Hey all,
Hope this post finds everyone doing well and getting into the spring swing of things.
I've had some stuff completed over the past few months which I wanted to share with y'all. As well as some fun news.
First, the paintings:
Cy Young, 1902, 16" x 22"
George Halas, 1919, 12" x 18"
Lou Gehrig, March 24, 1924, 18" x 28"
Cal Ripken, 1981, 10" x 16"
The first image of Cy Young was a lot of fun to paint, especially since it was based off of another Horner cabinet. I've actually gotten in touch with a collector who's commissioning me to paint the rest of the Hall of Fame Horners that were used as T206s. I think he's hoping to have a show of them at some point, but I'm not completely sure about that. Either way, it's a very cool project to be a part of.
The second image was a big challenge. There aren't a whole lot of images of George Halas in baseball togs, so there wasn't much to work with there. But I was lucky enough to have access to a decent file from the holdings of the Library of Congress. In the original image, he's in his road Yankees uniform, which I had to change. Trying to research what the Saints club from 1919 wore was an absolute b!tch. I had a lot of help from the great Taylor Simons (THANKS, Taylor!!), but even then, it was tough to lock down the accurate visuals. The reason for the painting, well, it was commissioned by some folks who will be opening up a St. Paul Saints museum in MN this May. I don't have a ton of details about it, but I think I'll be in attendance for the event - which is a great honor!
Third, good ol' Gehrig. And the image from his rookie Exhibit card, no less. Another really tough one to complete, especially when I was trying to find proper visual information for the ballpark he's in here - Heinemann Park in New Orleans. It's amazing that though the Yankees had spring training there for a short stint in the 1920s, and the Pelicans called it their home for over forty years, it was super hard to dig up quality photos of the place. Regardless, I feel like I was able to make it fly, and if nothing else, breathe some new life into an otherwise damp and dank card. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.
And last, we've got Mr. Ripken. Ever since seeing this image on a crappy photo on eBay, I've been in love with it. Thankfully, the fella who commissioned it gave me carte blanche, so I was free to pick an image of the man that moved me. I didn't even think twice before I picked this one. Rhett Yeakley and Bill Haelig were the paragons in this instance, hooking me up with quality scans of their originals prints, which were MUCH better than what was available on eBay. Something about the light in this one, with Cal being in shadow and the beautiful intense sky behind him. A fun contrast between light and dark, warm and cool stuff. Having that hair and the Rochester uniform were nice bonuses.
Now, regarding some fun news, some of you might have noticed on social media that I've finally broken into the official baseball card world. Or, my art has. I've been commissioned by Topps to create twenty paintings for their current 150 Years of Baseball set, which is available on their website.
The set itself is a part of their new(ish) print on demand model, which they've been using on the Topps Now and Living Set cards. Basically, however many cards are purchased, that's how many they'll print, and after a certain timeline, they won't be available anymore. For the 150 Years of Baseball set, three cards are released each Tuesday, all of which are available only for a week.
My first card, seen below, came out on 4/16:
https://www.topps.com/topps-150-year...s-ty-cobb.html
It'll be available for only another day or so. They're slated to release a new card with one of my paintings every two weeks, with the next subject, Lou Gehrig, coming out on 4/30. After that, I'll be painting Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams, Duke Snider, Bob Feller and Warren Sphan. There have also been whispers of depicting a modern player or two, with Griffey Jr. specifically mentioned.
So, in addition to trying to make progress on commissioned work from a while back, as well as the Negro and Cuban Leagues project, I've got this beast to try and slay. All with my kids being in daycare for 15 hours a week. I shouldn't complain though, I'm BEYOOONNNDD lucky to have a 'problem' like this. And I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO grateful that so many of you have had confidence in me, as well as patience. Seriously, I can't even articulate how thankful I am for all of it.
Anywho, hope you all enjoyed the paintings, and if you're into my work and cardboard, these issues from Topps will be fun to get a hold of, too. At least, I hope. If any of y'all have any questions, critiques, problems or general comments, feel free to share!
Thanks again!
Graig