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Tim O'Brien

@obrienillustration

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Illustrator,
Educator, and sometimes Author @obrienillustration
*Prints available at:
https://obrienprints.bigcartel.com/

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Almost a lawyer and press secretary by @obrienillustration

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2 days ago

Autumn, 2026. This painting about finding peace amid challenges follows the same themes as several I’ve done in the past few years. It’s about yielding to the quiet, about being happy with the now. Over the past year, I’ve found meditation helpful in gaining control of my active mind, taking time to breathe, and seeing thoughts for what they are: mere appearances that come and go. This has been a revelation, and it gives me something to combat the endless inner dialogue and obsessive thinking. Life serves up challenges, U-turns, and roadblocks. Confronting those can upend the peace we all strive for. These moments don’t need to be catastrophic; they are expected and just part of life's rhythm. I say all this with an ease today, because everything is fine. I’m one problem away from capsizing.
‘Boat Rest’
Oil on Panel, 15” x 20”
2026 by @obrienillustration

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3 days ago

@nytmag
#nytmag
#magazinecover
#magnet
#coverlove
#nascapas
Save to your collection! 📌
.
Illustration: @obrienillustration
CD: @gailbichler by @obrienillustration

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6 days ago

On September 11th, 2001, Time asked me to work on a cover illustration. It was while the Twin Towers were burning, still morning, and I offered a sketch of Lady Liberty, weathered but strong, with the burning towers behind. Elizabeth was at work; 20 month old Cassius was downstairs with a babysitter. A small TV sat beside my easel as I painted and watched the unbelievable sadness of this day unfold. By mid-afternoon, the towers were gone. Elizabeth, with thousands of other New Yorkers, walked down to the Brooklyn Bridge to get home. All transit was shut down. In our front yard in Flatbush, standing with Cassius in my arms, I watched snow fall in our neighborhood. These were small, burnt flecks of paper, falling from the sky above. Elizabeth arrived back in Brooklyn and I picked her up saving her another 7 miles of walking.
It was a terrible day of disbelief. My conversations with Time about this image evolved; the image we settled on changed, and the towers were no longer there. A few hours later, Elizabeth arrived back in Brooklyn, and I picked her up, saving her another 7 miles of walking. Bush arrived downtown and provided a more current image for the cover, and this painting ran inside, and the towers were photoshopped out of the painting.
In my career, I've illustrated some events I was aware of that most of the public did not. With this image, I was me, working in real time, processing the day as an injury to the country and as an assignment, struggling to comprehending what it all would mean. by @obrienillustration

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a month ago

OPENING SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12th, 6-10 PM AT COPRO GALLERY!   THE BLAB! SHOW’S @blabworld 21st ANNUAL GROUP SHOW curated by the great Monte Beauchamp, opens Sept. 12th, 6- 10 PM at @coprogallery in @bergamotsantamonica. BERGAMOT IS HAVING ITS ANNUAL “FALL OPEN” ALL DAY WITH EXHIBITIONS, ARTIST TALKS, TOURS, ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD, AND MORE.   EMAIL coprogallery@live.com for an early collector’s preview or for more information.

MY ARTWORK:  “RABBIT DUCK” Oil on panel, 16” x 9”  By @obrienillustration

https://www.copronason.com/blab26/ by @obrienillustration

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a month ago

"Fire Turtle"

Watercolor sketch. by @obrienillustration

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a month ago

Introducing Atmospheres—a sonic journey that brings together music and spoken word by @markguiliana for Waking Up.

Presented in five parts, Atmospheres features music by Mark with selections from Alan Watts, Joseph Goldstein, James Low, Jayasāra, and Sam Harris. Series artwork by Tim O’Brien @obrienillustration.

Available now only in the @wakingupapp.
wakingup.com/atmospheres
Link in bio by @obrienillustration

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2 months ago

The sketchbook is where all the pieces start. A drawing done one year might not ripen until a few years later. Circumstances reveal the meaning, the silly image becomes a deep one. I might have to take this one to final.
“The End”. Micron on paper by @obrienillustration

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2 months ago

Take a look around.

"Giraffe"
Oil on Panel ,17" X 12" by @obrienillustration

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2 months ago

by @obrienillustration

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3 months ago

'Marie Antoinette, The Royal Diaries, Scholastic by @obrienillustration

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3 months ago

THE DAY AFTER

How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World

Here is the follow-up by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shameless, Brian Tyler Cohen: The Day After.
In this forward-looking work, Cohen explores how Republicans have abused power, how Democrats have refused to exercise power when they held it, and how progressives should wield power if they are fortunate enough to win a free and fair election in a post-Trump world.
I worked with the talented Milan Bozic at Harper Collins to craft this image. Early on, it was a vision of the White House in disrepair, and then there was this wild idea of a golden statue of Trump being pulled down. In the year that has passed since I did this painting, the White House IS in disrepair, and numerous gold statues of Trump, both proposed and in reality, have popped up in everyone’s feeds. No ridiculous idea is impossible with Trump.
There will be a day AFTER Trump. This book bravely starts to talk about it.
https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/thedayafter by @obrienillustration

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3 months ago