact of technological change. His paintings, collages and installations present an idiosyncratic hybrid of Mexican folklore...
Canvas, Acrylic
Pink Weather
Located in Zofingen, AG
Two silhouettes stand steady on the bright yellow field, as if listening to the sky shift above them. The horizon holds its deep blue line, calm and certain, while a burst of pink ri...
Canvas, Acrylic
$425
H 14 in W 11 in
I've Been Everywhere - Abstract Vintage Inspired Figurative Painting on Canvas
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Jesse’s imagery often merges playful and gritty elements, blending floral patterns, vintage-inspired designs, and bold outlines with a touch of whimsy. His artwork exudes a sense of ...
Acrylic, Canvas
$1,150
H 9.75 in W 8.82 in D 0.75 in
Antique English Watercolor - Countryside Landscape with Cows
Located in Soquel, CA
Antique English Watercolor - Countryside Landscape with Cows Miniature landscape with two cows in the foreground, signed "J.M. Myall 1910." One cow sits on the ground of a rolling h...
Paper, Watercolor
$695
H 10.63 in W 10.63 in D 2.37 in
Crismon Chat Red Bird, realist and minimalist animal painting, oil and gold leaf
By Anastasia Gklava
Located in Dallas, TX
"Crismon Chat Bird" is a realist painting depicting a determined red bird perched on a tree branch. The painting is graphic and glorious. Anastasia has painted half the canvas with r...
Gold Leaf
$3,750
H 29.53 in W 17.72 in
Bleeding Sky by Rene Gonzalez - painting, forest landscape, night, foxes, animal
Located in Paris, FR
Bleeding Sky is an acrylic on canvas by artist Rene Gonzalez, depicting a group of foxes huddled beneath a tree, taking refuge from a celestial downpour of shooting stars. Dimensions...
Canvas, Acrylic
$4,357
H 39.38 in W 31.89 in D 1.58 in
Silver Inflatable Llama Acrylic Canvas Painting with Andean Mountain Landscape
By Sofía Cristina Jiménez
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Acrylic painting depicting a silver inflatable llama positioned within a high-altitude Andean mountain landscape, examining the interaction between artificial imagery and remote natu...
Canvas, Linen, Acrylic
$6,000
H 25.5 in W 21.5 in
Tigers Animal Paradise Tropical Jungle Painting Surrealist Art Gustavo Novoa
By Gustavo Novoa
Located in Surfside, FL
Original Painting tigers in jungle by river with reflection, tropical jungle setting. Titled "Paper Boat". Hand signed recto and titled verso. Framed 25.5 X 21.5 Canvas is 24 X 20 Gustavo Novoa, Born 1941 in Santiago, Chile, He attended the Academy of Fine Arts. Novoa made his debut as an artist in the early 1960¹s selling oil painting, watercolors and crayon drawings on the streets of Paris, France, principally Montmartre. His first one-man show was sponsored by the Chilean Ambassador at the Maison de L¹Amerique Latin in 1961. The late Queen Victoria Eugenia...
Canvas, Acrylic
Kitty and Kat
Located in Zofingen, AG
They brought their own living room to the middle of nowhere. Because why wait for the perfect place when you can create your own atmosphere? Pearls at sunset. Coffee on a picnic blan...
Canvas, Acrylic
$3,029
H 23.63 in W 19.69 in
Fox by Rene Gonzalez - forest landscape painting, fox, red, nature, vivid colors
Located in Paris, FR
Fox is an acrylic painting on canvas by artist René Gonzalez representing a fox surrounded by a colorful landscape. Dimensions are 60 × 50 cm (23.6 x 19.7 in). This artwork is signed...
Acrylic, Canvas
$12,500
H 36 in W 36 in
Panthers in Jungle Oil Painting Surrealist Art Gustavo Novoa Green Dark Mirror
By Gustavo Novoa
Located in Surfside, FL
Gustavo Novoa (Chilean, born 1941) Original Oil Painting on Masonite (that was how it was catalogued at Doyle. It might be acrylic paint) Green Dark Mirror Hand signed G Novoa lower...
Canvas, Acrylic
$1,500
H 31.5 in W 63 in D 0.4 in
Figurative Oil Painting on Canvas and Animals. "Magical Ecstasy"
Located in Bogotá, Bogotá
This horizontal painting on canvas contains several layers of color, with textures and transparencies, representing a dreamlike scene where fantastic animals and humans in yellow and...
Gold Leaf
Through the Clear Afternoon Sky
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
Returning Progress
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
The Fog of Time
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver and gold leafing the work will photogr...
Gold Leaf
Fullness
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Atlanta, GA
This painting is in excellent condition and has only been shown in a gallery setting. Please note that given the characteristics of the silver leafing the works will photograph and ...
Gold Leaf
Morning Vapor
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
Thomas Swanston was born 1956 in Annapolis Md., Naval Hospital. He graduated from Hobart & William Smith Colleges 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts, with studies in London and at the Stud...
Linen, Mixed Media
Going to the Edge of the World Again
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
This painting is rich in texture. Golden, rusted and silver geese fly along the gritty blue, turquoise sky. Deep cerulean blue tree tops stand in the foreground. Thomas Swanston was...
Mixed Media
Coming In
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
This is a square painting with a stunning sunset on it. The sky starts as a deep blue and fades into yellows, oranges, and pinks until the sky touches a purple mountain range. Geese ...
Mixed Media
Sweet Morning Light
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
It is a tall, vertical painting. The painting's medium is acrylic paint and silver leaf on linen. The birds' silver silhouettes fly across the dream acrylic background. Thomas Swans...
Silver
Through and above Farmland I & II
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
This is a diptych painting. The painting's composition is birds flying across the two panels on a a blue-gray background. You can see faint traces of gold underneath the oil paint. T...
Silver, Gold Leaf
Deja Through
By Thomas Swanston
Located in Bozeman, MT
This a stylized bird painting created through materials and silhouetted birds in the composition. The birds fly through a gray background, but the birds them selves are actually gold...
Silver, Gold Leaf