"Best Damn Team in the Land" - by Jason Yoder

		This has been a project "in the works" for some time now, and I'm glad that I've finally made it an "official" project of mine. This is an 18x36 painting on stretched canvas. Although the background and National Championship logo will be done in acrylic paints, the scenes/pictures will be done in oils. The picture at left shows the work with the beginning background layer and the start of the logo. The picture at right is the semi-finished product of the logo. I added some metallic silver paint to it later on and it turned out great.
		These two pictures feature the before-and-after of this scene, of Craig Krenzel scoring a touchdown on a keeper. Also featured in this picture -- Ben Hartsock, Vince Wilfork, Sean Taylor, Jonathon Vilma, and D.J. Williams -- all 6 players were drafted in the 2004 NFL Draft. I'm still going to add some finishing touches to the background, but I wanted to get started on the other picture, so I put it off a bit.
		In these two pictures you can see the progression from the very beginning of this portion of the painting -- to the finished part, featuring Ken Dorsey being sacked. Just one of the many beautiful moments from this game, as a Buckeye fan. I still may go back later on and add some minor highlights and details prior to calling it "officially" finished.
		These two photos show the "main" portion of the painting, when Jim Tressel and the Ohio State sideline realize they've just won the National Championship. What a great moment. You can see I did most of the pre-drawing before adding the first initial oil colors to the area. And, in the photo at right, you can see how it progressed, adding more color, shading, and more elements. The scary thing is, this painting has already taken me a long time, and this is essentially the half-way point of being finished. At this point, my goal is to have it completed before the football season is over -- but who knows.
		At left, you can see I've started to add Coach Tressel to the "main photo". I have most of the color and shading added to his famous sweatervest, and pants, but am just laying the "groundwork" for his facial shading and detail. And, at right, you can see how the entire painting is shaping up. Of course, you can't see the other two scenes left to paint, but they're blank, so I figure there's really no reason to show that part. At the beginning of the season, I was hoping after a big win over Texas, that I'd be motivated to have this painting done in time to celebrate another National Championship -- but it's not looking like it will be this season for the Buckeyes -- but you never know! Thanks for checking this painting out!