Most things in here don’t react too well to bullets

Give me a ping Vasili, one ping only, please.

“The Hunt for Red October” is one of those classic movies that never gets old. It is a war political thriller based on a bestseller novel with the same title by Tom Clancy.

The story is set during the late Cold War era. It involves a rogue Soviet naval captain, Marko Ramius, who wishes to defect to the United States with an advanced nuclear missile submarine.

The movie holds itself pretty well, and nearly everything is perfect (the action, pacing, sets…). Everyone involved in this movie is excellent, especially Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius with such memorable quotes (“One ping only” or “most things in here don’t react too well to bullets”).

While not intentional, it seems this year I am paying homage to movies and series that have been (and still are) relevant in my life.

Looking for good references

A bit creepy but interesting nonetheless.

I’ve looking for reference pictures for this new painting and couldn’t find many good ones. The movie is set inside a submarine, and the characters are mostly still or talking. 

Still, I find this promotional picture of Sean Connery against a fiery red backdrop. It looks like an official portrait from Soviet Era, so it was perfect for my purposes.

Since Connery’s head has very high contrast in the reference photo. In the initial stages of the painting, I covered half of the sketch with the same red paint that I have used for the background. That allowed me to paint over later while keeping those values beneath.

The background is insinuated using darker strokes of red, as the focus of the painting should be on the figure. 

So. Many. Ribbons.

Click picture to enlarge

The same issue happens with the most troublesome aspect of the painting: those damn Soviet Navy ribbons in his jacket. There were so many little slabs of colors! Those ribbons are a secondary element of the image. While they help define the character, they don’t need to be super precise, as you should spend more time looking and the face of Marko Ramius. 

I have chosen this portrait for a group painting exhibition held in September at BBVA Art Gallery in Oviedo.

For this reason, the painting will be not available for sale until the exhibition is over.

But if you are interested in it, please don’t hesitate to contact me.