Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays and best wishes in the new year! Best wishes  to everyone for 2013!

The highlight of my golf season this year (as usual) was playing in a weekend best-ball tournament with my 82 year old father as my partner, and watching him chip in for a birdie on the 18th hole par 4 hole, giving us a score of 69 (best-ball) for that day.

The highlight of my art career for 2012? A couple projects come to mind: I completed a handful of golf art images for Ernie Els' golf course design company, Els Design. I created golfscape paintings of several signature golf holes around the world that Ernie Els designed, and these art images were then used in magazine ads representing Els Design. Visit sasgolf.com to see these signature hole art images created for Ernie Els.

Also, earlier in 2012 my most recent illustrated children's picture book, Brothers At Bat (written by Audrey Vernick, and is the true story about 12 brothers who made baseball history), was released by Clarion Books, and in December the picture book was included in the New York Times Book Review list of Notable Picture Books for 2012... quite an accomplishment considering there were only 8 books on the list! Visit stevensalerno.com to view samples from Brothers At Bat by clicking on the "featured book" section.

-Steven Anthony Salerno

work in progress: Majors Chart

Currently I am in the middle of working on a rather ambitious new golf art image... one that I had been wanting to create for some time now, and am just now getting to it. 

There are 27 golfers in history who have won four or more of golf's major championship tournament victories. We all know that Jack Nicklaus is at the top of the chart with an astounding 18 major championship wins, followed by Tiger Woods with 14 major championship wins. When Tiger had reached his 14th major victory a handful of years ago, everyone in the golf world assumed it would not be much longer before he cruised past Jack's record. But in lieu of Tiger's fall from grace, drop in world golf ranking's and the rebuilding of his golf swing over the past few years (which has brought him back up into the top 3 in the rankings), Tiger's status regarding whether or not he can match or surpass Jack's landmark of 18 major victories has been fractured. Will he win more majors? It remains to be seen... Certainly he will win more majors, but can he win 4 more? 5 more?

drawing of Harry Vardon by Steven Anthony Salerno

The artwork I am creating is a swing portrait of each of these 27 players, consisting of a small black crayon drawing embellished with a simple tonal wash of neutral color, all of which will then be designed into a kind of descending order performance chart within one of my limited edition art prints. I just think it will be interesting to see at a glance all the players within one visual which puts their major tournament accomplishments into perspective. 

drawing of Ben Hogan by Steven Anthony Salerno

Of the 27 players on the list, only 3 are still active and can potentially add more major victories to their record: Tiger Woods (14), Phil Mickelson (4) and Ernie Els (4). And, as you all know, a few years ago Tom Watson almost won the Open Championship yet again, which would have elevated his record of 8 major victories up to 9 (tying Ben Hogan and Gary Player) but a bogey on the 72nd hole put an end to the incredible feat. Maybe Tom has one more charge in him during an upcoming major.

Posted here are just a few of the drawings: 
Harry Vardon
Ben Hogan
Byron Nelson

drawing of Byron Nelson by Steven Anthony Salerno

Here is the full list of all the player which will appear in my final "Major Chart" art image once it is completed:

Jack Nicklaus (18)
Tiger Woods (14)
Walter Hagen (11)
Ben Hogan (9)
Gary Player (9)
Tom Watson (8)
Harry Vardon (7)
Bobby Jones (7)
Arnold Palmer (7)
Gene Sarazen (7)
Sam Snead (7)
Nick Faldo (6)
Lee Trevino (6)
J.H.Taylor (5)
James Braid (5)
Seve Ballesteros (5)
Byron Nelson (5)
Peter Thompson (5)
Willie Anderson (4)
Jim Barnes (4)
Raymond Floyd (4)
Bobby Locke (4)
Tom Morris Sr. (4)
Tom Morris Jr. (4)
Willie Park Sr. (4)
Phil Mickelson (4)
Ernie Els (4)

These simple drawings I am doing are fun.... I spent many hours locating all the 27 reference photos I needed, and in some instances I found a photo I wanted which depicted a player in the exact swing pose I wanted, but I had to then find another photo of the player which had a better view of his face and then in my drawing combined the visual reference from the two different photos. Of the very early players on the list, like Tom Morris Sr and Jr, or Willie Anderson, or J.H. Taylor, or Willie Park Sr. it was impossible to locate any decent reference photos, so I was stuck with whatever photo I could find.

Once I have completed the final art for "Majors Chart" and the limited edition art print is available, I will post a notice here on my blog....

To view all my limited edition golf art prints available, visit sasgolf.com

The Ernie Els project: new art "Desaru Coast"

Earlier this year I began a project for Ernie Els Design, the golf course architecture design company of 4 time Major Championship winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member, Ernie Els. It is comprised of creating my original golf art images of select "signature holes" from various golf courses around the world designed by Ernie Els... and the art images will be reproduced to advertise and promote the work of Ernie Els Design. Visit my golf art web site, SASgolf.com to see larger views of these painting for the Ernie Els project, as well as to view all my limited edition golf art prints available for purchase, including some of the original golf art items as well.

The first golfscape art image I created for this special project was of the 18th Hole (West Course) at the Wentworth Club in England. Next was art depicting the 6th Hole at The Els Club Copperleaf in South Africa. The most recent painting I completed is of the 3rd Hole (Coast Course) at The Els Club Desaru Coast in Malaysia. It is a 160 yard par three which is set against the beach line and plays into a prevailing ocean breeze. The course will be open for play in 2013.

Click here to see an earlier post on this project...

full view- painting of 3rd Hole, The Els Club Desaru Coast  -visit sasgolf.com

detail - painting of 3rd Hole, The Els Club Desaru Coast  -visit sasgolf.com

magazine ad / 3rd Hole, The Els Club Desaru Coast  -visit sasgolf.com

The top image (above) is the art image I created of the 3rd Hole (Coast Course) at The Els Club Desaru Coast course in Malaysia. The previous couple golfscapes I created for this Ernie Els project were executed with gouache, crayon, etc... on paper. For a different look, I created this Desaru Coast signature hole art image all digitally. I drew the image on a digital tablet (Wacom) using vector software (Adobe Illustrator). In the case of this art image.... all I had for reference were photos of this new course actually under construction. In other words I had to imagine the completed golf hole from looking at the architects topographical blueprints of the hole, the construction photos, and background photos of the trees and plants along this hole's location.

The middle image (above) is a close-up view of my art. The way I created the image was to hand draw hundreds of shapes to define the forms of the land contours, tree shapes, water, clouds, shadows, etc... all over lapping one another and each shape being of varying degrees of transparency. The net effect is kind of like a slightly "hard-edged" watercolor painting.... It is very crisp and graphic. The large format (17" x 22") art print of this image looks really terrific.  I have done this same technique for some my other golfscape art images, specifically for a series of art images I created of the Black Course at Bethpage.

The bottom image (above) is how my art was cropped and used in a magazine advertisement by Ernie Els Design in a prominent golf architecture publication... which is the whole point of this project.

You can see larger views of the art created for this project at sasgolf.com in the Ernie Els project gallery section.

New "signature hole" art for The Els Club Copperleaf, South Africa

Earlier this year I began a project for Ernie Els Design, the golf course architecture design company of 4 time Major Championship winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member, Ernie Els. It is comprised of creating my original golf art images of select "signature holes" from various golf courses around the world designed by Ernie Els... and the art images will be reproduced to advertise and promote the work of Ernie Els Design. Visit my golf art web site, SASgolf.com to see larger views of these painting for the Ernie Els project, as well as to view all my limited edition golf art prints available for purchase, including some of the original golf art items as well.

First in this series of commissioned signature hole golf art, I created a painting and a drawing of the 18th hole (West Course) at the Wentworth Club outside of London, England which was redesigned by Ernie Els Design in 2008 -2011. See a previous post on this segment of the project to view all these Wentworth Club art images. Below is my painting of the 18th hole at the Wentworth Club, outside of London, England.

my painting of 18th hole (West Course) at the Wentworth Club  visit SASgolf.com

14th hole at The Els Club Copperleaf  -visit SASgolf.com

(detail) 14th hole at The Els Club Copperleaf  -visit SASgolf.com

And recently I completed two paintings for the project's next segment: The Els Club Copperleaf in South Africa. This Els Club course was designed in 2007... and is near Johannesburg, developed on land once lived on by Ernie Els' grandfather. I created a light, impressionistic gouache and oil crayon painting of the par three 14th hole (see above), which depicts a view from the tee box looking toward the narrow green, and the art features the beautiful plains and mountain vista beyond. The colors and tones in this painting capture the heat of the day and brightness of the day.

6th hole at The Els Club Copperleaf  -visit SASgolf.com

(detail) 6th hole at The Els Club Copperleaf  -visit SASgolf.com

The next painting, of the par four 6th hole (see above), was also created in gouache and oil crayon, and is purposely boldly executed to reflect the beautiful, raw nature of the region surrounding this new golf course. The art is a view seen from the vantage point of the tee shot landing area, showing the angle of the approach shot into the green which is protected by water and bunkers.

magazine advertisement for The Els Club Copperleaf  -visit SASgolf.com

Posted above is the The Els Club Copperleaf art as it was designed for the Els Design advertisement page in a golf architecture publication. The acting creative director for this particular "Copperleaf" segment of the project was handled by Thomas Rubi, the Vice President of Strategic Development for Ernie Els. 

I really look forward to the next "signature hole" golf art I will create for Ernie Els Design... which I believe will be for their new golf course at the Desaru Coast golf complex in Malaysia.

Visit SASgolf.com to view all my available limited edition golf art prints.

"Signature Hole" golfscapes for Ernie Els Design

About a year and a half ago I was contacted by Phil Cotton, a business manager for professional golfer Ernie Els. I think most golf fans know that the South African Mr. Els, AKA: "The Big Easy," is the winner of 4 Major Championship victories, as well as a recent World Golf Hall of Fame inductee. Phil and I discussed possibilities of me creating a series of original golf art images for a number of Els projects, one of which being "signature hole" golfscapes to be used to advertise a number of golf courses around the world designed by Ernie Els Design.

About a month ago this "signature hole" project finally became a reality... and so once the contract was resolved, and the specific golf courses and their corresponding "signature holes" were established, I was off and running with the first image.

The Wentworth Club outside of London, England was my first subject. Their venerable West Course was originally designed by Harry S. Colt back in the 1920's, and then redesigned/modified by Ernie Els and his design company in 2008-2011. I had my choice of depicting one of several different signature holes from the course, but I selected the 18th hole because I thought it to be a beautiful looking golfscape, plus it was the hole that had undergone the most significant design changes, and also because its redesign had been the most controversial. Mr. Els took a lot of criticism over his redesign of this specific 18th hole. Apparently it had been a relatively short par 5 which yielded quite a few eagles and near certain birdies for the the top professionals. Then, Mr. Els transformed it into a longer par 5 with a smallish green protected by a new devilish lateral water hazard that fits tightly along the entire length of the left side of the green, making players think more than twice about going for the green in 2 shots... In other words, it stirred up the hornet's nest of player opinion, I guess especially with those who had previously enjoyed unmolested eagles.


I have never played the hole personally... but have seen the hole in championship play on television, and the redesigned hole indeed makes for very exciting action. If a player (with the length and confidence) hits and holds the green in just 2 shots, it is indeed a very, very good shot that could possibly be then rewarded with a rare eagle. And the option of laying up requires executing a crisp, very accurate wedge 3rd shot, navigating the creek which tightly skirts the green, especially if the flagpin is set on the left side. To me it seemed like a design improvement befitting an 18th hole for a course staging professional championship caliber events.

Putting the hole's "playability" issue aside.... from my visual aesthetic viewpoint (comparing the old 18th hole photos to the newly redesigned 18th hole), I far prefer the look of the new 18th hole based on a purely sculptural characteristics. Put another way, if the 18th hole still looked the way it did before the redesign by Els and company, I probably would not have chosen it to be the subject of my "signature hole" art image. The creek that splits the fairway then glides alongside the green gives the hole better visual definition and character.

sketch of 18th hole at Wentworth.   visit sasgolf.com

Seen above is my early preliminary rough sketch of the 18th hole... created with pastel, crayon, and gouache. Ideally I would prefer to be on-site to make sketches and take my own reference photos, but in the case of this project I had to work from photos supplied to me by Ernie Els Design.

painting of 18th hole at Wentworth.   visit sasgolf.com

Here is my finished painting of the 18th hole (with the distinctive clubhouse building seen in the far background up on the hill beyond the green). The final completed painting was created with pastel, crayon, and gouache on Arches 260lb hot press paper, with composited layering done in Photoshop. The "story" I envisioned in my head while executing the art was that it is the last light of the day as you play the 18th hole, and it had been a gray, drizzly afternoon and finally the blue sky appears in patches. 

close-up of painting of 18th hole at Wentworth.   visit sasgolf.com

A closer view of the green area... you can see how dangerously close the lateral water hazard fits against the green. In this painting I particularly like how I painted the background bank of trees in a loose impressionistic manner. By depicting mere suggestions of trees without much detail at all, it allows the specific detailing of the green, flagstick and the hazard's wooden piling just in front of the green to focus the viewer's attention there. 

Shown above are three under-painting "stage" views of the painting image in progress....
1: pastel roughing out the shapes of the fairway and tree masses. 2: painting a layer on top with gouache to better define areas and tones. 3: beginning to sharpen the  areas and shapes with more detail. 

drawing of 18th green at Wentworth.   visit sasgolf.com

Above is a second art image I created also of the 18th green at Wentworth, seen from a rear/side angle looking back down the 18th fairway. I purposely executed the drawing in deep browns, blacks and rose color, all to heighten the danger of the lurking water hazard. I also chose this angle so the viewer could really see just how steep the embankment down into the water hazard truly is.

drawing of 18th green at Wentworth.   visit sasgolf.com

Above is a closer view of the 18th green drawing.

There are other "signature hole" art images from the Ernie Els Design project still to come, so check back again in a month or so. The next hole I will be creating an art image of -is on the opposite side of the planet from Wentworth!


Visit SASgolf.com to see all my golf art prints available, however the Wentworth signature hole art images are not available in a limited edtion golf art print, well, not yet anyway...  

NUMBERS

Steven Anthony Salerno's most recent golf art print available on his golf gallery site, SASgolf.com is entitled, "NUMBERS."


Pars, bogeys, birdies, double-bogeys, eagles, triple-bogeys, etc... even the elusive number 1, if one is either so lucky or so skilled! The drawing is a modern, graphic depiction of all the numbers a golfer sees on the score card, with a stylized figure of a golfer in the center of the number maelstrom.

"NUMBERS" by Steven Anthony Salerno  -visit SASgolf.com

Visit SASgolf.com to see a larger view of the NUMBERS golf art print, and all the other golf art prints available. All the golf art images are superbly printed in high resolution on 100% cotton archival fine art paper with permanent pigment inks, which accurately reproduces the colors and tones of the original artwork. The art image was originally created on a digital drawing tablet.