Gary Cooper

March 04, 2009




I did an awful lot of painting today, and, unfortunately, I am not too happy with a lot of the results. I did five pop art portraits- Gary Cooper, Myrna Loy, Natalie Wood, Shirley MacLaine and Deborah Kerr. I'm not entirely happy with Myrna Loy or Deborah Kerr so far, hence their absense from this blog post. I'll try to do some touch ups tomorrow.

Natalie Wood isn't uploaded yet because she is in reserve for my first guest blog post by Sarah at Cinema Splendor!
And as for Shirley... she's still drying. Maybe I'll be able to post her before I go to sleep.

Gary Cooper... I did post his portait, because I'm about 95% pleased with it, and because I really like Gary Cooper. Last night while I was painting, TCM was playing Meet John Doe and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and I was in Gary Cooper heaven. Honestly, he was made for those roles. He deserved his Oscars for High Noon and Sgt. York, but I really think he deserved nods for these two films even more. They are the only two films he made with Frank Capra, but I really wish they had teamed up more often. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was supposed to be a follow up to Mr. Deeds, and I really wonder what it would have been like if Capra had his way...


Funny anecdote about the painting: I often bore my family with details about my painting woes, like when I just can't get somebody's nose right, or when I accidently plop my arm in my palette. Well, last night Gary Cooper's right eye was giving me a lot of trouble, so I relayed the story to my family this morning. Everything sounded perfectly normal to me (art-speak) as I said, "and I had to take out Gary Cooper's eye about five times" - it literally had my brother in stiches, and I couldn't figure out what I had said that was so funny :)

Tomorrow or Thursday I'll go back to actually writing posts about the actors/actresses I'm painting or drawing. For now, I hope you don't just mind the images without words!
Looks like Shirley's dry now, so I'll scan and post in a minute!

9 comments:

Paul D Brazill said...

Cary Cooper has been the subject of a little chitter chatter in my blog knitting circle recently. This is a smashing pic.

Unknown said...

Good portrait of Cooper, & I completely agree with you about Meet John Doe & Mr Deeds. I also really like The Coboy & The Lady (Cooper & Merle Oberon).

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you stuck with the eye - the painting looks great! Gary Cooper is such a sweetheart. I fell in love with him in Ball of Fire with Barbara Stanwyck.

I know just what you mean about the art speak. I do that to my family, too, but they've heard it enough by now to know what I mean. :) Wouldn't it be hilarious start saying kooky stuff about taking out people's eyes in a public place? Imagine the looks you'd get! :D

DKoren said...

I also love Ball of Fire, but have to admit I am not that fond of him in other movies.

So it may be quite a surprise that I do believe this is my favorite of your paintings to date! It is just a very appealing portrait of him. I love it.

Unknown said...

Paul- Thanks! I love the word smashing, by the way. I'll head over to your blog to check out the chitter chatter in a moment!

John- Thanks! Oh, I love The Cowboy and the Lady. It's such a fun film!

casey- Ball of Fire is one of my all time favorite movies. I just re-watched it for the millionth time last week. He is SO sweet in that movie, isn't he?

I guess it is a good thing that I was at home when I had the art-speakism. That would have been hilarious to say it in public!

DKoren- I really like his 1930's movies the most, but I'm not a big Western fan so his later movies aren't that appealing to me either. Have you seen his Capra films? If you like Ball of Fire, I think you'd love Meet John Doe & Mr. Deeds Goes to Town!

DKoren said...

I'll try to give him another open-minded try and check out those films you recommend. I love Westerns (I could probably live on nothing but the rest of my life), but Gary Cooper doesn't grab me no matter the genre. He's just not my type, LOL! I think that's what I love about this painting so much -- you made a man I don't find remotely attractive, attractive! :-D

Unknown said...

He's very much my type so maybe I was able to transfer my admiration into the drawing... we'll see how well that works when I get around to painting people I'm not particularly fond of! Will my dislike transfer there, too?

I'm glad you're going to give him another try. There are so many actors I started out hating that have slowly grown on me. OH MY GOSH!!! The other day when I wrote that I wanted to do two non-art posts later in the week, and couldn't remember what one of them was.. that was it! Actors I didn't like that grew on me!!

Thanks!! You have inadvertently helped me remember what I forgot :D

Nicole Newcomb said...

I love the painting and have you seen him in Pride of the Yankees? Wasn't he incredible in that. :)

Unknown said...

He IS incredible in that movie! The scene where he and Teresa Wright are hugging each other, when both know he's dying but they don't think the other one knows-- isn't that so heartbreaking?!