Hey all,
Hope this message finds everyone doing well and stoked for Cleveland. I'm happy to say that I'll be there for a few days, which is a welcome break from life here in Brooklyn. In other words, I'm very much looking forward to the break. I won't be exhibiting, but am looking forward to seeing some friends, clients and fellow passionate folk.
Anywho, in addition to all of the color studies I've been doing for the Negro Leagues project, I've finished these few in the past month or so:
Doc Powers, 1902, 8" x 14"
Babe Ruth, May 23, 1926, 28" x 44"
Mickey Mantle, March 1951, 22" x 28"
The Powers painting actually was commissioned by his great granddaughter, and I was SUPER stoked to tackle it, especially because it was another Horner portrait (which I can't seem to pull myself away from). For those of you who don't know about Doc's untimely demise, it's worth a read, for sure. His injury happened during the opening game at Shibe Park in 1909, no less. Absolutely crazy.
The fella who commissioned the Ruth painting had been a fan of the image for quite some time, and had been threatening to have me paint it for years. I think the result was really strong too, especially with all of the subtle stuff going on in his jersey and face. Obviously, Ruth is never a dull person to paint, and having him in a sort of state of repose told an interesting story. In the end, the fella received the painting this past weekend, and he seemed pretty darn happy. Considering the other artwork he has in his collection, I take that as a strong compliment.
The Mantle painting was a rough one to get through. Obviously the image is pretty instantly recognizable from the Topps card, but it was important to make sure that it didn't look like that treasure. I've always found that set to be a bit too pastel-like and unrealistic, so I wanted to make sure the artwork was as close to real-life as possible. As a result, I've made a few color studies of the thing over the years, and it was only semi-recently that I "figured it out". The issue is that the photograph was taken with flash. So, you have that Phoenix sun shining down on Mickey, and then a cool flash bulb lighting him from below. That combination created some tough problems to sort out, as everything that as lit from the flash had to be less warm than the stuff being lit from the sun, and the photograph kind of exaggerates how bright those shadow planes get (especially in his face). I had to make sure that although he was being lit from two sources, one of them would win out. In this case, what was lit artificially stayed a bit deeper in value than I might have originally planned it to, making that part of it less obvious. As a result, I think his features (as well as those of the bat and jersey) really pop where they should, and at the same time, sit in the space well enough. This bad-boy is going out to another board member tomorrow, and hopefully he'll love it when it's in hand.
Anywho, enough babbling. Hope y'all enjoy these pieces. And as usual, if you have any questions, comments, problems or whatever, feel free to post or message me. Also, feel free to do the same if you want to meet up this week - I'll be at the IX Center Thursday morning through Sunday morning.
See you in Cleveland!
Graig