I have a client who has a unique 1996 Ferrari 275 GTS, V12 and he wanted a painting of the car. So I painted the Ferrari. As he had two homes he couldn’t decide which home the painting should be hung. Not to let an opportunity pass me by I suggested I just paint another one for the other home. We figured out what sizes and what angle would fit best in each location and this photo is a result of the work. He was very pleased - as I was for the commission.
One of the great activities of the last 70 years is skateboarding. And what better day than to relive the past is to dig out the skateboard buried in the basement or garage and head out to a nice concrete spot and celebrate Go Skateboard Day.
I did some skateboarding when I was in my teens and early twenties. Much later, after I was first married we had moved into our first home. It was in my old neighborhood so some of the neighbors knew me. But I was older now, married and settled down with a small child of my own. One day there was a knock at the front door. A kid about twelve from the group spoke up and asked, “Can John come out and play?” They wanted me to come out and skateboard with them. My wife turned to me and said, “Get your skateboard but be home by dark”.
And here is a piece of skateboarder art that I did a few years ago. I live in a town of both surfers and skateboarders. Only a few blocks from me is a promenade along where a couple of good surfing spots are located. So the surfers gather in the parking lot and in between trips to the water some will break out their skateboards. Others are just skaters coming down to watch the surfers and skate. In the case of this skateboarder, she was standing on the promenade looking out at the surf at Ventura Point in Ventura, Ca.
The sports art is of cricket players created by a 15 year old art student at Kingsley Academy, West London.
Every now and again one gets an opportunity to have a nice exchange with someone else on LinkedIn. (You can read the chat thread below the sports art.) In this case it was with a teacher, Gillian Turner, art subject lead at Kingsley Academy. The academy is located in Hounslow, a large suburban town in West London. My studio is in Ventura, Ca. and we have never met
What baseball play do you think this left-handed catcher would like to be involved with? A batter in the right side of the batter’s box and a runner trying to go from second to third base. That’s this left-handed catcher's wheel-house. That’s the pocket to be sitting in. He doesn’t even have to come out of his squatting stance behind the plate to throw the guy out - a bazooka shot straight down the left foul line And after this catcher throws out that base runner at third he is going to scowl at the runner, looking through his catcher's mask as if that guy had some nerve just to take a big lead off of second. base.
Just think, when that catcher was a kid trying out the position as a left hander the coach probably looked over at him behind home plate and yelled out a string of four letter words that meant, “Get out of there. You want to play, get on first.” Because in those days left-handers did not play catcher. You get the eerie feeling that if Thomas Wolfe was the coach he would have told him, “You can never play home.” The only way a left-hander can get there on his own is by hitting a home run - unless he steals i - which means,. left-handed catchers are as rare as uncooked meat.
The baseball painting of the catcher created in a pop art style is 54” by 71” acrylic on unstretched canvas. There is no stretcher bars or frame. It hangs like a banner or tapestry.
The dunk shot is a good reason we go to basketball games. It’s the same reason some go to the ballet. We want to see the basketball player fly. We are not as much interested in seeing the ground game with a guy dribble a ball down the court. What we want to see the spectacular leaps and bounds, the jumps (Superman flying, the sun coming up over the horizon), the amazing ability to defy gravity. That’s what we want to see - the dunk shot.
And we want to see it done with a basketball in the basketball player’s hands. We love “the air game” with the basketball grasped in the hand of a player reaching above the rim for the dunk.
We want to see the basketball player takeoff from the baseline and the long soaring outreach of the hand with a grip on the ball and to hear the swish of the net. That is what we want to see.
And in this basketball painting of a hand about to dunk a basketball I am trying to capture that feeling of what it is like to watch a high flying bomber about to smash a basketball through the net.
The basketball art is 60” by 84” acrylic on unstretched canvas. This means there are no stretcher bars or frame. It is meant to hang like a tapestry or banner. Available for sale.
I have had the privilege to paint art for another NFL football stadium,
Lambeau Field, the stadium for the Green Bay Packers, one of the oldest franchises in the NFL. Eight of my paintings in their permanent art collection adorn different sections of the suites and club levels of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin I have also have works or art in the permanent collection of the NFL’s Levi Stadium, home of the San Francisco Forty Niners and the US Bank stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings, among other arena’s and ballparks.
I feel it is a great honor to be able to create work that celebrates the culture and history of Lambeau Field, one of the great stadiums to watch a football game in. Using canvas, acrylic and other materials such as maps and old newsprint with the images I painted specific players along with a series of old football posters. I was given great freedom to paint what I wanted. As my favorite era of the Green Bay Packers was the sixties I created half of the paintings from that period.
The reason I am such a fan of the Packers is that during the sixties I had a good friend whose family was from Green Bay, Wisconsin We spent a couple of weeks in Green Bay, and went to their practice field every day. What was so great about those days was that one could sit on the practice field, on the bench, with the players and actually talk with them. Can you imagine sitting next to your football idols? My favorite of all times was Ray Nitschke the absolutely best linebacker off all time. Yup. Sat next to him and talked. Fuzzy Thurston, the great lineman, Jim Taylor, Paul W. Horning, (the golden boy) Jerry Kramer, etc.
Original paintings are featured in several areas on Lambeau Field's Associated Bank Club Level. It includes rarely seen historical photographs provided by the Press-Gazette and art obtained from nineteen artists through the sports consulting firm, Sports & The Arts.
The sports art by sports artist John Robertson is of JimTaylor, running back is six feet by eight feet, acrylic on canvas.
Although I want the Dodgers to win in tonight’s World Series game I look forward to watching pitcher Craig Kimbrel of the Boston Red Sox come in as a relief pitcher. I enjoyed watching Craig pitch last night. He has such an unusual stance for pre-pitch stare for the catcher’s signals. Kimbrel said he used to keep his arm behind his back, but that became too painful when he had biceps tendinitis. So he started holding it out to the side. .
December 26. Boxing Day. This boxing painting has nothing to do with “Boxing Day”. For those of you who don’t know, Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. It is primarily a tradition in Britain and other parts of the old Commonwealth including Australia and Canada - and is a day of giving to the less fortunate.
The tradition is of the wealthy giving to their servants and workers a “Christmas Box” that includes money and gifts. They did this instead of taking their gifts back to Harrods Department Store and fighting the crowds and the lure of the ”after Christmas” sales. The tradition spread to churches that had the clergy wait outside on the steps for the wealthy to walk by. Whatever fell out of their pockets stuffed with money was collected and distributed to the poor. This was also called the ”trickle down” theory of giving.
This whole idea of “Boxing Day” wasn’t working well so it evolved into a day of rest, relaxation of indulgence – and, of course the returning the gifts and shopping. It used to be a great day for fox hunting and shooting doves – but they were eliminated during the 20th century. Now people gather and eat the left-over ham and turkey with brie and polish off the last of the wine. At least, some do. Regardless, “Boxing Day” has turned into, more of a day of celebration irregardless of the disadvantaged.
The boxing painting is 24” x 36” acrylic on canvas.
Earlier in the year I had painted a basketball painting for the NBA Milwaukee Bucks. This basketball sports art is approximately 5 feet by 7 feet, acrylic on unstretched canvas. I am not sure where in the Fiserv Forum the art is hanging. If you happen to be in the arena I would love a photograph of it showing where it hangs. I would show my appreciation for the photo by provide a nice archival print of one of my sports paintings.
One of the difficulties to paint a hand dunking the basketball is to get a good photo of lthe action. Through a contact I was able to get a college basketball player to dunk the ball. I stood on a ladder and the guy continued to dunk the ball time after time. It was not only this shot of him dunking I got, but his hand in various positions above the rim and the ball being slammed down through the basketball net. Because of this I was able to paint a number of basketball paintings showing the ball in different stages of the dunk shot.
Low tide at “C” Street beach in Ventura. You don’t see it often - people riding a bike on the beach, or, in this case walking his bike on the wet, compact sand.
Yasiel Puig hits a three-run scoring home run to deep left center to give the Dodgers a 5-1 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers. This will probably hold up for the win and a trip to the World Series. This is a second drawing today of the inktober 31 day drawing challenge to do a drawing a day for 31 days. All the other drawings are on paper but I am watching the Dodgers / Brewers 7th game and thought I would try a drawing on my IPad.
Kayaker going by in the morning at the bottom of Sajon St. beach, Ventura. Very peaceful. Considered putting Dolphins in the drawing but thought that may be just too cutesy. The 31 drawings seem to be shaping up as all tied into the beach in some manner. There is always something different or unique going on at the beach everyday. It’s natural to draw as we live and studios are only a few blocks from the ocean.
Another preliminary drawing for a possible large scale painting of someone on horseback jumping an obstacle.. The reference material is from photographs I took at a recent horse and rider event at the Ventura County Fair.
