Wow. Simply Gorgeous Greg. If I ever hit the lottery, I'd own one of these. Ol Pete jumps right out of the painting at you.:)

I don't know if I'm more impressed with the netting or that skinny rod managing to hold up those two.

Howard, I thought the same exact thing. That rod must be made out of the strongest material on earth.

I'm just about finished with this guy, one of the coolest images ever, as far as I'm concerned. As it is, Addie Joss was not necessarily an attractive fella by conventional standards. At the time the photograph was taken, I think he had less than a year of life left in him. Though, with his death being so sudden, I still don't really understand why he looks the way he does (does writing that make me an awful person?).

But I couldn't deny the beauty in this image. The possibilities with the play of light were endless, especially as it related to the wrinkles near his eyes, and the great texture in his sweater. And those teeth!!! And the hair!!

Seriously, this one was so much fun. I can't wait to get it photographed properly.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psc4b3b1d2.jpg

Hope y'all dig it!

Graig

That's putting it mildly! Definitely an interesting image to look at, even if Joss himself isn't easy on the peepers! I love how there is almost as much texture in his face as in his sweater :D I can definitely see how this one would be a blast for you to paint.

Another great one.

Thanks, guys!

Lance, it's amazing to think that at the time the original photograph was taken, he was about 30-years old. I guess being out in the sun every day with those short brims didn't really do anything good for your skin. Yowzas!

Graig

Dude is fuuuugly. Painting is beautiful.

Graig,
That Joss is simply amazing. I have become a bit of a art stalker on your web page. I have been passing my iPad around to anyone who will look showing off your work.
I have a few questions though if you don't mind me asking or my ignorance. Do you have multiple pieces you're working on at once or do you just buckle down and do one at a time? Also, how many hours does it take you to finish an average, and I only say that referring to the work load not the ability, piece? Finally, how many hours a day/ week are you working on your pieces?
My wife doesn't care much about my collection but does ask if there is anything new you have posted.
With all awe and respect thank you for continuing this amazing thread,
Drew

Hey Drew,

Thanks so much for such kind words. Certainly, feel free to stalk away, or show stuff to your friends. I very much appreciate you doing so.

And why would your questions be ignorant? I'm happy to answer anything you want to ask. Well, anything pertaining to the paintings, maybe not so much where you can get a good recipe for kasha varnishkes (I'm still looking).

Typically, I'm working on a lot of pieces at once. I can spend a few days working on one specifically, but always for an hour or so each day, I'll try to get stuff done on other paintings. And even then, after a few days, I just need a break from the main thing I'm focusing on, so I'll make the appropriate switch. And that might be something that's completely different too, like from an action panoramic to a simple portrait. I just like to have a lot of things in the works, whether its commissioned stuff or for the inventory.

When it comes to how long each piece takes, it all depends on the subject matter and the size. For instance, a 16" x 20" portrait is one of my favorite sizes and subjects to work on. I find that that particular size lends itself so nicely to head and shoulder shots, and I can get into as much detail as I want to. And because they're not usually "game situation specific", they're also somewhat quick to do. I'd say that each one of those takes anywhere between 25-35 hours each. Like the Joss portrait would be closer to the 35 hour mark because of the minutia in his face and the stuff in his sweater. But the Grover Cleveland above it is closer to 25 hours, as most of the little stuff is limited to his face.

The larger paintings usually will take at least double that. They require a lot more research into what's exactly going on in the picture plain. That means that there's a lot more legwork just going into those initial stages, whether it applies to finding out the color of a particular ballpark billboard, or finding out whether it was cold and rainy on the depicted day. The Lou Gehrig panoramic I did last year, for instance, took well over 200 hours. That thing was basically 4 feet by seven feet, had multiple figures, crowds, ballpark features, microphones, pinstripes and tons of other things to make it a slow-going.

Each day, the amount of time I put into actual painting varies. Some of those days, I'm spending 8 hours doing nothing but; others, maybe only 1 or 2 hours. But overall, I'm still working about 8-10 hours each day at the very least. A lot of that time goes to research, reading, prepping, sketching, and even just thinking. To be honest, there really isn't much time in any given day when I can take my brain off of work. It's both a nice thing and a bad thing, as it's something that I'm super passionate about, but sometimes, even I need break. There's that old saying that, "if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life." I think for me, it's half like that, and half like I'm a dog pulling a sled inn the snow all day. It really is hard work. Most nights, I feel like I've been wrestling with a bear.

All in all, it may sound corny, but I still really feel super lucky and incredibly thankful that I'm able to do something for a living that I love, and that others seem to enjoy it.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Thanks again,

Graig

Graig,
We are are also super lucky that we can benefit from both watching you do what you love and many of us benefit from owning a piece of what you love to do.
I don't think it's an understatement to say we are all very thankful you are here with us.
Keep on Paintin'

Best,
Mark