Ballplayer

[Michele Rushworth]

....the sound of eighty thousand hands clapping.

Whew, when you put it that way, now I am terrified! Unveilings, in front of even one person, scare the daylights out of me.

[Janel Maples]

Congratulations Michele. I always enjoy seeing what comes off of your easel. Thank you.

[Garth Herrick]

Michele,

Way to go!! This is fantastic. It is rare to see a portrait that successfully utilizes motion. This painting has sound too, - it roars!

I hope you can show us in a demo some time how one completes a large painting in ten days.

Please give us a report about Saturday, and your wide-spread, broadcast fame which artists (unlike sports celebrities) rarely experience.

Bravo, and congratulations,

Garth

[Michele Rushworth]

...how one completes a large painting in ten days.

Don't know if I'll have a chance to show you in a demo but my process was basically this: on day one I did an 8x10" color study. Each of the 9 subsequent days was spent very quickly laying in one section at a time, based on what I had decided in the study. Doing that one-day study saved me tons of time later, since I knew from the start pretty much what I was going for.

The shirt took a day, the pants, half a day, the shoes, two hours. ( I wrote this all down so I'd see if I was tracking to be finished on time, and -- heaven forbid -- if I ever had to do something like this in such a hurry again!)

Most of the painting has only one layer on it. I knew I had one shot to get it the way I wanted since there'd be no time to go over it again. I spent three days on the face and it has two layers on most of it. The motion part of the background has three layers on it. It initially went on too dark and too cool. Everything else (clothes, bat, helmet, etc) have one layer.

[Terri Ficenec]

Congratulations Michele. What an exciting opportunity and a beautiful painting! It conveys so much energy and power.

--Good luck on Saturday!

[Geary Wootten]

Wow, wow, WOW.....Michele!

This is SO cool. You know, even though I've only lived here 8 years....I've been a Mariner's fan for over 20 years even while I was living near those Oakland boys.

I just want to say, this is very exciting look at. You've captured "Gar" so very well! (That's our home nickname)

You've captured his likeness absolutely dead on. The movement is real. The moment of his powerful swing is just right there!

CONGRATS my Puget Sound friend!

Cya soon I hope!

-Geary

[Jimmie Arroyo]

Congrats Michele!!!

In Jersey, the Mets and Yankees (mostly Yankees) have a bunch of collector items as you stated before. The active players bring in the big bucks, so hopefully this will lead to bigger things. Good luck.

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Michele Rushworth

Don't know if I'll have a chance to show you in a demo but my process was basically this: on day one I did an 8x10" color study. Each of the 9 subsequent days was spent very quickly laying in one section at a time, based on what I had decided in the study. Doing that one-day study saved me tons of time later, since I knew from the start pretty much what I was going for.

The shirt took a day, the pants, half a day, the shoes, two hours. ( I wrote this all down so I'd see if I was tracking to be finished on time, and -- heaven forbid -- if I ever had to do something like this in such a hurry again!)

Most of the painting has only one layer on it. I knew I had one shot to get it the way I wanted since there'd be no time to go over it again. I spent three days on the face and it has two layers on most of it. The motion part of the background has three layers on it. It initially went on too dark and too cool. Everything else (clothes, bat, helmet, etc) have one layer.

Thanks Michele, this information is very helpful and inspiring. It takes considerable skill, experience, and talent to paint a portrait one section at a time in one shot, and have the cohesive, successful result you've acheived. Congratulations again!

Garth

[Tom Edgerton]

Michele-

Nice job! Also REALLY savvy marketing. We can all learn from that.

Best--TE

[Kimberly Dow]

Congratulations Michele! Great painting and possibly even more important is the publicity! I need to find better neighbors.