Vernon Wells Sr. has been a Jose Bautista fan for three years and a portrait artist for 10 times as long.
So when his son, longtime Jays centrefielder Vernon Wells, was traded to the Los Angeles Angels in January, the transaction didn’t dull the dad’s desire to commemorate Bautista’s breakout 2010 season with a painting.
Wells says this portrait took longer than most of his paintings because he needed to find two photos of Bautista from which to work. He estimates he put 180 hours of labour into it.
But by the time the Jays visited Arlington, Texas, for last weekend’s series against the Rangers, Wells, who lives in the Dallas area, had finished the painting and delivered it to the two-time all-star.
“My promise is that if you order something during spring training you’ll get it during the season,” said Wells, whose work hangs in the visitors clubhouse at The Ballpark in Arlington. “I’ve still got a couple months to get the rest of them done. Hopefully I will.”
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