David's Inspiration:
I painted John Wayne and Frank Sinatra simultaneously; both of them are oil on wood panel. I love to work on wood panel and I have them especially made for some of my paintings. The Godfather tribute painting is oil on wood panel and my favorite artist - Peter Paul Rubens - liked to paint on panels. You have two choices for oil painting, canvas or wood, and I like wood because it's solid and you can really layer on the color and it doesn't give. I worked on these around the time I did Dirty Harry and I had decided to do more full-body caricatures. When you look at most caricature art, you usually see just faces, you rarely see full body. Unfortunately, it's like twice as much work to do full body, but John Wayne and Frank Sinatra were just perfect for it. I've heard a quote from Lee Strasberg that goes something like, "Anybody can act in a close-up, but very few actors can act with their whole body.'' John Wayne is one of those, that canted, sideways walk he does is so recognizable. You can see him in silhouette and know that it's him just from the walk.
The look I came up with for "The Duke" is a combination of several of his memorable roles, but probably mostly from "The Cowboys." When I was working on it, AMC was showing John Wayne week and I watched a bunch of his movies in a row, I would just sit there and watch and sketch. I'd forgotten how really cool those movies were. The typical scene is somebody walks into a bar and says "I'm looking for so and so" and pretty soon they're shooting each other or punching. It's just so cliche and it's just so awesome! Those movies are amazing, it's a different era, he's the bad a.. of the West and he's going to shoot you with as many guns as possible. In the painting, he's ready to draw his pistol with his right hand and his left hand is ready to shoot his rifle. I wanted to get the walk right so I dressed up with a holster and walked toward my kids while they shot a picture. We had to do it outside because of the lighting and I'm walking like John Wayne in the front yard. I know the neighbors probably think we're totally nuts. But the photo helped me get the walk right.
Original Oil on Panel painting. 24x36x3.
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