Hey all!
Hope the end of the summer has been treating y'all well. My kids are fully back in school, so I'm still adjusting to the new schedule and figuring out when I can paint, when I can go to the gym, and when I just sit on the couch and zone out for five minutes.
Things remain as busy as ever in the studio (thankfully), as I do my best to make a dent in the ol' backlog. Here's one of the latest efforts:
Babe Ruth, 1929, 40" x 36"
I've gotta be upfront here--I've *never* liked the '33 Goudey #181. I know it's iconic, and as a playing-days Babe, it's always been extra desirable. Heck, it's one of my earliest vintage card memories from those reprint books. Buuuuuuutttttt, I've just always hated the image. To me, he looks old, fat and tired. Very Jabba-esque. I guess the brown hat didn't help things, but I was already pretty down on it to begin with.
For whatever reason, when the original negative for the source image was discovered/offered up, I did a complete 180. Granted, I do still think he looks old and tired, but finally seeing him in context with everything else in the image helped a TON. I love seeing how there's hazy sunlight shining on him, something that's not even super evident until you notice the shadow of the bat on the rack. And then being able to see his teammates in the dugout, coupled with the way he's holding the bat, it just makes for something extra three-dimensional.
All of the aforementioned stuff proved to be a bit of a challenge to paint. The tendency (for me) is to try and push the values and temperature differences a little bit when I'm dealing with direct sunlight. But with this kind of sun, those differences had to be a lot more subtle. So there's less of a value separation, and fewer hard edges. The changes in temperature (especially in the face and the bat rack) are still there, but the jump between the warms and cools are less drastic. But with all that said, I think that Ruth and his cohorts really turn in space. And now I feel like I can look at that Goudey with less disgust.
If any of y'all have comments, critiques or questions, fire away! Hope ya dig it.
And as always, thanks for reading,
Graig