Painting Live at Citi Field
When I heard Steven and Alexandra Cohen bought the Mets franchise in November of 2020, I drove down to Citi Field, set up my easel and started painting. That was November 2020.
How does that connect with baseball in my life? Quick rundown, my mom’s dad was one of the original engineers at CBS Chicago when T.V. was invented. Back in the day, his crew was the first to put a Chicago Cubs game live on tv. Not only were they the engineers that ran all the cameras and equipment, they were the roadies who had to set up it all up and take it all down.
My mom as a little girl ran around the bases with her sister and the kids of the other crew members while the dads broke down the set.
Years later, my mom married a sailer from Omaha and moved there at 18. My dad became a policeman and as a courtesy they were able to bring their families for free to watch the Omaha Royals games. ( The triple A team for the Kansas City Royals now called the Omaha Storm Chasers.). So I grew up ducking under the turn styles at the local stadium to watch the games. ( I remember they had all us kids go under those turn styles)
I have been painting outside or “En Plain Air” since my undergraduate days at the Kansas City Art Institute in the late 1980’s. I learned from the best back then. My professor was the infamous Wilbur Niewald who lived to 97 years old. He is counted as one of the best American Impressionists of his day. He taught me how to paint like a French Impressionist.
Years later, while sitting at one of my son’s baseball games, I decided to bring my easel and paint the game. There was something that caught my eye about all the boys lined up in rows on the bench waiting for their turn to hit. I couldn’t just sit there, I had to capture that moment in time.
And that is what I do at Mets games at Citi Field. I capture a moment in time at a very special place with the best fans in the world! Let’s Go Mets!!
Theresa Kasun 