The November 2014 raffle painting!

[GKreindler]

Hey all,

Been plugging away at this badboy a bit, and it's fair to say that we've moved into (and are moving out of) the second pass:



This is where I feel like these paintings start to really take some shape. Juicier paint is added to the canvas, all of which is going over some areas that are already covered, so they end up having more body and being noticeably less transparent. In other words, unlike the the last progress shot, in this one you're not really seeing much in the ways of that cool brownish tone seeping through the colors. Well, it does in some places, but overall, I feel like you start to feel that light.

I've put in a decent amount of work into Ruth's punim:



So things there are looking pretty sharp and resolved, though there's still some stuff that needs my attention. I've also started adding some glow to the edges on the shadows going across his face. That intense chroma makes the light really pop, something that will be more evident in the later stages of the painting.

One of my favorite parts of this painting is definitely going to be the red of the flag draped on top of the dugout. With all of that surrounding green, it makes for a wonderful contrast.

Anywho, as per usual, thanks for reading, and if you have any questions or comments, fire away!

Graig

[Scott Garner]

Graig,
That Babe is looking awesome!

[7nohitter]

Graig,

Incredible work, as always!

I'm wondering: Is there ever a piece/subject or an idea a client has that you have rejected, or have thought 'this just isn't going to work.'

Thanks,
Andrew

[vwtdi]

Really coming along nicely Graig, it's starting to pop!

[yanksfan09]

Gorgeous already...

[autocentral]

Amazing!

-Nick

[GKreindler]

Thanks so much, everybody! I'm glad that you feel it's coming along.

Andrew, for the most part, I feel like when it comes to baseball paintings, I'm down for most ideas. I remember that when I first started, I only wanted to do large, sprawling panoramics and never smaller portraits. Eventually, I found myself liking the smaller portraits, but not so much those taken in a studio. My thoughts have changed on those over the past few years too, thankfully.

Really, the only thing I really don't enjoy doing (and more often than not say 'no' to) are those that I call 'montages'. I know the term's really meant for film, but I thought it kinda fit with a certain style of artwork, too. I'm really referring to a kind of painting that might have a large portrait on it with a few action images in the background, and doesn't necessarily depict an actual scene. It's not that I don't like those who make art like that, and I've definitely seen some incredible pieces done in that kind of picture-making style, it's just not really the kind of stuff that I want to paint. I'm a lot more interested in capturing a moment than.

I'm also not crazy about adding a client's family members (or the client him/herself) into a painting. I've done it a couple of times when it hasn't been super intrusive, and those paintings have ended up working well. However, there were a couple of commissions I did many years ago where the buyer was dead-set on seeing himself depicted in each one, and much more-so in a way that was pretty obvious. Neither of the two ended up being paintings that I was proud of because of that fact. I definitely understand what the appeal was, but in the end, again, it just wasn't the kind of stuff that I wanted to paint.

And of course, I don't say any of this stuff maliciously, as I'm always grateful that people even want to pay me to do something I love to do, but in the end, I think it's more satisfying to my soul to follow my own artistic inclinations, and to be honest, when I'm able to do so, I feel like the client always gets a better painting.

Graig