Chas Z. Mathieu Design

Every year I try to paint at least one creepy building, and this year I chose the Congress Plaza Hotel ( ). Built for the 1893 World’s Fair, it was originally known as the Auditorium Annex. Over the years the building has undergone several renovations and additions. It’s also seen its fair share of tragedy too, resulting in guests seeing spirits and other unexplained events throughout the hotel. Due to these events, the Congress Hotel has earned a reputation as being the most haunted building in Chicago. The hotel continues to operate to this day.

Swipe on thru to see some older historical photos I found while gather reference photos, as well as some WIP and close-up detail photos from this painting as well.

The original and prints of this painting (with optional glow in the dark windows) are available now on either my website or Etsy (link in bio).

Watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil, and gelly roll on 6x9 watercolor paper.
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Hiya! So a few weeks back my computer died on me. Since then I bought a new computer and was able to restore most files from a back up.

All that to say to make up some cost, I’m running a little sale:
-25% off prints, etc. on my website: https://www.chasmathieu.com/category/all-products

-20% off prints, etc. on Etsy - ChasMathieuArt.Etsy.com

More art soon!

All Products | Chas Mathieu Art Welcome to my shop. Here you can find original paintings, prints, and commissions. Use the filtering options to find something perfect for you.

Happy Friday everyone! Super excited to share my latest painting in my Chicago restaurant series - Lem’s Bar-B-Q. Lem’s opened in the mid 1950s by the Lemons brothers on the Southside of Chicago and remains in the family to this day.

Lem’s has been on my list of Chicago places to paint for four or five years now, so it was a real treat to get to paint it. I fell in love with the fun playful architecture: the curved windows, slanted roof, giant smoke stack. And of course, I love some great neon signage. And between the neon and the Chicago sunset, I really had a blast capturing the lighting in this scene. More art soon.

Original 9x12 painting is available for purchase on my website. Prints in various sizes and finishes are also available for purchase.

Watercolor, Pen & Ink, colored pencils on 9x12 watercolor paper.
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Good morning and happy Friday! Here’s a little photo set of my stansdonutschicago watercolor painting. The second in my Chicago restaurant watercolor painting series. For this piece I really wanted to capture their iconic pink neon signage which also allowed me to play with time of day - so we have an early morning scene (spot the sunrise). Lots of little details from the interior of the shop, to patrons with their donuts and coffee. Also a few plants find their way into the upper floor windows. DM me for details on the original painting, prints available on Etsy - ChasMathieuArt

Watercolor on 9x12 watercolor paper.
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With the craziness of the holidays I almost forgot about this. I was asked to personalize the Pickwick theatre marquee with a marriage proposal that had occurred at an earlier date. Still so cool, for my art to be apart of such a beautiful milestone.

You can get yours via my Etsy Shop (with or without personalization): ChasMathieuArt
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Happy Friday! Here’s my newest watercolor painting of pequodspizza - the first in my series of restaurants from across Chicago! I’ve included some super close ups showing some of the fun little details as well as a couple of progress pictures.

The 9x12 original painting (dm for inquiries) is for sale and prints of this painting can be found thru my Etsy!

Watercolor, India ink, and white gel pen on 9x12 watercolor paper.
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