The Naked Silo

36" x 26", oil on canvas, 2007, private collection This was done as a commission a few years ago for a big hockey fan in Calgary. I like saturated red of the Red Wings uniforms, but I was actually more fascinated by the subtle colours of the ice and really enjoyed painting that part. The photo reference for this (as all my sports-related paintings) was stolen from the internet.

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm not a big sports fan, so I asked a few of my friends for suggestions as to which players in various sports would be good/interesting/popular/famous to paint. I chose Gretzky myself --cuz who doesn't know who Wayne Gretzky is?-- and figured this image (not my own photo) of him hoisting the Stanley Cup is as iconic as it gets. I wanted to see if I could make an effective and recognizeable portrait of someone famous and, although I feel the likeness is pretty good, this desire prompted me to try another portrait (rather than a straight-up action scene) with Tiger Woods , which I think is even more successful.