"John hated those crowd scenes. One of the things he did to keep from going completely mad was to mask off most of the painting and work on only one section at a time. There was just no way to do the crowds fast. A piece like this took many days."
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See more Art by John Berkey (1932-2008) at Jim Pinkoski's fan site
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See more Art by John Berkey (1932-2008) at Jim Pinkoski's fan site
Painting that crowd scene would drive me mad too. I think, if it was me, I'd paint 20 people and then treat myself to painting a car before moving on to the next 20.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see an example of how that crowd might be painted impressionistically? Indeed, how would an impressionist paint the entire scene?
ReplyDeleteNo problem, Sesco. Just google "leroy nieman indianapolis 500" and take a look at the resulting images.
ReplyDeleteThe crowd in the stands and the crowd of cars on the track might be a photograph in this reproduction. But the green of the grass and the trees behind the track are the giveaways that it is a painting. He might have disliked doing it, but this guy could sure paint crowds!
ReplyDeleteJohn Berkey has been one of my favorite illustrators dating way back to my art school days. He created such exquisite, delicate textures with his brush.
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