On the easel...

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Craig- Any thoughts of doing a book like the two Jurinko books that have come out? I would jump at the chance!

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Craig- Any thoughts of doing a book like the two Jurinko books that have come out? I would jump at the chance!

Who is Jurinko? Who is Craig?

[batsballsbases]

Ben,
I believe its like the 1981 fleer Craig Nettles (C) a mis print! But a corrected version was put out and it turned into Graig! Now as for Jurinko now thats a different story!

[Lordstan]

Graig,
That Van Haltren is another in a long line of very special paintings.
My knowledge of the times is such that believe life was pretty hard for people back then. Your painting really shows the wear and tear on his 37yo face. I wonder if he looked this good in real life.
The mustache and jersey again really show remarkable realism.
Fantastic.
Mark

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Graig- Please excuse the "C" not first typo and won't be my last.

The books I mentioned featured Andy Jurinko's paintings. The first came out a few years ago SOUL OF THE GAME featuring his paintings of American League players of the 1950s. A second book just came out this summer GOLDEN BOYS featuring his National League paintings of the same era.

Sadly I believe Mr. Jurinko passed in 2011.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

Ben,
I believe its like the 1981 fleer Craig Nettles (C) a mis print! But a corrected version was put out and it turned into Graig! Now as for Jurinko now thats a different story!

HAHAH.. nice.

[martindl]

Thanks for the new photos Graig.

GVH is fantastic. Your brother is a lucky man. I will up Jay's offer to a toaster, a blender, as well as a set of china.

To me, the difference between a good fine artist and a not so good one is the formers' ability to capture weight. The weight in your GVH is spot on. Everything hangs like it should, face included. It's beautiful.

The painting is so true to the photo, so I can understand why you wouldn't, but did you ever have any thoughts about not painting in the stanchion at his left?

[GKreindler]

Todd, again, thank you so much for diving into this. Everything you have mentioned sounds pretty legit. I did read that he indeed made it to LA in the off-season for exhibition games (making $500 a day, plus expenses), as well as to play golf and appear in a few movies that never saw the light of day. I guess I'm gonna have to do a bit more research into his exhibition stuff, though the information can be sparse with casual searching sometimes. Maybe contacting the Boston Public Library would be the way to go. Either way, thank you so much for helping out!

martindl, I would break that china set in five seconds flat - I'm as graceful as a rock. But seriously, thank you very much for your compliments on GVH! I'm thrilled that you think I captured his weight. It's something that I strive for in addition to all of the stuff about light. Making these things have three-dimensionality is always a challenge on a two-dimensional surface.

Regarding the stanchion, you mean the one on the left of the canvas? I tried to plan the picture so that the pole didn't appear to hug the side of the piece, mainly because it can be a bit disorienting when you have two parallel lines so close to one another, especially vertical ones - they can create a lot of tension. But, it was still important for me to make a suggestion of it with the diagonal top. By leaving it in, I thought it created a nice echo to the gesture of GVH's collar. Also, having that little suggestion makes the ballpark 'real' to me - in other words, now I can say that the painting depicts GVH at the West Side Park in 1903, rather than having it at a more random place. In the end, it can certainly help me build a narrative around the painting whenever I can get it up on my website (which is woefully out of date). And looking at it that way, I guess you're right, I'm really just trying to stay accurate to what's there - and sometimes, that makes editing a bit tougher.

...or, did you mean the little window on the right of the canvas?

[martindl]

Hey Graig,
For an English guy you'd think my English would be better. I meant the stanchion to the right of his head (as we look at it). The one that blends with his cheek/moustache.

Again, it's beautiful. The character and determination in the pose is fantastic.