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.
Flying Past Blue: Contemporary Abstract Gold Leaf Painting
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
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
Sunset Glow
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
$13,000
Maybe One Day
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
A Glimmer of Green Hope
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
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
Magic tree
Located in Zofingen, AG
In this work I will continue to weave archetypal images of ancient times. The work enters into a dialogue with the symbolism of long-standing visual memory, which appears in various...
Canvas, Acrylic
Dreaming in The Dark
By Olga Tsyhypko
Located in Zofingen, AG
Through my art, I share with viewers the profound importance of personal integrity in our lives. In my paintings, I explore the delicate balance between individual wholeness and deep...
Canvas, Acrylic
In Search of a Cerulean Sweater
By Daria Okhrimenko
Located in Zofingen, AG
In Search of a Cerulean Sweater plays with the idea of difference — of standing side by side while belonging to entirely different worlds. It reflects that quiet, often overlooked st...
Canvas, Acrylic
Harmony of Souls
By Olga Tsyhypko
Located in Zofingen, AG
The painting titled "Harmony of Souls" is part of my series "Echoes of Harmony", which delves into the intricate relationship between personal balance and the depth of human connecti...
Canvas, Acrylic
New Girl in Town
By Daria Okhrimenko
Located in Zofingen, AG
New Girl in Town captures that delicate, almost imperceptible feeling of being slightly out of rhythm with the world around you — where everything seems settled, familiar, already un...
Canvas, Acrylic
Kitty and Kat
By Daria Okhrimenko
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
I Can Do Anything
By Olga Tsyhypko
Located in Zofingen, AG
The painting from the "Echo of Harmony" series, titled "I Can Do Anything". This work is my artistic statement on inner strength and emotional balance. Using acrylic on canvas, I ca...
Canvas, Acrylic
Pink Weather
By Daria Okhrimenko
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
$5,665
H 33.47 in W 39.38 in
Flame Under The Willow by Rene Gonzalez - fox in forest, acrylic on canvas
By Rene Gonzalez
Located in Paris, FR
Flame Under The Willow is an acrylic painting on canvas by artist René Gonzalez. The painting shows a fox moving cautiously through dense willow foliage, looking at flickering flames...
Canvas, Acrylic
A Meal Alone with Oneself
By Daria Okhrimenko
Located in Zofingen, AG
A Meal Alone with Oneself is not about solitude, but about returning — to your own rhythm, your own desires, your own quiet center. In a world that constantly asks for more, faster, ...
Canvas, Acrylic
$3,688
H 27.56 in W 27.56 in D 1.58 in
Unicorn Painting Floating in Blue Sky Clouds Contemporary Fantasy Wall Art
By Sofía Cristina Jiménez
Located in FISTERRA, ES
Contemporary unicorn painting featuring an inflatable balloon-like figure floating among clouds in a vivid blue sky, combining fantasy imagery with at...
Canvas, Linen, Acrylic
$2,549
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in
Silk Flutters in the Woods by Rene Gonzalez - forest landscape with butterflies
By Rene Gonzalez
Located in Paris, FR
Silk Flutters in the Woods is an acrylic on canvas by artist Rene Gonzalez, portraying butterflies dancing above a water puddle in a spellbinding nocturnal forest. This unique piece'...
Canvas, Acrylic
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