Kawika - Thanks SO much for those compliments. Coming from someone who was actually at Yankee Stadium in those glory years and actually saw these things in living color, it's really heart-warming to hear that I got it right. Those photos that you sent are wonderful as well, and I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I actually have all of them in my files, but man, one has to marvel at the sheer artistry of these ballparks. The Polo Grounds from the 1910s is just so majestic. Though I'm a life-long Yankee fan and this might be blasphemous, I think I'd take that old Polo Grounds frieze over the one in old Yankee Stadium (don't kill me).
I feel like the hardest thing for me to do is to bring these black & white memories into the color realm, especially since I'm so far removed from that era of baseball (I'm only 29 years old). I try my best not to make Ted Turner colorized versions of the images, but to actually instill the intangible things to the paintings: the quality of light, temperature, wind conditions, crowd noise, cigar smoke, etc. I guess it's more about making them true to life, rather than photographic. Hopefully it's something I'll be able to get perfect before I leave this earth.
Jay Wolt - Looking at these images of bleachers filled with people on white shirts or straw hats really adds to that seascape feeling. Sometimes I have to stop working just to keep myself from getting nauseous. But really, thanks for the compliment!
drc - Thank you for the nice comments. I really agree with you about those advertisements - I feel like they add so much color to those old fields, and really gives them a sense of place in time. I find it unlikely that one would be able to find five Gem razors for 25 cents these days...
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