Root, root, root for the home team

Opening Day (1977), 18 x 24, Oil on Linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2011

Finally finished a painting, that I planned on completing in two or three days. As usual, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I ended up working on this one for 6 days.

I thought I would post the photos I took after each day.
A friend of mine that is currently studying with Carl Samson wanted to watch me lay in a still life. She took a few photos of me in action.

Action shot.

I think this was after about 2 hours. Honestly, at this point the lay in looks a bit too edgy- meaning I have done too much drawing and have not kept it loose enough. The edges should be a bit more amorphous and movable. I have no problem moving edges, but it is probably best to leave it in that blurry eyed view for as long as possible. I was trying to get the painting done before  Opening Day- a Cincinnati Holiday, so I used Liquin in the paint so it would dry fast and I could work it the next day.
Here it is at the end of the first day.

Day one lay in.

Here is an example of why I rarely do a quick set up. The composition is pretty bad. So, you have to ask yourself, "Do I throw in the towel? Start over? or Try to fix this mess?"
I decided to push through. Here we are at the end of the second day, after adding a Hot Dog to help balance things out. I had also called the Red Hall of Fame Museum to find out how big to print the 1977 opening day tickets from the image I found on Ebay.

Day two- the wiener addition

It still has way too much space at the top. More help is needed. I set up a screen to cast a shadow on the right side of the set up and added a curtain as if this is near a window I did not want to change things too much so I picked a curtain with colors similar to what was already in the still life and with a value not too different from the back ground.

Day three- hang the curtain

Clearing things up a bit.

Day four- Tighten and adjust

I found some drawing issues. I adjusted the bat and glove on the left side.

Day five- think about destroying everything

Carl Samson stopped by studio and offered some good advice. I was having issues with the space and atmosphere feeling flat. He suggested the hat was too in focus and too intense for the rest of the painting. Meaning that the object in back was pushing to the front visually, thus throwing things off. He suggested a scumble over the hat with Cobalt violet to adjust it towards blue and kill the chroma. This is a very transparent color and it worked wonders, not really changing things too much and it got the whole hat wet so I could then paint into it adjusting as needed. I did my best to lose all the edges around the hat and some on the bottle. In addition the back corner of the table was too in focus so I darkened and lost that edge as well.  Finally I popped some of the edges toward the front. 

Day six, Opening Day (1977), 18 x 24, Oil on Linen, ©copyright Richard Luschek 2011

Unfortunately the Reds lost yesterday, destroying all hopes we had for an undefeated season. I still think they will do quite well.
As an added bonus, if you buy this painting I will throw in for free the hot dog that used in the still life. I am a vegetarian and this is the first hot dog I have purchased in 20 years so I don't want it to go to waste. It is a Skyline hot dog with mustard and ketchup. Don't miss your chance at this bonus offer. It is a bit gray and crusty but it would look great on a shelf near my painting.