Hey all,
Here's one for a rainy, albeit warm, Sunday:
Mickey Mantle, October 4, 1953, 22" x 38"
This painting was both a challenge and a blast. The depicted scene shows our boy Mantle hitting a home run off of Russ Meyer during Game 5 of the '53 World Series. When I first saw the original Mark Kauffman photo, I was instantly drawn in by that patch of light in front of him. Since the shadows cast by the Ebbets Field stands were creeping across the infield, that bit of light on the bottom right must have come from one of the sky holes on the top of the upper deck. Interestingly enough, it must have vanished right after Mantle started his trek out of the box, as it can't be seen in this video after the fact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jLqTK_hQI4
Either way, the possibilities of color in the painting were incredibly hard to pass up, what with the blue in Campy's hat and sleeves, the deep red and navy in the stands, and the warmth reflecting back into Mantle's front leg. Combine that with Mickey's bat being a shimmering beacon against the shadowed spectators, I felt like there was something really special happening in the photograph, which in turn I just needed to get out on canvas. Glad that this went to a good home, too.
Again, any comments, questions, and critiques are always welcome!!
Thanks again for reading.
Graig