A Baseball, 5" by 7", oil on linen board, January 2009Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Today I carved out a very small study of a genuine baseball. I picked up two for this commission, one to keep bright and white and the other to give to Frank. I thought he might give it a nice patina of use and abuse, but he quickly lost interest. So I took it upon myself, and first rubbed coffee into the leather, then scrubbed it, then rubbed it with oil, then burnished it on a wooden table top. Apparently nothing replicates the look of use and time, of grass and wood and leather, endless hours of summer, of exertion and sweat, of wins, losses and team spirit. At some point I'd like to find a well used one, the dirty yellowed leather burnished to a bright shine. So instead, this study is of the bright white one, minus the blue printing which I found can be easily washed off.
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