Gillette Stadium : : The Canyon of Champions

The Canyon of Champions

24" by 48"

Oil with a palette knife on canvas

Available

I'm finally able to post this painting as it took me several sessions to complete. A total of about 20 hours. I used several reference photos of the stadium and fans to create this piece. The progression below will give you a good idea of how it developed from sketch to finish. 

As you will see below, I did not use my usual orange background wash before I sketched. Why? Because I forgot! I was so excited to get sketching after I purchased the large canvas that I completely forgot so I thought I'd leave it and see how it worked. Well about halfway through you will see that I ended up adding the orange wash later. The white was driving me crazy.  I felt like I had to fill every hole with color.

I also took a few close up shots so you can see the detail (below). In my painting, the Patriots are playing the Cleveland Browns. I grew up a Cleveland Browns fan, so it seemed fitting.

A group of stadium security guards came in to the gallery one day while I was painting. One of them claimed that he is the top orange dot in this section below, as that is his usual "beat." Funny guy.

 A close up of the stands...it's just a bunch of dots and blobs of paint!

I signed the painting by putting myself in to the bottom left corner: GORBETT, number 19 (for the year the painting was completed). I also painted in my dad in front of me, a true Browns fan for life. I gave him a Browns jersey, number 87 for what would have been his age on April 21. Sadly we lost my dad on April 9 so he spent his 87th birthday in heaven on Easter with The Big Guy, but I did get a chance to show him that I painted him in to the painting before he left us. He was touched and thrilled. I also added a few other family members to keep me company in that corner. :)