Jack Butler Nominated for Football Hall of Fame
Jack Butler is nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This career highlights video showcases my work!
Work In Progress – A Wyoming Spirit, Brett Keisel
This is Pittsburgh Steeler Defensive End, Brett Keisel from Greybull, Wyoming. I posed him where he hunts, up on the famous Carter Mountain Range. This is located right above where we live in Cody, Wyoming. This painting is traditional oils on museum-grade Masonite. The finished size is 18" x 24". Day two. Day three. Day four. Day five. Day six. Day seven. Day eight. Here is the final version of Brett's portrait. Here are four close-ups of my final version to show all the detail. One little side note, if you look at the last close-up, you will see a small pair of buffalo tracks after my signature. This is to commemorate Brett’s High School mascot and my company name. I want to thank Brett for allowing me to paint his image. Also, I want to thank my wife Leigh, for taking her valuable time to photograph all the images of this painting. Thanks for riding along. Stay tuned, there are many more of my works in progress to come. Denny
Brett Keisel Lands at the Ranch
Brett came to the ranch in Cody, Wyoming on July 3rd 2011 to see his painting that he commissioned me to do. I offered up my suggestion for the title of my latest piece. In my painting, he looks up at the scoreboard, giving me the title, ":09 Seconds Remaining." He loved it! We also picked the proper framing which will feature one of the actual brushes that I used to paint the piece. It has a splash of gold paint on the tip. It will be mounted in a small opening in the matte. Needless to say, Brett really liked the painting! (See below) It was all Brett's idea for this photo! At first, I thought it was funny but after he left, the more I thought about it, I considered this one of the best compliments I could receive! While Brett was here, he signed some special items for me and two special friends, Becky Jones and Scott Spillman of Tampa, FL. Scott and I were fellow artists at VF Imagewear. Scott and Becky were seated right behind the Steeler bench fall of 2010 when they defeated the Tampa Bay Bucs. This was the infamous game where Brett…
Work In Progress – :09 Seconds Remaining – Brett Keisel
This is Steeler Defensive End, Brett Keisel from Greybull, Wyoming. This painting is traditional oils on museum-grade Masonite. The finished size is 16" x 20". Here is version one. I laid down the base coat for his helmet shell. A lot more detail to come! This is day two. Today I roughed in Brett's face. Day three. Here I roughed his helmet cage. This is one of the toughest things that I paint. Next in line, are a rifle barrel and hands. I would rather paint ten faces than one helmet cage! The real challenge is to paint a true straight line. Any slight variations really jump off the board to my eye. A good example of a real challenge for me was this piece titled Spirit, Horse, Hunter. A lot of the parts of Richard Ashburn's flintlock had many straight lines to contend with. Then, throw in my other favorite thing to paint, hands! Day four. After his helmet and cage dried, I was able to paint the melted snow droplets on the surfaces. If you look close, there are even a few hanging from his cage bars. I will add a few more on the bars in front…
Work In Progress – Steeler Great, L.C. Greenwood
This is my latest painting. It is Pittsburgh Steeler, L.C. Greenwood. He was part of the four Super Bowl teams from the 1970's. He was also one of the original "Steel Curtain" members. L.C. was often seen sitting along the Steeler bench with the infamous towel over his head. But the thing that really made L.C. as a stand out other than his shear tenacity on the field was his "Steeler gold shoes!" You could pick him out anywhere on the playing field. By the NFL rules of today, a player cannot wear anything other than the team issued shoes. This is a commission piece that I did for Art Rooney, Jr., owner of the Steelers. The painting was made into a collector card which is a limited edition of 1000. The painting is traditional oils on Museum-grade Masonite. The overall size is 16" x 20". This is day one of my "work in progress." Here is day two of my painting of Steeler, L.C. Greenwood. I started to detail his face, towel and laying some detail on his jersey. There is still more detail to come once my base coats of paint dry slightly. Here is today's work on…
Karchner Artwork makes the Steeler Digest
Denny's artwork and painting of former Pittsburgh Steeler, Andy Russell's new book makes the latest issue of the Steeler Digest. In the article, Andy discusses his newest book titled "Beyond The Goalpost," a tribute to his history-making relationship with the Steelers and their fans throughout his career. What an honor to share his legacy through his art! Visit the Steeler Digest website.
Work In Progress – Ernie Stautner – Hall of Fame
This is Hall of Famer, Ernie Stauter. He played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1950 to 1963. After retiring as a player, Stautner joined the Dallas Cowboys as an Assistant Coach. He helped coach the team to two Super Bowl titles in 1971 and 1977. Stautner is credited with developing some of the greatest defensive lineman in Cowboy's history, including Randy White and Ed "Too Tall" Jones. Stautner also served as an Assistant with the Steelers, Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos. This is a photograph of Ernie and Pittsburgh Steeler Owner, Dan Rooney the day his #70 jersey was retired. He is the only Steeler to have that honor. Here is day one. This is an 11" x 14" portrait done in pencil. Here is the piece as it laid on my drawing desk. This shows my heavy-weight illustration board taped off. You can see the reference photo that I worked from along with my German Faber-Castell 4B, 6B and 8B drawing pencils, kneaded eraser and blending stick. Here is a close-up of the first day's work. This is day two. Day three. Day four. Day five. Here I am removing the drafting tape from the final. This gives the…
Work In Progress – Steeler Great, Donnie Shell
This is my latest painting. It is Pittsburgh Steeler, Donnie Shell. He was part of the four Super Bowl teams from the 1970's. He was also one of the original Steel Curtain members. This is a commission piece that I am doing for Art Rooney, Jr., owner of the Steelers. The painting will be made into a collector card which will be a limited edition of 1000. The painting is traditional oils on Museum-grade Masonite. The overall size is 16" x 20". Here is day two of my painting of Steeler, Donnie Shell. I finished detailing his face and started laying down the base coat for his jersey. The front of the jersey, #31 and arm stripes coming next. Here is day three of my painting of Steeler, Donnie Shell. I reworked his face slightly and started to detail his jersey. Getting close now. Still a lot of detailing on the arms and the pants. Here is the fifth version. I spent several hours detailing his left arm and hand. I added more detail to his pants and jersey. One other thing that I did, which is hard to see here, I painted in all the stitches around the #31…
“Beyond the Goalpost” by former Pittsburgh Steeler, Andy Russell
In October 2009, Denny had the privilege of creating all the cover graphics for former Pittsburgh Steeler, Andy Russell's new book titled Beyond The Goalpost. Denny's oil painting of Andy was featured along with a photograph of Three Rivers Stadium taken by photographer, David B. King from Washington D.C. The foreword was written by the famous Hall of Fame member, running back and former Pittsburgh Steeler, Franco Harris.The back cover features this famous photograph of Former Steeler Linebackers, Jack Ham, Jack Lambert and Andy Russell. This photograph was taken to showcase what is still an NFL Record. These three linebackers went to 24 Pro Bowls! This is Andy's third book. The inside front cover flap reads in his own words: Andy has always been attracted to athletic challenge, adventure and possibly even danger. In this book Andy tries to understand what it was that drove him as a young child, and to recall who were his mentors and especially ask himself why he was so driven to pursue what many would consider dangerous sporting activities - for example: professional football, mountain climbing, wilderness canoeing, cave exploring, and scuba diving. In some ways this book could be considered a biography as…
Art Institute of Pittsburgh Alumni Show 2009
Denny has been invited to show two of his pieces of artwork for the 2009 Annual Alumni Show at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Denny's two pieces of art are the original oil painting of former Pittsburgh Steeler, Andy Russell and a pencil study of Hall of Famer and former Pittsburgh Steeler, "Bullet" Bill Dudley. Both pieces are on loan by Art Rooney, Jr., owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. The dates of the show will be from October 5th through November 27th, 2009 and the reception will be held on Friday, November 20th in the evening.