WLM | art
and technique. I draw everything out first before I touch
anything with paint,” Zak says. “A great instructor once
told me you have 10,000 bad drawings in you and you
need to get them out of the way quick!”
Zak is now very well known for his multiple character
portraits. A lover of golf, he painted Masters Grip, his first
multiple portrait work, which was unveiled in 2011. The
creation is six feet by two feet, and features his realistic
caricature paintings of all 45 professional golfers (at that time),
set in the amazingly beautiful Augusta National Golf Course.
During one sleepless night, Zak was trying to think of
what he could create that hadn’t been done. He realized
that, while many paintings had been done of the presidents
singly or in a small grouping, none had been done with all
of them in one painting. Thus, his next work was born.
Zak approached Mick McMurry, a Casper entrepreneur,
about the idea. A fan of Zak’s work, the late Mr. McMurry
considered him to be Wyoming’s Norman Rockwell. He
happily agreed, and commissioned the work. Zak set
out to create a masterpiece compiling all the presidents,
completed in his signature, realistic caricature style.
New and used books, unusual and
Wyoming made gifts, travel guides, puzzles and
games, and a beverage bar.
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Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Winter & Holiday 2016