Portrait of an Artist
By Michael Solomowitz
Sports Memorabilia
September 1995

Samantha Wendell got her start in sports art by visiting a sports art gallery in Los Angeles in December 1989. In that gallery was a painting of Wayne Gretzky. She recognized it and said, "Wow, that's great. 'Who's that?" Her friend turned around and said, "Who's that? You don't know who that is?" She didn't know.

Wendell was born and raised in L.A. and grew up strongly influenced by the entertainment industry. Gretzky had just been traded to Los Angeles from Edmonton. "That's Wayne Gretzky," her friend replied. She said, "Who's that?" and he nearly fainted. He explained that Wayne was the most dominant player currently in a single sport. At the time, the gallery was planning a show with the Los Angeles Kings to inaugurate their first limited-edition print. "They invited me to take part," recalls Wendell. "I got into hockey because of that show. I got to photograph the players. It was more exciting than a concert."

Since that day, Wendell has even become friends with many of the hockey stars themselves, including Ed Belfour, Kelly Hrudey, Doug Gilmour, Dave Taylor, Bernie Nichols, Marty McSorley and Gatean Duschesne.

Wendell strives to be as accurate and realistic as possible with all her paintings. "I was interested in painting Belfour without his mask," Wendell says. "He said that wouldn't be real because he never takes his mask off from the time he lot of goalies flip their masks off when they drink water or when they talk to people. Belfour does not take his mask off. In order to be realistic in the painting, he thought it would be more accurate to paint him with his mask on."

Wendell is currently working on pieces of Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque in one painting, Belfour and Tony Esposito in another, along with other pieces of Curtis Joseph and Brett Hull. She is also working on classic pieces for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Trained as a portrait painter in France and England, Wendell further developed her concepts through vigorous research and discipline. She has since done paintings of not only Gretzky, but also hockey stars Tony Granato, Ed Belfour, Todd Elik, Luc Robitaille, Dave Taylor and Bernie Nicholls, along with classic paintings of baseball greats Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Many of the hockey stars and retired baseball greats, such as Ryan and Rose, have collected her paintings.

She has also done works on Pat Benatar, Roger Daltrey, Bob Dylan, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Julian Lennon, Bruce McNall, Burt Reynolds and a number of others. For more information, call (213) 931-5488.