Eric Cash Paintings

I had seen Eric Cash’s paintings on the internet a few months ago. They are finely detailed scene recreations of a number of Beatles moments in time. One picture in particular has gathered quite a bit of press because it depicts the initial meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, some 50 years ago. Eric’s paintings were fresh and emotional because he has a great touch with faces and facial expressions. His pictures require that you pay attention and look at the details.

One of our friends, Mark Naboshek (who provided us with our picture of the actual Handwritten Set list the Beatles used during their 1st U.S. concert…look in our Beatles Historical Documents section  to see that Historical Beatles Document…thanks again Mark) offered to introduce us and I was able to contact Eric and with his approval we can bring you his images and a short interview I was able to conduct with him.

News release about Eric Cash and his most famous recreation.

Painting depicting meeting of Lennon & McCartney to hang where they met in Liverpool.

Dallas, Texas -- Eric Cash's painting "The Introduction" will hang in the church hall at St. Peter's in Woolton village, Liverpool, the exact location where John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met on July 6, 1957 at the church's annual Garden Fete, the place where The Beatles was born.

"The Introduction" depicts the first meeting of Lennon and McCartney inside the church hall on that historic day. They were introduced to each other by mutual friend Ivan Vaughan between the afternoon and evening performances by Lennon's first band, the Quarrymen skiffle group.

Cash, a renowned illustrator who spent over a year on the painting, received word from St. Peter's Verger Graham Paisley confirming the church's interest in hanging the art to commemorate the historic event.

"The Introduction" by Eric Cash

"I have met with many Beatles fans from all over the world through my work at St Peter's Church describing the historic meeting between John and Paul", Paisley says. "However the painting by Eric Cash, brought this image to life and he has captured the meeting in St Peter's Hall in the style of the day, in a totally realistic and believable painting. A wonderful piece of artwork that will be displayed In St Peter's Church Hall -- proudly, 'The birthplace of the Beatles'." Since there were no cameras present to capture the moment, this painting may well be considered the definitive recording of the meeting for years to come."

The oil painting took over a year to complete, with a substantial amount of time devoted to research and conceptual sketches done with the assistance of models. With the help of historical photographs of St. Peter's Church, early photos of the members of the Quarrymen and advice from the band members who were present at the event, Cash has been able to create a never-before-seen representation of the very beginnings of The Beatles. Rod Davis, The Quarrymen's banjo player, says, "Eric has captured the feeling of the moment, the spark of tension between John and Paul which was to prove the basis of their musical relationship for years to come. It was a great idea (for a painting)!"

The Canada-based Beatles magazine "Beatlology" featured Cash and the painting in a cover story for its current issue. The artist, who has had Fossil, Disney and Upper Deck sports cards as clients, began a lifelong love of The Beatles in his youth and has created a collection of original works capturing various moments in the group's career.

"To be able to combine my passion for art with my love of The Beatles is a dream come true for me," Cash says. "I don't consider it work because it's something that's so close to my heart. On top of that, to have St. Peter's Church in Liverpool honor me by hanging a print of 'The Introduction' at the very location of that meeting is beyond words."

"The Introduction" and Cash's other Beatles paintings are available for viewing and sale on his web site, or for more information, call (214) 341-8761.

Eric’s talents have been used for many different ventures and corporations, as a sports nut I love the work he does on cards and magazines. I think being from Texas one of his heroes was baseball pitcher Nolan Ryan. Here are just a few of the companies Eric has drawn and painted for:

• Disney Studios
• Dr. Pepper
• Six Flags
• Warner Bros
• Texas Rangers Baseball Club
• Dallas Stars Hockey Club
• Dallas Mavericks Basketball Club
• Brown Books Publishing
• Upper Deck Card Company
• Donruss Card Company
• Beckett Publications

By the way Eric, where is the picture of Dirk Nowitzki…I’m a big time NBA fan.

Here is my interview with Eric Cash

Woody: I've looked at a fair amount of your work and obviously you have quite a talent for detail and could  paint anything you chose to...What led you to recreate the famous meeting between John and Paul?

Eric Cash: Well, in the summer of 2007, I was visiting my Dallas Beatle buddy, Mark Naboshek. We were discussing the fact that the 50th anniversary of the first meeting of Lennon and McCartney had arrived and that the Quarrymen were going to be at the Fest For Beatles fans that August to commemorate it. We talked about how amazing it was that Lennon’s Quarrybank High School Classmate Geoff Rind had taken an image of the band of very day when Lennon and McCartney first met at the iconic Woolton Fete.
Mark and I wondered what it would have been like if Rind had followed Lennon and The Quarrymen with his camera all afternoon and taken a shot of the meeting between John and Paul on that fateful summer day in 1957. We talked about how the meeting had been described in detail in magazine articles and books for decades, but there had never been an image of it. In 2000, an NBC television movie called The John Lennon Story had beautifully recreated the meeting, actually filming it in the church hall. Even so, neither of us had ever seen it illustrated in any way. Then Mark said, “You know, that would be a great painting for you to do. No one has ever seen that actual image.” I knew right then that it would be a major undertaking, but the notion excited me.

Woody: You have the boys facial expressions down to a tee...i just love it...Follow up question...while you are doing these paintings is there a moment where you go "That's it...that's the way it should look" and if so, does that moment come during the early sketches or not until you apply the color?

Eric Cash: It is a battle to the end, with me. Especially with well known faces, to have success I have to keep at it until I get it, usually towards the completion of the face. Sometimes if I get "the look" before I'm finished with the whole face, I generally work too carefully around it, which I don't like to do. Painting in itself is a bit of a battle to get paint manipulated to create a reasonable image. Sometimes the battle takes longer, BUT I always win in the end!

Woody: I love the Let It Be painting...was it based on an individual picture, like one of Linda McCartney's or is it more of a composite of a number of different scenes from the movie

Eric Cash: It's actually from the David Frost Show, when they performed Hey Jude in 1968. I put this together in Photoshop. The main image was a screen grab, But had to use a better shot of each of their heads, because the ones in the screen grab they were too blurry, so I had to find closer more detailed shots. So there were close-ups in the video, and I grabbed them and put them on the main shot on another layer in Photoshop.

Woody: Your pictures “Cuppa Tea” and “Paul on Mic”...what time frames are they from and what inspired these two pics?

Eric Cash: “Cuppa Tea” is from the Pepper sessions and “Paul on Mic” is during the Hey Bulldog sessions in 1968. I liked the shadows and lighting on Paul's face, and with the other I just thought it was great to have these two brilliant musical minds sitting there at work!

Here is the newest addition from Eric Cash - 7/2009 (thanks Eric)