Rainbow House

Rainbow House
2008 - 11"x12", Mixed media on wood.
Price: $300US
www.ErikVP.com

This painting was inspired by Babe Ruth and the Yankees, but probably not obvious. I went to a Yankees game and there was an hour long thunderstorm before the game started. Eventually it cleared, and there was this amazing rainbow off in the distance. It was a great game, and yes the Yankees won.

Rainbows are preceeded by clouds and rain, then followed with sunshine. Babe Ruth was the rainbow that brought the sunshine to New York and the Yankees. He joined the Yankees in 1920, hit 54 home runs, and helped draw record crowds. The larger crowds led to building a new stadium in 1923. This is why Yankee Stadium is called "the house that Ruth built". Their first season in the new stadium also brought their first World Series title.

I started this painting around the time I was finishing up a recent painting called "Here Comes The Sun" which is why they look similar. Both paintings have bright colors, with the raw newspaper providing a black and white contrast. Sometimes I go overboard with too much bright coloring, but the black and white helps tone everything down. As with all my paintings, I use the Brooklyn Rail newspaper.

In the yellow section, to the left of the two mountains, is a little guy riding on top of an elk. This was inspired by a painting I really like from Bill Traylor called "Untitled (Man Leading Black Dog)".

I used an exacto knife to scratch up the area outside the house outline. It wasn't planned, but I liked how it created a color contrast between the house and the background and helped separate the two areas.