Jeff Bridges - Tribute to The Dude by David O'Keefe

16"x20" Limited Edition giclee on canvas signed and numbered by the Artist

24"x32" Limited Edition giclee on canvas signed and numbered by the Artist

We’ve been getting requests to do an image from “The Big Lebowski’’ for a while now, and I’m glad I finally got to do one. I picked “The Dude’’ because there are other strong characters in the movie but he’s the one that really holds it together.

Jeff Bridges is just absolutely amazing in that role. I’ve got him shuffling around with his white Russian so he doesn’t spill it. I figured there were three possible ways to paint him: with the white Russian, with the rug, or in the bowling alley - and the white Russian seemed to work the best. It’s just a constant thing in the movie, from the very first scene when he’s in the grocery store getting the half/half and writing a check for 69 cents.

I love the movie. Physical humor is my favorite kind and there’s so much physical humor in it. The way “The Dude’’ moves, the way all the characters move in the bowling alley. It’s just totally different than other movies and has developed a big fan base, which isn’t surprising.

It is so quotable too - like some of the other movies I’ve painted - just about everything “The Dude’’ says is a classic quote. We picked, “Hey, careful man, there’s a beverage here!’’ for our T-shirt.

"Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here!''

David's Inspiration:

The idea for this piece came to me as I was watching a replay of one of the World Series games and they showed one of the Boston Red Sox players hit a home run. When he came around to home plate, a bunch of his teammates came to congratulate him and with the beards they've all been growing this season, they all looked the same. It looked like it was a photoshop of the same person doing everything.

I thought it would be cool to show them as a team of bearded guys. These are not specific players, they are four individuals who make up one bearded team.

The way I understand it, one of the players started growing a beard during spring training in Fort Myers, FL, and encouraged the others to grow beards as a bonding exercise and a symbol of teamwork. And it worked. They were in the cellar last year, when they all came together as a team they went from worst to first.

The faces of the four players are similar, yet a little different. Working on the beards that blend together and say "Red Sox'' was a little tedious, drawing all those little hairs in the beards. There are eight total colors in the beards because each beard has two colors. No two beards are alike, yet in a cluster they appear uniform - just like the Red Sox did this year.

I decided to have 95 in the limited edition since it had been 95 years since the Sox won a World Series at Fenway Park. The Curse of the Bambino is now completely over!

SHIPPING TIMES:

Prints may take up to 2 weeks to ship, and some canvas Giclee' may take longer.

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