Watercolor Painting

1960’s Chevy

1960’s Chevy

I took a watercolor class in the 1980's at the American Academy of Art in Chicago and Irving Shapiro was the instructor. I did this watercolor painting for that class. I had the honor of having it featured in his book on Watercolor.

Deep Tunnel Project Entrance Rendering

Deep Tunnel Project Entrance Rendering

Randal Birkey was contracted by an architect to prepare a rendering of a proposed entrance structure design near a Chicago "Deep Tunnel Project" location. Randal went on-site and took reference photos. He then inserted the architect's entrance design--based upon scale...

Citibank Center Bank Entrance

Citibank Center Bank Entrance

Randal Birkey was commissioned to render an updated design for the Citibank branch location in Oakbrook, Illinois. The perspective view below was developed from architectural blueprints using 3D modeling software on an Apple Macintosh computer. The perspective view...

Dearborn Street Mansion, Chicago, Illinois

Dearborn Street Mansion, Chicago, Illinois

This is a watercolor architectural illustration of a renovation project on N. Dearborn Street in Chicago. It was commissioned early in the 1980s as Randal was starting his freelance illustration career. A real estate developer was rehabbing this mansion into a...

Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago, Illinois

I have a friend named Linda VanderWeele, who did a lot of graphic design in the 1980s for various Chicago area firms. One of her clients was the Chicago Board of Trade. They commissioned her to design a coffee table piece on the architectural history and interest of...