5 Year Anniversary of My First By Kerwin Beatles Painting
Kerwin Blackburn unveiled his pioneering action-painted pop art Beatles portrait on 20th April 2019
Friday 19th April 2024 marks exactly five years since finishing my first ‘By Kerwin’ painting – my large Jackson Pollock-inspired pop art-style portrait of The Beatles. Measuring 150x100cm and hand-painted in acrylic, I began this piece in early April 2019, and it was my first time attempting a painting in this unique portrait style I had devised.
This was also my first proper painting for two or three years. I was living and working in Singapore at the time, and while I had a few weeks back in the UK while waiting for a new visa to be processed, I decided to do some painting for the first time in a while. I only actually wanted to paint a picture for my bedroom wall – I had no intention of creating an entire business around it at this point! I had no idea if my innovative new technique I had invented would even work.
As my family home at the time was a converted barn in Norfolk, England with wooden beams, I chose a neutral brown colour scheme, so the painting would complement its surroundings. My Jackson Pollock-inspired technique saw different layers of brown, as well as orange, maroon and gold, splattered to create depth and texture within the piece.
Thankfully, my creative new painting process, combining Jackson Pollock’s action painting technique with an Andy Warhol-esque pop art outline, was successful, and I was excited with the end result. The rest, they say, is history!
Launching my By Kerwin painting range in 2019
Throughout the rest of 2019 I painted my next few portraits in this style (Oasis, then Paul Weller, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Amy Winehouse) in Singapore, before launching ‘By Kerwin’ as an online in November that year.
Since then I have my art brand and business; exhibiting in large solo displays and art shows in Norwich, London, Manchester and New York. I have also sold hundreds of print editions, pieces of clothing and merchandise and a number of original paintings both online and in-person. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me in my venture in my first half a decade!
Here’s to the next five years…
Learn more about my unique, signature pop art painting style and technique here. My unique and energetic painting of The Beatles is available to purchase as premium canvas prints in multiple sizes from my online shop here. Fast and free worldwide delivery available.
View my full range of Jackson Pollock-inspired pop art paintings and prints of your favourite music and pop culture icons at www.bykerwin.com. High-definition printing, fast worldwide delivery and satisfaction guaranteed. You can follow my art progress on Instagram and Facebook.
