Willie Steals Second

Acrylic on canvas.

36x24x1"

Major League is movie I don't feel gets made very often, if at any more. It's half parts cartoon and half parts sports infused romantic comedy. It's over the top at times but also carries a shit ton of heart along with it. There's loads of great scenes in this film but that one that I felt carried weight is Wille Mays Hayes in the final run of the bases to win the game. It's very underdog rise to victory in an way that Snipes brings a lot of character to. As a kid, I don't know why, I never really understood why he was 'hazed' in the beginning. I was like this dude is good, look at him hop out of bed and sprint the shit or of that race. However, it didn't really dawn on me that he does need some talent in the other areas, so it took some time to understand the full character arc. But hey, that's why you rewatch movies! I really feel like this image captures this look from Willie that's got so much fire and drive in such a noble way. Like a runner waiting for the gunshot or predator about to pounce. It also gave me a great opportunity to try some bokeh techniques as well as some practice with glare and reflections. Which this one has alot of both. Willie wears his hat along with his helmet so I wanted to make sure things like that were easily distinguishable. I love how this turned out. Very photographic in person.