Very soon we will roll out a new season of baseball in my hometown of Cincinnati, the birthplace of major league baseball, where the town will celebrate "Opening Day" as an official holiday.
 
My entire life I have been part of a family with season tickets to the Reds games; which means that I have spent many hours at the ballpark.  One game seven seasons ago I climbed up to the top deck at a home game and took a picture of the scene from up high. Inspired by the ball field’s setting along the river and the wide open sky view from the stands, I decided to paint that perspective on canvas approaching the subject as a landscape painting. I called the piece “Diamond on the River” and have since sold many fine art prints of the artwork.
 
While displaying my "Diamond on the River" painting, I was asked more than once if I paint any ballplayers.  Coincidentally, flowing along with this baseball theme, I had done a painting of Aroldis Chapman using him as a subject to imagine if a "painter" were a "pitcher". The exercise was very worthwhile because not only did I eventually produce & sell many more art prints, I believe that my painting  of "The Cuban Missile" helped me to become a more confident & focused painter.  It helped me to become a more confident painter not just by boldly attempting to 'throw' paint on a canvas, but the subject also turned out to help me in other timely & fitting ways. For me at that stage in my life, my kids were getting older and I was finding some extra time to be more serious about my art and "play ball" with my dream of starting my own little art business.
 
You can find my "Diamond on the River" painting along with some other Reds themed art in my Etsy Shop as well as follow this work on my facebook fanpage:  Cincinnati Reds & Bengals Art by Chrissy Breslin Schroeder
 

I am very Thankful & Appreciative of all the support I have found from my customers in my online shop as well as at art shows.  I have met so many nice people through this work! 
 
Wishing All a Happy Spring... Cheers to *Opening Day* & Cheers to Baseball: An American Original.  "Play Ball!"

Throwback pic of when I was in the process of creating my “Diamond on the River” painting back in 2010 ( …looks like I was just about getting to the point of needing to fill in some players.)

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A picture in Cincinnati Magazine used to advertise the city’s Annual Holiday Mart.
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A snapshot of the left part of a framed print of my "Cuban Missile" art.

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​Joey Votto on my easel... A start to my "Paint it Black" painting.

See blog: "Paint it Black"

​Golden Gloves winner, Brandon Phillips:  *"Dat Dude" Double Play*
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An art show ad from 2013 featuring those 3 Reds players that later became All-Stars that year.


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Framed "Diamond on the River" print and my "Big Red Machine Painted Bobblehead Mosaic" print.  ~ Find more *Big Red Machine* art including this print and other signature Bobblehead paintings of mine in the following blogs:

* Big Red Machine Painted Bobblehead Mosaic:

​"Colorful Success"

AND

“Pieces in The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum”



* Pete Rose: "The Timeless Charlie Hustle & The Geometry of a Rose"

* Barry Larkin: "Number Eleven and the Four Elements"

* Johnny Bench: "Bench Number Five: The Earth is a Baseball"

* 1990 World Series Champs: "My Wire-to-Wire Summer with Twelve Stars and A Piece of American History"

* 2020: "Opening Day Delay"

* 2023: "First Pitch 2023"

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My first Etsy shop banner:  A crop of one of my painted Chapman 'Cuban Missile' pitches...

My first painted ballplayer... Imagining a "pitcher" as a "painter".
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Find more baseball art on facebook fan page:
Cincinnati Reds & Bengals Art by Chrissy Breslin Schroeder

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Recently I was cleaning out some closets and came across this old 'paper doll' that I made many years ago to surprise my niece & god-daughter, Julia, for her birthday - - which is today (March 29th). Happy Birthday, Julia! These pictures show a laminated copy of the 'paper doll' that I drew based on a family vacation photo of her in her swimming suit. 
 
I had to Google when Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame came out to figure out what year I made this *Julia Paper Doll* because I remember that same year Julia dressed as the "Esmeralda" character from that Disney movie for Halloween. ~ Evidently that version of The Hunchback of ND was released in 1996; and I'm pretty sure anyway that it was in March of 1997 when I gave my niece this gift which would have been for her 5th birthday.
 
To fit with the times and to fit on Julia's doll, I made a paper "Esmeralda" costume where I added a tambourine ( ...which now reminds me of even earlier days when I used to play the tambourine in my brother's high school/college band - - yep, there were younger days for us all :) ) Also to fit on the paper doll I made a Dorothy outfit (and Toto too!) and a Clara holding a Nutcracker outfit since both Julia & I were dancers growing up. I also drew her a paper outfit of her Christmas dress from the holiday season that year as well as a summer sundress that she used to wear.

Painting of the Week:
I cropped some figures out of a large crowd to make this painting. { acrylic on 6" x 8" canvas }
#prayforbrussels #peaceonearth

So my first new art blog post went well, which is nice... Part of the reason for this blog is to motivate myself by setting a goal of completing and posting at least one new piece of art a week.  So rolling from inspiration from the day I set up this website, I did this painting of Bill Murray; and the next morning I got a request to purchase it from a friend of ours who is just as fun-loving as Bill Murray. ( I can completely imagine him wearing a shirt like the one I painted in this picture… or at least a similar type of paisley bow tie.  :)
 
Bill Murray ( Feeling Blue ) - SOLD!

“No matter what happens tomorrow, for the rest of my life, I’m happy now.” ~ Phil Connors in Groundhog Day

https://www.etsy.com/listing/286994923/bill-murray-feeling-blue-original?ref=listing-shop-header-0   

Picture of the Day:
I have been to many, many basketball games to cheer on Xavier and after watching the Muskie game on TV last night, the March Madness buzzer beater upset had me feeling like Bill Murray. { ...a little blue.}

~ Acrylic on 5 x 7 canvas

My son Sam was home from college this weekend and today he helped me get set-up with a website.  He is, and always has been, such a great helper to me and to so many others… Thank you, Sam! Love You!
 
Here is a painting I did of Sam Schroeder last May when he turned 21 years old.

I am a 'self-taught' artist who can hardly remember a day when I wasn’t in the process of creating something. Being a lifelong baseball fan growing up in Cincinnati, I am featuring some of my baseball art at this time. …But I paint & create all kinds of art relating to all kinds of subjects, so I'll continually be adding new items. ~ I love having space here and on Etsy where I can share a few of my pieces... Thanks for stopping by!
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