On the easel...

[Steve D]

Someone should've told Fred Clarke that if he'd just back up further away from the wall, he wouldn't have had to choke up so much on the bat!



Steve

[YankeeFan]

Beautiful works Graig. It's hard to take my eyes off of them. I especially like the WaJo and Musial, but several others are tied for second place.

In all of your works, the attention to and recreation of the details is nothing short of amazing. Like the sweater on Chief Bender...the wrinkles in the Elephant, the "fuzziness" of the fabric, and the way the light bounces off the sweater in different ways. Awesome.

Congratulations on the most recent addition to your family. Seems like the kids both exhaust and inspire you!

[GKreindler]

Thanks again for all the kind words, everybody!

Jack, those details are the kind of things that make the image for me. It just becomes so important for the viewer to feel that cold air, and for the sweater to feel like a sweater. That stuff also happens to drive me pretty bonkers, but ya know, there are worse things to be obsessed over, right?

Mark, the image is from Ruth's first spring training (1915) in Hot Springs, AR - I think the field was known as Majestic Park? Pretty spartan for sure, but it feels like most stuff was back then. But yeah, the image is from the client's own RPPC.

And regarding the ballpark depicted in the Clarke image, you're actually right: they ARE the same. It's the Polo Grounds in 1902, a time in which the walls to the stands were a lot higher than they were when Cobby had that photo taken of him by Bain. The reason Cobby was at the Polo Grounds was because the Yankees were playing there at the time - they left Hilltop in 1913 and stayed there until the new ballpark opened in '23. So I guess the ballpark was considered to be an American and National League one (though I doubt that distinction made John McGraw happy).