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OCTOBER COAST ART : STUDIOS
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Artist Brandon Marquette Williams.
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Welcome to the OCTOBER COAST.
You reach October Coast by boat.
Dock at the harbor.
Follow paths through prairie grasses that wave like ocean swells, or walk beneath coastal forests perpetually dressed in autumn gold.
The moon is always visible here—whether at dawn or midnight—and the air smells of turning leaves, salt water, and the promise of change.
October Coast Art is where I, Brandon Marquette Williams, build worlds from the landscapes that shaped me:
the Kansas prairie where I was raised near the small town of Marquette, working summers on my grandparents’ farm among sunflowers, rolling fields, animals and old barns;
The Oregon coast’s small-town isolation that was both peaceful and grounding, where I drove a school bus and heard kids talk about their grandparents and kind neighbors—the fabric of real community;
the wooded areas of Gary, Indiana, where trees and animal life comforted me when my vision began to fail;
and Chicago’s suburbs, a Middle Ground of neighborhoods and families that feels like it could coexist with October Coast itself.
It’s named for October—the month when things in my life tend to shift, when transformation feels inevitable and welcome.This is a Middle Ground, a liminal space between what was and what’s becoming.
At night, Space Whales swim overhead—glowing skeletal forms moving through fog, carrying the weight of memory and passage.
In my art, I call this A Whale’s Onus: what we inherit, what we must carry forward, what changes us in the bearing of it.
October Coast Art didn’t emerge from imagination alone—it grew from necessity, from loss, from what I learned when the world went dark.
My Journey
A few months after catching COVID, cataracts took my vision suddenly.
For a year, I saw the world through yellow haze, unable to rely on detail or color. I kept making art—large murals in my basement, working by feel and memory as much as sight.
I made a GoFundMe featuring one of those murals, and a YouTube philanthropist donated $20,000 that paid for my cataract treatment and gave me my vision back. Later, a seizure took my driver’s license.
These aren’t footnotes—they’re part of why October Coast exists. When you lose something fundamental, you learn what’s essential.
I’m a father to three kids—a 10-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl, and a 5-month-old girl. My older two are artists themselves. Much of my work explores Black fatherhood, presence, and legacy—the act of showing up and creating despite systems designed to make it harder. A Whale’s Onus carries this: what I’ve survived, what I’m passing to my children, the weight of inheritance and the hope of transformation.
My Practice
I’m a portrait artist, live event painter, and fine artist working in watercolor, ink-and-bleach techniques, screen-printing, and analog photography.
SAIC-trained with a background in scientific illustration, I bring technical precision to work exploring Black fatherhood, identity, memory, and transformation. I paint weddings, create commissioned portraits, and develop personal projects that make mythology tangible.
What I’m building:
The Harbor—a physical creative space where artist residencies are built into old sailboats surrounded by prairie grasses and local flowers, where marketplace meets gathering space, where community happens.
And eventually, a digital platform where artists and creators navigate their own passages using the same nautical logic: every creator is a vessel, every conversation a dock.
How I work:
Clear pricing with round numbers. Direct communication. No gatekeeping or confusing artist-speak. Wedding paintings start at $500. Portrait commissions begin at $300. Fine art prints run $25-$150 depending on size. If you want to work together, commission a piece, or just understand what October Coast is about, I’ll tell you plainly.
Work With Me
Weddings & Events:
I paint your celebration as it happens—live event painting that captures energy, emotion, and the specific magic of your day. You get the original painting plus documentation of the process.
Portraits:
Whether from life or photographs, I work in watercolor, ink, or mixed media to create portraits that hold more than likeness—they hold presence. Individual portraits, family groups, memorial pieces.
Fine Art & Prints:
Original works exploring the October Coast mythology, Black fatherhood and identity, and the landscapes between memory and imagination. Limited edition screenprints and archival prints available.
Custom & Collaborative Projects:
Murals, installation work, illustrated projects. Let’s talk about what you’re imagining.
The harbor is open. The grasses are waving. The moon is up.
The October Coast lay before you.
What are you looking for?
