"Yul Brynner"

10 x 12"

Oil on canvas

As someone who is a huge fan of westerns, it seems a bit strange to admit that it took me quite a while to get round to watching all of The Magnificent Seven. I'd seen parts of it many times before, probably during its numerous Saturday afternoon screenings on the telly. And even though I must have been too distracted or too impatient to sit through the whole thing, my young mind was forever imprinted with at least two faces of 'the seven' - those of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. I suppose those are the two actors whom most people could at least name if you asked them to try and list all seven.

Faces aside though, it's probably the voice of Yul Brynner that I remembered the most - deep and powerful, but sort of reassuring at the same time. Like you knew he had a mean streak but was really one of the 'good guys'.

When I decided to paint this portrait of Brynner as the mercenary leader Chris Adams, I couldn't paint his voice of course. Nor could I paint that distinctive walk of his. And when he's wearing his black hat, it's difficult to show off the trademark shaven head. But even without those characteristics, I think I've managed to capture something of the spirit of Brynner as Adams. It was a really enjoyable portrait to do and I'm pleased with how it turned out. The next question is should I go on and paint portraits of the remaining six? Well, I'm not committing to that just yet, but it would be very cool!

p.s. You'll notice I've also posted up an extra photograph of the painting this time. I thought a side view would be a good idea, since it lets people get a better impression of the painting as a finished canvas. I'll try and do this in future posts as well.