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Artist captures Rockies' brush with greatness

Five paintings of players, stadium commissioned

Lynn DeBruin, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 22, 2007 at midnight

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He has captured John Elway in his Super seasons, Mickey Mantle in his prime and Kirk Gibson's memorable trot around the bases.

Now, renowned sports artist Malcolm Farley colorfully has splashed Todd Helton on canvas - specifically, the swing that many consider the defining moment of the Rockies' streak in which they have won 21 of 22 games - his two-out, two run, walk-off home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sept 18.

"Very cool. He does good work," Helton said Sunday after eyeing and signing the 48-inch- by-36-inch oil-and-acrylic painting during a private event at Latitude Sports Marketing in Greenwood Village.

In self-deprecating style, Helton then added, "It's hard to make an ugly thing look good."

Farley, who was born and raised in Denver, surely would disagree. He already views the Helton painting as one of his favorites - perhaps even more so than those of local legend Elway.

"I'm a baseball guy and a coach," Farley said, noting that his son, Parker, competed last year in the Little League World Series with the Arvada West Roadrunners.

"I've done so much stuff with the Yankees lately, it's so nice to have them talking about Colorado."

Farley has been commissioned by Major League Baseball to do a series of five pieces: Helton's home run; shortstop Troy Tulowitzki turning a double play; two of Matt Holliday, including his shot over the center- field wall in the pennant-clinching victory; and a stadium piece with fireworks erupting over Denver's night sky.

His work last week took him to Los Angeles to paint Stevie Wonder during an awards ceremony, to New York to paint Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James and to San Antonio, where he crossed paths with Eva Longoria, wife of Spurs guard Tony Parker.

"They're all Rockies fans," he said of Wonder, James and Longoria. "They're all talking about the Rockies. It's what's good about baseball."

Farley's work is available at galleriadelsol.com.