On the easel...

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by GKreindler

Thank you so much, Jerry!

Each piece really varies in time-spent. For the most part, the smaller portraits (9" x 12"s to 16" x 20"s) take the least amount of time - about 2-3 weeks. It's the larger paintings that require a lot of planning out and research that really do me in. Those can take anywhere from a month to two or three.

I guess it just all depends on the size, the research required for the painting, and the complexity of the image itself.

Thanks for sharing Graig. I would think the research would be fun ... although as an artist I can see where you would want to finally get to the easel :-) I was curious about the time it takes to render a complete painting because my daughter has shown some skill in many of the arts, although oil and water color painting is not one she has spent much time with. She does sketch a good bit. She sketched a Chipper Jones and Audrey Hepburn for me for Fathers day a couple years ago :-) She also has a great photography eye. Anyway ... I was going to show her some of your excellent paintings (and the original photo's) so she could see some of your fine work. Again ...thanks for sharing!

[GKreindler]

My pleasure, Gerry! I'd love to see her work.

It really does all start with sketching. It took forever for me to try painting. I mean, I had absolutely no confidence. When I picked up a brush, it was odd to me, like it didn't feel the same way as a pencil. It took months and months just to get over THAT. Both oil and watercolors are VERY tough mediums, so they take a lot of practice. I'd say that if she's interested in trying either one, she should just buy some colors and play. It's important to figure out how the medium handles, what you can do with it, and how it reacts to whatever surface you're working on. It's not even remotely important to make a beautiful, finished piece. That will come! I've definitely made a ton of crappy stuff in my lifetime, but the fun of it was found in the whole journey.

Graig

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by GKreindler

My pleasure, Gerry! I'd love to see her work.

It really does all start with sketching. It took forever for me to try painting. I mean, I had absolutely no confidence. When I picked up a brush, it was odd to me, like it didn't feel the same way as a pencil. It took months and months just to get over THAT. Both oil and watercolors are VERY tough mediums, so they take a lot of practice. I'd say that if she's interested in trying either one, she should just buy some colors and play. It's important to figure out how the medium handles, what you can do with it, and how it reacts to whatever surface you're working on. It's not even remotely important to make a beautiful, finished piece. That will come! I've definitely made a ton of crappy stuff in my lifetime, but the fun of it was found in the whole journey.

Graig

Thanks for the tips Graig. I'll definitely pass them on. I'll scan a couple of her sketches as soon as I can. Thanks!

[GKreindler]

Hey guys,

So, the time has come. I've wanted to show this for some time now, and really only decided to do so now because it's officially done. I haven't had it professionally photographed yet, but will do so next week. But for whatever reason, I just felt like I had to share the finished image with you guys first.

It was commissioned by a fellow Net54er and I must say, it was perhaps the most challenging image I've ever had to deal with. That notion didn't necessarily have much to do with the technical aspects of doing the actual painting, but mainly because it's just a friggin' RAW image.

So, I give you an iPhone shot of Kankol:



My client is a big fan of Negro League baseball, and always had a fascination with the Zulu Cannibals - this image in particular. I really was (and still am a little) hesitant to post the image to the Internet and onto my social media pages, as I know it's not necessarily something easy to digest. I would imagine that on a place like Facebook, I'll probably even get accused of being a racist and perhaps lose some fans. But in the end, I feel like it's something that needs to be out there. When I took the commission on, I knew that it was gonna be something special. Whether it was being special in a good or bad way, I didn't know, but I had to paint it.

Thankfully, he seems to really like it, and pretty much summed up his reasoning for choosing the image in a previous email. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing some of his words:

"That look in his eyes sums up so much of what the reality was in the pre-integration era. It wasn't all Bingo Long's Traveling All-Stars and shadowball and clowning. There was also this.

You are helping to bring that reality into focus. It's ugly and shameful and largely unknown, even to baseball historians, in it's raw and true starkness. But it happened. And it's part of baseball history."

I hope he's right. Tough subject matter or not, my goal was to make it as beautiful of a painting as possible. And in the end, I have to remember that I've always wanted to be the type of 'visual historian' who just reports the news, rather than comments on it. My client's definitely right, it happened, and it is part of baseball history.

Anywho, I would really love any of your comments on this, be it good or bad. Maybe I just need a pep talk to convince me that I really have to post it on Facebook and the like. So in that regard, advice is also most welcome.

Either way, as per usual, thanks for looking and listening.

Graig

[LEHR]

Wow! That is very cool Graig! Definitely one of a kind!

[Lordstan]

Dude,
That is awesome!!!!!!!
Show it off everywhere is my opinion.
I think you need to worry less about what "people" will say. There will always be people who will find fault. Will someone see it as racist? Probably, but that doesn't make it so. You are documenting a historical fact with as much realism as possible, not commenting on it. You didn't keep them out of MLB for all those years. You didn't pay them to dress up like this. By painting this you are not saying..."Hey. Let's go back to slavery and oppression." It would be like blaming Walter Cronkite for describing and reporting the Vietnam War.
For the greater understanding, I do think wherever you post it, a story and link, describing the background of the Zulu Cannibal Giants, is needed to educate those who are not familiar with them. This should also help minimize any misunderstandings about it's intent.

Keep up the good work.

How about an update on the 27 Yanks? Pretty Please!

Mark

[howard38]

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