Soccer Practice

This piece is very large, almost four feet across! I used acrylic paints to replicate the brilliance of color in the original source photograph.

The inspirational photo was shot by my younger brother Mark, a photojournalist for The Dalles daily newspaper in Oregon. He has a trick of catching the most ordinary of things, in the most extraordinary manner.

When he was a young man, one might find him motionless with his camera, sometimes waist deep in pond water, patiently hiding in the rushes, to capture a closeup of an unsuspecting wood duck, or capturing the well-defined wrinkles on an old man's face. Mark's writing and photography are unique. He once spent time as a homeless person detailing what it would be like to live without. In my opinion, his inspirational writing and incredibly creative photography should grace the National Geographic.

In his unique photo, Mark caught the local team at practice. The players were lying on their backs, passing the soccer ball from one set of feet to the next. The shifting colors of socks, shoes and soccer ball against the vivid grass and the sheer movement and unusual composition of the piece, moved me to paint what my brother saw with his camera.

You can visit Mark's wonderful new photo blog by visiting Voyage of discovery, by Mark the Canoeing Photojournalist  You won't be sorry you did!