Baseball begins today in my hometown of Cincinnati, the birthplace of Major League Baseball here along the Ohio River. 

To start the season, former Cincinnati Red, Todd Frazier, will throw the ceremonial “First Pitch” on this “Opening Day” in Great American Ballpark.

Here is a painting I did of Todd Frazier back in 2015 when he was the All-Star Homerun Derby Champ during the All-Star Game weekend at Great American Ballpark midsummer of that year.

Back then one of my favorite tunes, Frank Sinatra’s renowned hit “Fly Me To The Moon” was Frazier’s up-to-bat song; so in the graphic speed-stream strings of the flying ball I added the song lyric “Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars…” scripted in the wind. I also drew *the man in the moon* to look like and characterize the face and expression of the old-fashioned “Mr. Red” mascot including his signature old-timer mustache.

​

​

The month of March is managing to “come in like a lion and go out like a lamb” once again as spring is beginning to show its graceful arrival.  Here is a photo of some early springtime blooms against a bright and beautiful blue sky that I took on an evening stroll the last Sunday of March and shared on my Instagram profile with notes about “VanGogh vibes” and the composition’s reminded inspiration of Vincent VanGogh’s famous “Almond Blossom”​ painting.
​

I note this photo as an Instagram share because Instagram allows me to add a song to my posted image and as an additional expression of the inspired springtime feels Van Gogh’s painting and images bring, another very favorite, Rachmaninov and his Symphony No. 2 { Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27: Ill. Adagio specifically} accompanies the picture in the post with some musical artwork that brings with it a similar springtime sense filled with the season’s beauty, peace, and hopefulness that Vincent VanGogh's and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s incredibly beautiful art reflects to me.