It's looking great Greg!

I'm always amazed how much impact highlighting and shadowing add to the overall picture.

Thanks,
Raymond

Thanks a lot, Ben and Raymond! I'll keep 'em coming, and hopefully it'll blossom into something awesome.

Very cool! Thanks Graig!

Great seeing in progress, Graig. The stillness of the suspended bat contrasted with the celebrations behind it make for exciting tension and framing of the bat. Sweet looking piece!

Just wondering how the painting is coming???

Really curious about that too! :)

Hey Graig,

A little off topic from this post but, you might want to save a couple of these uniform pics in your files for future reference in case you ever need color info for the 1909 Pirates. I never would have guessed that these were their uniform colors (with some possible fading).

Go to the top of this thread:http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...99#post1570399

Rob M.

Hey all,

So, I'm alive. Officially. For now.

I'm sorry it's taken me a bit to respond to this thing. With the National and a lot of stuff around the house, it's been incredibly hard to get much of anything on the easel taken care of.

With that in mind, I'm starting to get back into Jose, even if it's just in spurts. It seems like right now, that's all my year old will allow.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...pshel3xug2.jpg

As you can probably see, outside of the pants, there hasn't been much that I've done. Right now, I'm starting to get used to the fact that I'm going to be taking smaller frequent sips of painting, rather than big full gulps - which is what I was very much used to before Bennett came along.

Man, being a parent is hard.

Anywho, just know that it's all happening, even if it's slow-going right now. I'll try to keep everyone updated with comings and goings as they happen (and become noticeable).

Stay tuned, and please don't hate me.

Graig

PS: Rob, that is TOP NOTCH. I've always wondered if I'd ever see one of those Pirates coats in real life. It's super nice to finally do so.

Looking good Graig! Now if JB could stay healthy! Just off the DL from a turf toe incident and last night he sprains his knee tripping on the turf. Right field at Rogers Centre is a dangerous place!

Looking awesome Graig. The thing I love the most about your paintings is the amazing way you get facial expressions perfect. It is why I like your Studies the best.

I am not going to speak for, Chris and tell you to take your time, but enjoy your child now while he is young!
My son turned 15 this past June and in all honesty it feels more like 15 months has passed, not 15 yrs!:eek:

Ditto!
 

What "Irv" said. Enjoy the time with your son Graig! I've had the summer at home with my daughter and it has been great....a different challenge from the corporate gig for sure, and more memorable and rewarding. :)

How's about an update?

This is cool!
 

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...psz6aymjm1.jpg

A Bautista bat flip corn maze!

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/08/31/...bpr=5768707450

Bautista
 

that IS very cool!

crop circles? :D

DS

Hey all,

Sorry for the delayed response.

Just as a short note, the madness continues into tonight:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...psyp5fyktp.jpg

I'm hoping to post more over the next few days when the changes are a bit more evident. But as of now, I've been picking away at the crowd and trying to tighten up Jose in some areas. Admittedly, it's slow-going at the moment with some other life stuff going on. However, next week should see a change for the better, methinks.

Thanks for being so patient, everyone. It's much appreciated.

G

Looking good, Graig!

Love it! Thanks Graig!

...
 

wow, Graig ...

your stuff really sucks :D

love/big fan of your talents/paintings...

looking forward to seeing the finished product, and appreciate
your in-progress updates.

DS

Graig,
It is starting to come to life. Great job Craig.

Great T-Shirt Design:


http://www.ebay.com/itm/142042409987...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Graig....looking great so far! Looking forward to the final product.

Have you thought of doing a speed lapse painting video for some of your artwork? Pretty sure you'd generate millions of views per video if you posted on YouTube.

Great shirt! :)

If they put a Jays logo on it, the Rogers Center would be a sea of those!

Edit: Reads, "Does not ship to Canada" but if you scroll down, the seller offer International shipping?

Not the first time I have seen that but the seller should double check/change his listing if he hopes to sell many.

Greg - I believe we are ready for another update (9/1 was last)


Thanks

I can really get used to this Postseason baseball thing!!

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...psmmogxntc.jpg

Bring on the Rangers!!

Someone need to do a painting of that beer can flying out of the stands.

The only attention that jerk should get is a mug shot, not a painting.


..

Now THAT'S funny! :D

Going to be quite the series with lots of fireworks me thinks!;)


It's embarrassing being a CDN and having to witness that!

I never heard/seen if they caught the a**hole, but hopefully they did and promptly threw the jerk out! Totally uncalled for. :mad:

Being there last night, I can tell you the entire stadium was not pleased with the actions of one idiot. Had there been any repercussions, this would have likely been a Steve Bartman-esque incident.

No doubt!

I heard the perp wasn't caught?

Being a short series, I can't see anything happening unless some scrub reliever is told to throw at someone in a blowout.

Steve Bartman did nothing illegal, he reached for a foul ball like most any fan would. In photo's it can be seen that others did as well

Embarrasing for my home town.

Looks like this guy has done some video forensics. It was GASP! A woman! And she may have thrown another can when Eddie hit the game winning HR too.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tr8oa_syVgI

I'm actually not surprised by that, sadly. Seems more and more this day and age are lacking lady like values. :(

Story evolving. May be a man after all.

http://globalnews.ca/news/2985885/po...lue-jays-game/

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...psuv0flccm.png

They've identified the guy as a worker for a local media company - its basically been a witch hunt here for the past 24 hours.

Glad they are still pursuing it and not letting it go! Male or Female, someone needs some charges brought against them.

not to mention he wasted a perfectly good beer!

I'm really looking forward to the ALDS series of Toronto vs Texas. I suspect once the series is almost over but the outcome is certain the beanings will begin!

Those Toronto fans are turning ugly. They need more French influence, like those of Quebec. Over there they would have simply leaned over the wall and yelled at the players. Something to the effect of: "Your mother is a hampster, and your father smells of old elderberries! I Fart In your general direction"


Edited to add: For the Monty Python fans....otherwise you might think I'm a little nuts.

BIG win in game one for the Blue Birds! Bautista should silence the Texas critics with a 2-4, 4 RBI game. :)

"How do you know she is a witch?" "She looks like one!"

If Bautista had done another bat flip after his homer in the third it might have started World War Three.

Clinch on Sunday?
 

I couldn't have imagined the Jays being up 2-0 when leaving Texas! With our "ace" Sanchez on the bump on Sunday....dare I dream of a sweep?

Here's hoping!! :D

I am not sure about the NL, but I'd currently say some upsets are in the making in the AL, although there are still some games remaining, it is not looking good for the favorites.

Can't believe Price. Poor guy cannot win a post season game no matter what he does!
I truly believe, besides the money, this is a big reason why the Jays did not sign him.

SWEEP!!!

Heads up base running! Way to go Donaldson and the Jays! :D

Exciting game! Even sweeter that it was Odor with the bad throw from second.

Great sign at Rogers Centre - "Rather be punched out in May than Knocked Out in October"

Congrats BaseballTourist. Been a Rangers fan my whole life, absolutely despise Bautista, severely irked right now, but I wanted to come here and say congrats on the win. Hope your painting comes out great.

Mike

Thanks Mike!

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy! :D

That was an awesome sign! Kudos to whoever thought that one up!

http://i1166.photobucket.com/albums/...psj6cb7fqn.jpg

Awesome!

Updates:

- they charged the alleged beer can thrower and he lost (or left) his job as a sports copy editor for a media company

-my Jays are in a tough 0-3 hold and can't seem to hit anyone on the Cleveland roster

-Bautista hasn't looked good at the plate and not much better afield. If they don't pull it together and find a new gear to two it could all end abruptly tomorrow afternoon - the Jays season and JB's (and possibly EE's) tenure with Toronto. Although, I think they should fill a bag o' loot up to try and entice EE back into the fold.

I like to help Canadians when I can.....

I couldn't agree more, one of my, if not my favorite players!

Sorry about you luck, Moe. I think today is a sign they are going to do the near impossible and come back and win this series!
It was great to see them finally wake up, and my gut tells me they are going to build on this win big time! :D

Indians in 6

You're dreaming.

The only time they could win it all is by buying it. They had the highest payroll in baseball in 1992, and transformed almost half of their team in '93 (and bought that one too). Then, after watching the Yankees and the Red Sox win in the same manner, Toronto wailed on with a Trump-like whine for years about the unfairness of it all because they couldn't (or wouldn't) compete.

They are incapable of building a winner from within, but capable of whining about anything that doesn't go their way.

Yeah, nobody has ever bought a championship before or after 1992/1993 right? I consider MLB games like going to the movies - it's entertainment for me. I would rather watch an Oscar worthy movie than a clunker. Saying that, the odd Indy movie can be quite enjoyable.

BTW, since we are team-bashing, I noticed your handle - the Stampeders and the entire CFL product is like watching a high school theatre performance - they try hard to entertain but the production is never making it to off, off Broadway.

MY personal opinion....
 

I guess you don't follow baseball much, Stampsfan, but just enjoy bashing the Jays?
I won't get into with you, but you best pay better attention to other ball clubs if you think the Jays just bought their championships.

Congrats to Cleveland, BTW. Great win for you guys.

Good Luck in the World Series. :)

I'm guessing Graig has really got immersed in parenthood, at least I hope that's all it is. We haven't heard from him in quite a while. Hope he's enjoying the journey cuz those little ones grow up fast.

Looking forward to an update!

Rob M

Exactly right. Graig emailed me today with an update - life with a little one, as any parent can attest to, can certainly shift your schedule around.

Uhh... if you actually read what I said, I never said "nobody has ever bought a championship before or after 1992/1993". What I said is nobody else whines about it like Toronto fans and management after their team did exactly that.

Not sure I understand your strong, unrelated response, and thinking perhaps I should apologize for enjoying Canadian football?

Therefore, full disclosure here... I also enjoy the NFL, collecting vintage comic books and non-sports cards, playing golf (as a single digit handicap), playing semi-competitive hockey (in my mid-fifties), spending time with my grown children, and am a partner in a company that educates children, teens, and adults in preventing abuse, sexual assaults, bullying, and avoiding being a victim of crime. Feel free to make fun of any of these other passions I have, if that makes you feel any better.


And Dale, see the first couple of sentences above regarding "if you think the Jays just bought their championships". Check your baseball history... they did.

So perhaps instead of spending months and months asking everyone on this board the same question, post after post "What do you think the cards my dad gave me will grade at?", do a couple of things:

1) Baseball research
2) Put us all out of our misery and get them graded, already. It's not that difficult.

What will happen first, Bautista signs with a new team or this painting gets finished?

I'm sure the painting will be great when it's done.

As for the ALCS, glad the Indians won but the Jays had a good season and their fans should be proud.

Hi! I appologize if I offended. I took this to PM (just sent) and will keep my CFL etc bashing to that method of communication.

So you chose to post your opinions about the Jay's, their fans and their organization, in a Bautista painting thread, that a fellow CDN was lucky enough to win, to tell us what you do and how great you are? :confused:

Don't worry, I won't try and knock you off your narcissistic soap box, Stampfans, but that takes real class! :rolleyes:

Can Graig paint boots on Jose?

Greetings from the dead, everyone!

Hope the turn of the year has been a good one for y'all, be it with family, health, collections or any combination thereof.

I have to apologize for the dead halt that this thread has come to these past few of months. Actually, I feel like it's been more than a few. Things on a personal and professional level have been a bit on the crazy side. with the former, it's just still been really tough adjusting to my now 17-month old (!!!), who I'm with for the most part of everyday. Things had started to get a bit better by the last few months of 2016 with my wife and I being able to put him in daycare for about 20 hours a week, as well as various family members being able to watch him every now and again. So, that did free up some time for painting.

However, I also had some projects I had been neglecting for a long while which absolutely needed to be completed, and that pretty much ate up the last four months or so of the prior year (I'm hoping that I can post that stuff on the regular easel thread soon, as I think the work is really strong). For what it's worth, all of this stuff I have been updating Chris about, and he's been really great with his patience and understanding, something I can't thank him enough for.

So, now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things with Jose, and this thread certainly needed an update.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...sdyriu2cm.jpeg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...sklyqxk9r.jpeg

Since the last time I posted, I'd been picking away at a lot of things. The background being the main thing, as there was just a lot of canvas to cover. Though the brownish tonal wash was already on the surface, it was important to start putting in general value and color relationships so that the crowd would actually start looking like a crowd, rather than just a bunch of shapes. It's one of those weird situations where even though that background plane is just a bunch of people with their arms and hands up, they need to sit properly in space. Sure, they're on top of each other and what-not, but they also need to look like they're reseeding - going back into the different rows of the stands.

I've also been working a bit on Jose himself, mostly on his head and upper body. It's been fun/murder trying to get to some of these little details, whether it's the writing on his batting gloves, the gleam on his helmet, or some of the subtle temperature shifts in his face and beard. But, I think it's all starting to come together there.

Also, you may notice that the piece is lit a bit differently from the last time I showed a photo of it. I did so because there are some spots on the canvas looking rather gray or matte - which is due to the nature of how some of these mixtures dry - and my normal fluorescent bulbs really accentuate that and make it tougher to shoot. As I work back into the piece (especially towards the end), the whole thing will be completely oiled out and have a uniform gloss and richness. So, those photographs will probably have a bit more 'oomph' to them.

Anywho, I hope y'all are diggin' what you're seeing. Again, I'm sorry it's been so long between updates, but I'm hoping to be back more regularly, and will hopefully get this done in the next month or so. As I inch closer, I'll be posting all of the updates that are fit to print.

If anyone has any questions, critiques, problems, whatever, feel free to fire away!

Thanks for reading, and also thanks for all of your patience!

Graig

Your work is simply amazing, it looks awesome!

Thanks so much, Ben! :)

You have this amazing talent to make a players face just pop. The rest of the painting looks great too but to me the faces are amazing. It is why I love your studies so much.

Thanks a lot, Ben. That's what those color studies are all about - those faces are the focal points, so they'll always pop the most.

Agreed! Now, if the Jays and Jose could agree on a one year deal!

Always love that you take time out for our Art 101 class. I just hope you don't ever burn out with that talent of yours.

Rob M

btw, you're past the toughest part of the child rearing (the physical part anyway). That is, until number two, three, etc. come along. Just don't forget to set the paintbrush down cuz you never get that time back.

Thanks a lot, Rob. I'm definitely spending more time with my little guy than I am painting, which is both good and bad. The bad is that I'm even more behind than I thought I would be, but the good is that, like you mentioned, I'll never be able to get this tie back - the bond and memories I'm forming with him are beyond cool.

Graig -

I love the one dude in the stands who's looking back at his friend with his mouth wide open!! Everyone else (except Bautista) is watching the ball! Awesome work as always!!

The action in the stands/back of the image while I expect is not easy to paint adds a lot to the painting for me. The guy in front with the white shirt and tie is a Jays TV broadcaster that I have met a few times. It would be cool to be able to pick yourself out in the background of a notable image.