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October 24, 2011 - 10:24
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BallPark Project Painting #6- Yankee Stadium
“Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit, Yankee Stadium, 2011”, oil on canvas, 36” x 60
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June 7, 2011 - 12:43
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"AT+T Park, San Francisco, CA", oil on canvas, 36" x 60", 2011The BallPark Project ©, Max Mason
The Golden Gate
Ray Strong, “Golden Gate Bridge”, oil on canvas, 44” x 71”, 1934
Ray Strong’s “Golden Gate Bridge” is an American masterpiece. Painted in 1934, as a part of Franklin Roosevelt’s Public Works Art Project (PWAP), it has a dynamic composition, strong light, and a tension between man made and natural forms. The painting is filled with a sense that man and his works are a -
March 4, 2011 - 10:35
"Nationals Park, Washington D.C.", oil on canvas, 36"x 60", 2010-11
Nationals Park, Washington D.C.
Professional baseball in Washington D.C. has been a notoriously mixed bag. “First in war, first in peace, last in the American League“ was the old saw. And it was true, sort of. The first incarnation of the Senators/Nationals came in last place 9 times in 60 seasons. They also won three pennants, the 1924 World Series and had arguably the greatest right handed pitcher of all time, Walter Johnson. Since then they’ve fared far worse, two different franchises, one in each league, inhabiting the cellar 8 out of 16
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November 11, 2010 - 10:40
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Past Lives
“Oriole Park at Camden Yards”, oil on canvas, 36” x 60”, 2010
Paintings often contain a visible record of past lives. Underneath the finished work is a web of built up edges, bumps and daubs that were once on the outside; a color, a piece of the picture, a part of the space, that are now only visible as texture covered over by subsequent painting. They give the painting a weight (figuratively and literally), a sense of history, a kind of visual gravity. The process that leads to these past lives is exciting but risky. The thrill of newness and discovery can -
September 2, 2010 - 11:52
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GO BEARS!
The Korean Baseball Organization, like almost everything Korean, is surprisingly new. Founded in 1981, it is on a par with the Japanese Baseball League, which dates back to 1936. At the time of the KBO’s founding South Korea had a GNP less than Ghana’s. It is now the 15th largest economy in the world, approximately 18 times that of Ghana. All of this is to say that Korean baseball is the real deal, as the increasing number of South Koreans in MLB demonstrates.
Korean baseball is in a way a throw back. Small ball reigns. The sacrifice is huge and hitting behind the runner a must. Smooth form is everything. Hustle, maybe because it makes the opposition look bad, is in short
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August 14, 2010 - 12:10
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"Double Play at Citizens Bank Park, 2008", oil on canvas, 36"x 60", 2010After the euphoria of last nights’ come from behind victory, (down 9-2 in the 8th, the Phils plated 8 in the final two frames to walk off with a 10-9 victory over the Dodgers) the physical misery of Citizens Bank Park’s first game is a distant, forgotten memory. A bit more than 6 years ago our family was huddled under the huge left field scoreboard eating cold, soaking wet French fries while a driving sleet stung our red faces. It was opening day, 2004. As fans we had been eagerly anticipating this
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August 12, 2010 - 09:24
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Blog entry 3
"Petco Park, San Diego", oil on canvas, 36" x 60", 2009-10
When neighbor Curtis Richins commissioned a painting of Petco Park I was thrilled. That meant going to San Diego- amazing weather, great
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July 21, 2010 - 22:04
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POST #1- Baseball, Painting and Me
Rick Miller in Deep Center, Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, 1981
During the spring of my first year in graduate school I went down to Baltimore with a friend to watch the Orioles play the Red Sox at old Memorial Stadium. The light on Red Sox center fielder Rick Miller caught my eye. Upon returning I made a small sketch; it couldn’t have taken more than half an hour. Some days later Neil Welliver, my teacher and mentor, walked into the studio for a critique. Of all the paintings I had worked on for days, even weeks, he focused on the sketch
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July 17, 2010 - 15:19
Blog Entry 1
“Doubtless, there are better ways to spend summer days, summer nights, than in ballparks. Doubtless. Nevertheless, decades after a person has stopped collecting bubble-gum cards, he can still find himself collecting ball parks. And not just the stadiums but their surrounding neighborhoods, their smells, their special seasons and moods.”
Thomas Boswell, From “How Life Imitates the World Series” Double Play, Citizens Bank Park", 36" x 60", oil on canvas
This blog begins, as almost every baseball story does, with a child emerging from
