May 15, 2026

Artist James Fiorentino is back! E388

Show Notes
Transcript

Acclaimed Artist James Fiorentino returns for Part II of our conversation.

Talking points on this episode potentially include:

*What came first painting or collecting cards.

*When did you know you were a good artist?

*Working with Card companies.

*Does being a good athlete helped you paint them?

*Working with athletes and celebrities.

*Art history and the hobby.

*Why watercolors and favorite athletes to paint.

*Seeing your work in the Hall of Fame.

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Sports guard Nation hobby is the people Wheely News and Interviews.

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It's yon number one soul. Sports Gardations hobby is the people.

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Sports Guardation.

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What is up? Everybody? Welcome to Episode three eighty eight.

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Man twelve away from the big four hundred. We'll have

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to figure out something to do for that. Uh and uh,

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you know, when I really think about how long we've

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been doing this almost eight years now, and all the

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people we've had on, and you know, I think, you know,

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it's not just me. I know I'm the host, but

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it's the guest. It's you out there more importantly, right

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that listen to the show, so that me and the

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guests are not talking just to ourselves. Although we'd have fun,

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it's more fun knowing you're out there listening. So sincere

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heartfelt thanks for me. We also have some great sponsors

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that make this show possible, in no particular order, Iron

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Sports Cards, Sports Collectors, Digest, Tavey, Hotline, Upper Deck.

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I want to thank all of them.

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We are back with Part two today with artists. Acclaimed

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artist James Friorantino great sports artist, but he can paint

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anything as as great artists always can and not always can.

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But he can, and but more known for his sports work,

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if you will, and super nice guy from the Tri

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State area, New Jersey to be exact. And so today

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is the conclusion of our great conversation from last week.

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So without further ado, let's get the show started. You

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know you you mentioned like there's some accomplished, an acclaimed

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artists along with yourself, especially in the in the sports

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niche Is it more of a fraternity or can it

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get competitive too? Does everyone mostly get along or is

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there some instances where maybe that's not always the case.

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I think it's like anything in life, right, it's I mean,

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it's it's competitive. I mean, I don't I've mentored artists

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for the last twenty five years literally, and guys have

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been calling me for years, contacting me, and I am

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as good as I can be to everybody with advice

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and help, still doing it today. It is competitive, But

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I don't understand why an artists wouldn't be very supported

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of another artist because it benefits everybody. The more everyone

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does well, the better it.

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Is for every artist.

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But you know, it's life, and there are people out

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there who you know, act a certain way, and you know, again,

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I stay in my own lane to do what I

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what I do, And I've always had respect for a

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lot of guys, and I'm excited by some talented artists today.

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Like I mentioned, I've been lucky to even collaborate with

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some of them, you know, personally at events at shows,

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and so for me, it's always an honor to be

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friends with guys that who are talented and speaking with

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them and talking about artwork.

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And their process.

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And and again I I will tell people, you know,

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there are a tremendous amount of talented artists out there,

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not just in sports obviously in everything. Uh, you have

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to be very you know, I'm trying to think of

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the word like I hostile. Still today, I work hard,

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I'm going after things. I'm I'm marketing stuff, I'm thinking

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of stuff. I raise a lot of money for. It

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is the grind, even as well known as I am,

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and so there's a lot that goes into it. And

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so it's a business in the end, even though I

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do a lot, you know, for the love of it.

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So that's, you know, one of the main things I

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always tell people.

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But again, I think it's wonderful that you're seeing a

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lot of tremendous artists getting into this. I think a

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lot of those guys have seen me over the years,

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and hopefully I've influenced them to be excited about, you know,

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being able to do something like this. It's certainly more

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competitive now than it was when I first started, but anyway,

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it's it's it is fun to say.

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Like you mentioned, you've worked for some incredible athletes, Ted Williams,

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you mentioned Cal Ripken, others.

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Why do you ford I even believe I.

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Could be wrong, but is you know, talk about are

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can they be you know, you have to get into specifics,

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but can some of the athletes maybe be temperamental or

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hey is it done? Or you know what I mean,

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they sort of maybe rush the process or they don't

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realize the time and you know, or most of them

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pretty you know, personable where that's that's.

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Really not And it just varies by who it might be.

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Yeah, I mean it varies. I mean, it's not like

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every day and being commissioned by the players. A lot

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of it comes through other things. But I mean, overall,

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my experience for this many years has.

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Been extremely positive.

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Again, I'm meeting players in a different way versus like

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the regular public, and I've done a lot of good

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for a lot of players again, for them and their

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charities and things like that. But now I think overall,

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it's been an incredible experience. I look back, obviously and

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feel really blessed that I was around guys like you mentioned,

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like Ted Williams and Mantle, and I mean, it's been

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a lot of amazing athletes in all different sports. And

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so that's where, you know, it's really unique where there's

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a lot of artists who come into the field now

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who are just starting and you know, where like I

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have a lot of things I've done, which also ties

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myself into the history of what those players.

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Have done for them. But being around those.

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Legendary guys like Mays and Aaron and Ted Williams and

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Damago and man All and I was a kid becoming

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friendly with Whitey and Yogi and you know, Musual. I mean,

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just that to me will always be the greatest thing.

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I'll always have that I've got amazing stories with those players,

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you know, talking to him about baseball, you know, obviously

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being a kid playing at that time.

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I mean, it's just that's the amazing part I think

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for me.

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Yeah, incredible, like to you know, just to rub elbows

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with that kind of of you know, athletic talent and

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Hall of famers obviously in their in their own right.

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Have you ever you know, I always say have you ever?

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Because of these experiences that are unique. Uh, you know,

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other people may meet them, but like you said, not

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in the same vein as you you have. Have you

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ever thought about writing a book about you know, your

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you're sort of you know, your your career as an

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arts even as a young adult. Uh, and then you know,

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interweaving some of these stories with these incredible players.

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Yeah, I think. Well.

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I came out with a baseball book about a year

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a little over a year ago now, which was just

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on baseball, beautiful coffee table book with a lot of

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my baseball art only, and it has a lot of

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stories in that. And I did the baseball one because

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it was the easiest and that I've done the most

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and I had the most stories from it. So I'm

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super excited about that and people can still still get

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that book. But a book on my whole life would

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be unique, because even for me today, I can't believe

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some of the stuff I've done and experience, you know, again,

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outside of sports, whether it's being around Congressman John Lewis

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to the President, Gorbatschew, the Desmond to to two guys

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like Ali and boz Aldrin and and all these big

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athletes in different situations and meeting them and painting them

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and actors and it's been really amazing and and and

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even just again like I mentioned before, doing this for

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a living and helping people, and just all the organizations

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and my experience even in nature.

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And wild life and people like that. So it has

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been exciting.

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Maybe maybe one day when I'm older, it'll be something

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that people want to read from, you know how I

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was able to sort of do everything. But now I

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got the Baseball book out, which is kind of cool,

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and you know, I'm excited about that.

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Well you listen, I'll you know you said mention your

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son's a pretty you know, talented writer. Maybe he could

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be the writer and you could just tell him to

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fill in the details and and he could author the book, uh,

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you know, together with dad.

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There so something that some good.

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Point something that you so you mentioned, you know, working

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for tops in upper deck and and you know again

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even that it's just tremendous to get to do that

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as a kid that collected cards and.

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Someone that still does.

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How much were they did they give you a lot

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of leeway, like poetic license to like, hey, this is

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what we need, but you you do?

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Or were they Were they more hands on than maybe,

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you know, you would have preferred. How was that?

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Yeah, it was a little bit of both. I think

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the ninety nine Tops cards, I was in college. I

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was a junior in college, I believe sophomore junior. I

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worked on them with Bill Purdham, who was a talented,

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amazing artist, and I did ten out of the twenty

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cards of that ninety nine Tops Gallery Heritage Insert set.

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Obviously, the coolest thing was that they were.

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Modeled after the fifty three cards, so they were current

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players in the fifty three setting.

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I mean, I still love like the Griffy and the

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Gwyn and the Jeter.

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They I did a Hank Aaron, which was the only

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older player in that set.

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But that was an amazing set to do.

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And now would they You know, they give you images

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to work from, so you're basically working from whatever they

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tell you, and then you work on some of the

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old fifty three backgrounds. I think that was probably one

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of the most exciting things in my life. To like

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open up cards for the first time and pulling my

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artwork out of a pack, you know, going back to

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again being a collector, there was nothing.

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I mean, I was obsessed as a kid with baseball cards.

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I mean that's all I got for holidays and birthdays

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and was every single card and putting together and going through.

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That's how we knew every player and remembered everyone. So

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to obviously have those cards at that time was amazing.

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And then Upper Deck again now being twenty five years

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that was also tremendous because the first I mean I

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had done baseball, football, basketball, and hockey and golf, and

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the golf cards were Tiger Wood's rookie year, so I

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painted Tiger Woods rookie the baseball cards when they first

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came out, which all those other than the golf ones,

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they were all done in black and white, but they

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had my name on them.

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So I could not believe Upper Deck.

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Did that, which was awesome, like for them to say,

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we were just talking about how big artists feel. Upper

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Deck was ahead of their time in the sense of

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putting my name, the Fiorentino colle Action on those first

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baseball cards. So they were like saying, hey, you know,

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we believe in this artist. This artist is a big deal.

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Mix the cards better and the basketball ones now are

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just tremendous because you know, like the Jordan card I did,

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and there were game used versions of the cards with

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my artwork on them, which I think people are all starting

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to figure that out now. It's like there's Jordan game

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used cards, there's the my Jordan autograph version went for

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over fifty thousand in Heritage a few months ago. The

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Tiger Woods cards that are signed go for ten twenty grand,

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I think, so that was really exciting. That was seventy

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something paintings and I was still living at home with

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my parents, so I remember painting them all in the basement,

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you know, I think, go two thousand and one.

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So two thousand and three I did more for Upper Deck.

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My cards were on the on the boxes, on the packs,

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also very exciting, and that was a first. Did some

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cards for Kellogg's products, which were fun. The latest cards

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I had done was Tops Transcendent, and that was the

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first time I ever painted directly on the cards. So

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the previous paintings were all like eleven by fourteens and

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they would shrink them down. But this was the first

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time I was paying directly on a card surface. That

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was an amazing set. There was only fifty of my cards,

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all Baseball Hall of Famers that were found in those

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transcended the fifty Transcendent sets. Some of those would surface

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on eBay from time to time. I got a few back,

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which was cool. So again that was also exciting. So

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a lot of different like versions and ways that I've

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painted cards over the years.

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Certainly would love to do it again if it was

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like the right project.

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And again for me, it's like it's hard to go

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back backwards because being young, I was doing an amazing cards.

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So you know, for me it would be like, you know,

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I'd have to have like my own set or my

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name on the cards, or you know, something really unique

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and special and hope that you know, one of the

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card companies would be excited to work with me on

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something like that. I've been lucky enough to have a

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lot of people collect my artwork, and I feel like

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people will go really crazy for those cards of mine,

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and hopefully that'll be a future project to look for.

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Yeah, and I remember the Upper Dak and I remember

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the top two. But like you said, uh, you know,

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kudos to them for for even putting your name out

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of the right, recognizing the talent, uh specifically and and sort

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of giving a credit where credit was due and uh

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uh those was obviously like you mentioned, standard test at time.

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It's time for a quick break, thoughts will be right back.

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Hobby Hotline is the Hobby's only live, interactive call in show.

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Join some of your favorite Hobby personalities every Saturday eleven

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Hobby Hotline.

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Thanks for sticking with us, let's return to the show.

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Does it surprise you just in general, not just even

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art cards, but some of what these cards are going

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for in auction, like to you know, we're I'm probably

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a little bit older than you, but we're in the

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same sort of Eraror if you would have told the

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younger versions of ourselves what some of these cards would be,

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you know, millions, and like you said, even the signed

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art cards that are are five or six figures, Like

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you know, it's it's just crazy where the hobby has went,

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does it surprise.

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You or not not so much.

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Yeah, I think it surprised me a little. Not anymore.

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I think that people kind of figured it out and

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it caught up to like where it probably should be.

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Maybe it's a little high, but at the same time,

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it's like, you know, cards are like pieces of art,

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you know, especially the vintage cards and even some of

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the modern stuff, and you know the CEE these very

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rare cards signed by players.

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And it's just another alternative asset.

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That people want to collect, whether it's high end comics

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or coins or anything else.

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And it is exciting and it is some beautiful stuff.

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So and I think a lot of people who made

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a lot of money, been very successful put their money

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into it that's been able to allow this to happen.

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But sports are amazing and are wonderful and are memorable,

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and so now you're you're you're.

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Capturing that through cards, you're capturing that through art, and

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you're passing that on hopefully to your family and friends

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and people like that.

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So it is exciting to see that.

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And and like we were mentioned before, I love seeing

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the art side of it.

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Come through in that way. But yeah, it is amazing

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to see.

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The amount of wealth in all of this, and it's

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very cool to see my cards. I wish I had

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a bunch of the Jordan cards signed, I'd be very

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happy right now. But you know, it is even amazing

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for me to see, you know, one of those cards

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go for that much.

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You know, I'm sure you know that twenty twenty project,

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obviously in twenty twenty that they you know, like I said,

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art's always been a part of it, but that said again,

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sort of brought it to the forefront. People have been

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critical of it, some of the work in that people

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have claimed obviously the project itself did.

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Very very well.

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You know, what were your thoughts did you think that

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that health do you think that you know, was there

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00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.399
good and bad with with something like that or is

315
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.799
it like a double edged sword or is it all good?

316
00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:36.919
Yeah? Well, I think it's great.

317
00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:40.279
I mean again to me, I tell people, when you

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00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:42.840
collect my arty, collected for it, for the passion of

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00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:44.159
it and the love of it. Like I don't want

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people to necessarily invest in my art, even though my

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work has gone up over the years, and I feel

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like it continue and will continue and we never know

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what one of my paintings will sell down the road.

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00:16:52.039 --> 00:16:54.919
Those cards came out the right time, right is after COVID.

325
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.919
People are home, they're buying stuff, and it was fantastic

326
00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:00.679
to see all these different artists do this set.

327
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I know some of the artists that worked on those sets.

328
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I even collected some of them.

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00:17:05.240 --> 00:17:07.160
And again, I think, if you're buying them because you

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00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:11.559
generally appreciate them and view them and showcase them and

331
00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:13.480
have a passion for it, that's what you should be

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00:17:13.480 --> 00:17:15.759
buying it for. Whether they made a hundred of them

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00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.359
or one hundred thousand of them, it's all about what

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00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.160
you're getting out of it. You know, it's a big

335
00:17:21.160 --> 00:17:23.240
difference if you're spending a tremendous amount of money for

336
00:17:23.279 --> 00:17:26.440
a card, But in that case, you know you're paying

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00:17:26.440 --> 00:17:28.079
a decent amount, like a small amount that you can

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00:17:28.119 --> 00:17:30.559
afford pick the things you like. And again, it's just

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00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.319
fantastic that the artists had done well from that set,

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00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:34.799
that people really enjoyed it.

341
00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:37.680
A lot of those artists were meeting people at shows.

342
00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:42.160
It just I mean to me, like for me, going

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00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.359
to like the Philly Show or the National for example,

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00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:49.160
and meeting fans and clients and new people to my work.

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That's what it's all about like you go to a

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00:17:50.519 --> 00:17:53.000
show now and it's so interesting. It's not just cards,

347
00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:57.279
it's all different people there doing different things. And then

348
00:17:57.279 --> 00:17:59.720
when you can meet an artist who works on those sets,

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that's incredibly satisfying. There's a lot of younger kids, like

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00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:06.640
we were talking about earlier, who are in sports, aren't

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into drawing, and and they get excited to meet me

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and other artists. So I think it's great. I love it.

353
00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:15.920
I I do like what what Tops has done with

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00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:20.200
with art. Like anything else. Sometimes maybe things get to

355
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:23.519
be a little too much, but but overall, I think

356
00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:26.279
it's wonderful that they're promoting it and and they've done

357
00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:27.279
a really good job with it.

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00:18:27.440 --> 00:18:29.759
James, you mentioned sort of you know, want to get

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00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:32.480
back on the horse and maybe work with a card

360
00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:36.680
manufacturer again, Uh, getting your work on some cards? What

361
00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:39.559
about and again I don't know, the le galleries. Maybe

362
00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.119
in the same way you would. We've seen like uh,

363
00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:45.920
Dick Perez, who I know we meant you mentioned earlier.

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00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:49.480
He's done stuff like on his own, Uh, like producing

365
00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:53.279
some sets on his own. Has that something that maybe

366
00:18:53.319 --> 00:18:56.160
you would do or want to do, or has that

367
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you know?

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I don't want to.

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I don't want to steal the secret sauce. But is

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that something like if if a card company doesn't come calling,

371
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:06.960
per se, like you can still do like your original

372
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art work.

373
00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:08.160
I don't.

374
00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:12.400
Again, I don't know. Yeah, something we may see.

375
00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:13.799
Yeah, I mean I don't.

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00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.400
I really now, I only paint originals, so I'm able

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00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.200
to paint, you know, any kind of original or small

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00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:21.799
painting that would be like a size, a card size

379
00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:24.680
or something like that. But no, I wouldn't like produce

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00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.920
my own cards or anything. I really only work on

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originals for clients. But I've already been approached by card

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00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:33.359
companies in the past. I think like it'll it'll come

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00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:34.799
in the future as well. It's just a matter of

384
00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:36.240
kind of putting it all together.

385
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To make it work.

386
00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:39.640
But you know, even doing stuff with the Baseball Hall

387
00:19:39.640 --> 00:19:41.880
of Fame right now, there maybe even projects like that

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00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:44.200
down the road to do. But yeah, I'm hoping to

389
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:46.279
work with one of those card companies again and do

390
00:19:46.359 --> 00:19:48.319
some fun stuff. I always feel like what what's meant

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to be is meant to be, and luckily.

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I'm always busy with doing a lot of work.

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But yeah, I would I would only do like cards

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really honestly, if I was working directly with one of

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those companies like that. But for me, you know, it's

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00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:05.200

Artist James Fiorentino is back! E388

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