Painting from a Photograph

Original Art by an Original Artist

Painting from a photograph! PLAY BALL!

I'm hard at play on the on the portraits of the outlaw baseball players from the 1930's. This one is of Edwin Collins "Alabama" Pitts. He played for Charlotte, Gastonia and Valdese.

As with most photographs some of the details are lost and a lot of the contours. These photographs were taken in the 1930's and what with photographic methods back then and time going by, they are quite a challenge. Oh, well! I have always liked a challenge.

I am using a primary color pallette for these paintings, cadmium red deep,( napthol hue), cadmium yellow light, french ultramarine blue, plus titanium white. I mix all colors from these. I like the control it gives me and the simplicity. Plus it's fun to watch the colors change.

I'm finding that I have to invent or makeup parts that are missing from the photographs to create a reasonable, realistic look. The photographs have a flat look that does not translate well into a painting.

As I was painting the grass in the lower background I realized that even with my biggest brush it was going to take me longer than I thought. Remember, these are 6 feet by 4 feet so I was sitting on the floor thoughout most of this process. When they handed out patience I was definitely somewhere else. I used a wash cloth dipped in turpentine and paint to scrub in large areas of background. It left a nice texture that resembles grass.

I left the flesh areas, the hands and face, until last because colors are effected by other colors that are close by.

This painting is not finished but it is well on the way.

What do you think so far? Leave a comment.

Diane Overcash