Local Coach Finds New Passion in Painting
When you first walk into the Racquet Corner on Lincoln’s “O” street corridor, you may notice a variety of paintings featuring many well-known tennis pros including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg and Maria Sharapova, among others. They are created in a distinct black and white style that seems to capture the personal details of each player so well. They are painted by local artist and tennis fanatic, Jerome Ehrlich. His signature is his nickname, Pearl.
“For me now, I love the process, from getting the idea of what I want to paint, to finishing with my signature, there's a lot in between,” he said. “Every one of my paintings is probably my favorite.”
Racquet Corner owners Ron and Bob Schultz say people always comment on the paintings, saying how good they are and some even ask if they can buy them. But they’re not for sale.
“One day he brought in a Federer painting and said ‘this belongs in a tennis shop,’ and then he kept bringing them in,” Ron said. “People are really surprised by the quality and they want to know who painted them.”
“As a tennis player myself, I like capturing those moments of action,” Ehrlich said. “I was a serve and volley-er, so any image of these two actions are very intriguing to me.”
Ehrlich has been creating these paintings for around ten years. He’s been drawing and sketching since he was a boy, but has taken it up a notch since he retired from Lincoln Public Schools as a P.E. teacher a few years ago. He stays busy and is now the reserve boys’ tennis coach at Lincoln High School. He said there’s similarities between coaching and painting.
“Coaching, for me, is very similar to the ‘process’ I mentioned in painting,” he explained. “I love teaching the basics of tennis. Oftentimes I'm getting players that have zero tennis experience (blank canvas). I can teach them proper techniques from the beginning, not taking precious time away to correct bad habits. I love getting them in early August, and watching the progression to October. At some point in the season, I witness them "getting it", (painting ‘pops’) and that is one of my greatest joys.”
In addition to tennis, he also paints other athletes, celebrities, movie characters and graduation paintings. His business, Oyster Art, really took off when he started his own Twitter page to market them.
“I cannot believe how incredible it's been for me, especially in networking with people. For me, Twitter plus word-of-mouth has been incredible for my business. I stay incredibly busy doing commissioned work for people, and I love every minute of it.”
A Lincoln native, Ehrlich played baseball at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for one year before transferring to Nebraska Wesleyan. He played baseball for three years and spent his final year on the tennis team. Now in retirement, he likes to play golf and paint, usually one painting a day. If it’s raining, then maybe he’ll finish two.
To see more of his work, follow Erhlich on Twitter @oyster_art.
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