Hail to the “KING”

My brother has been after me for years to paint him a Muppet portrait- which I largely ignored. I decided to surprise him, however, when I was struck with the inspiration for this composition. My brother can be self-important, uber serious, and humorless- so Sam the Eagle was a natural choice. He also worked for Budweiser and to this day is relentlessly devoted to them and their products (me-“You wanna Estrella Galicia?” my brother- “Why can’t you be a man and drink a real beer? Like Bud?”). While driving I saw a Bud billboard and it clicked! Place Sam in front of a Bud sign, wings crossed, Bud in hand and you have a blue-collar “KING”. The wings of the Bud crest appear as an olive wreath crown, the circle sanctifies him like in Eastern-Orthodox iconography, the horizontal runners draw your eye to his penetrating and regal glare-a “Great American” like Sam would only drink Bud anyways, so there you have it- probably my favorite painting to date, to boot!