This is the second version of "Rugby #1" in a slightly more realistic style. I think it conveys the dirt and mud, as well as the solidity of the figure group, better than the first one. It's also much smaller.

    I like to paint things close to my immediate experience, things connected to all my experiences @ any one time. This being my partner's son's last college rugby game of his college career, in the rain, struck me as a significant well of experiential connectivity to draw inspiration from. It is titled 'A Head Above' for obvious reasons. The red-haired player on the far right is my partner's son. His head is above the rest. He is a professional-level Division 1 lacrosse talent and athlete in general. He is also a pensive, deeper-thinking individual. This lends an element of truth to the compositional arrangement in this piece. But there are other significances to this arrangement. My partner's sister is a devout Buddist living on a Gonpa in Brazil. In my understanding, which is however flawed, in Buddist tradition, the Dali Lama in ancient times, like the ancient emperors of China, always had to be sitting, in fact in every place, with their head raised higher than all others. As a symbolic gesture of their authority, their physical position had to reflect this spiritual reality- and they sat @ higher topographical planes in everyday practice. We modern-day Americans have the high-chair reserved for more humble and chubbier little people. Stylistically, this painting was painted shortly after my move from my slum-lord-owned apartment in the city, to a more spacious location just outside of city proper. I had the comfort of a lover's touch and took advantage of it immediately, painting this large-scale, soft and comfortable looking piece. It reflects the environmental change in my life @ the time. I employed a great deal of drybrush, which resulted in this painting: a very light and soft depiction of a not so light, clean, soft and comfortable contact sport in the rain.