Beyond the Octagon

BY KEVIN CZERWINSKI

Brittney Palmer didn’t always know where her journey would take her. She was quite certain, however, that it would ultimately put her in a place where she felt she could fulfill her true calling.

Palmer, 37, has long been an artist but it wasn’t until the last half decade that she began creating works depicting athletes, particularly baseball players. She played a prominent role in in the Topps 70 Project, which featured dozens of artists creating specialized cards to celebrate 50 years of baseball cards.

The Las Vegas resident, who created 16 cards for the Topps 70 Project [21 baseball cards overall], has done extensive live work at MLB All-Star games and is currently working on a new release for Cardsmith of a player yet to be revealed. Additionally, she has also done a series of Star Wars cards for Topps, all of which puts her in a special place, one where her work is not only popular but is very sought after in the highly competitive sports card market.

“I did imagine this is where I would be,” Palmer said. “I think if you have that expression, if you’re thinking it, you’re already envisioning yourself doing it. I was creating that reality in my mind and I always knew there was something there.

“When you have a passion for something, it becomes all consuming. I didn’t think it would be baseball cards but I always knew to hold onto some bigger plan.

It’s taken some time for that bigger plan to reach fruition. There were many stops along the way, including working as a professional dancer in Las Vegas in shows like Jubilee and working as a magician’s assistant. Palmer’s first true turn in the spotlight, however, came when she worked as a ring girl for UFC, a company with whom she ended up spending 16 years before retiring two years ago.

“It was a gig that became a career,” said Palmer, who is a graduate of the Brentwood Arts Center. “Everyone says that’s not a career but I did it for 16 years and paid my bills; that’s a career. I was always a full-time artist, though, because that’s where I always am. I knew going into it that when you have a passion like that [about art] it has to be nurtured.

“I think it [UFC and art] was always a balance. The first year after I retired I missed it; it was kind of an identity crisis. If I’m not the girl on the stage being oohed and aahed at, then who am I? It’s been transformative now that I’m in my older 30s.”

Palmer said her first love as an artist was painting portraits ‘till my hands were numb’ of rock legend Jimi Hendrix. While in school, though, she studied some of history’s greatest artists and began expanding her catalog. She began presenting her work in shows and galleries more than a dozen years ago.

She was still best-known at the time for her work with UFC, as well as being a Playboy cover model. It was that popularity among UFC fans, though, that spread into her artwork, allowing her to reach more and more people with each passing year. Palmer’s work has since appeared in nearly two dozen collections while being featured in exhibitions not only in the U.S. but in countries such as France, Australia and China.

Palmer got involved with 2020’s Topps 70 Project after being introduced to the card company by fellow Project 70 artist Gregory Siff.

“Topps knew of me and saw me when they were choosing artists and there were only three girls [working] on the Topps 70 project, which was really cool,” Palmer said. “Topps was one of my favorite projects; it got me to expand my creativity and my portfolio where I was able to create a new universe and dive into their stories while opening a whole new portal.”

Palmer, whose has become more of an avid baseball fan since beginning her work with Topps, has created cards featuring many of the game’s current greats as well as legendary figures in the game. Her favorite team is the Dodgers and she has created several cards of players from the club’s past and present, including Mookie Betts and Jackie Robinson. She painted Shohei Ohtani as an Angel and would love to create one of him as a Dodger.

Her favorite card in the collection, though, is of Hall-of-Famer Jim Palmer. That she and Palmer share a surname – no, they aren’t related – makes it seem like it would be a logical choice for a card. Her thinking about that particular card goes a bit deeper, though.

“There are so many reasons that card was very personal to me,” Palmer said. “Every card has its own story. He was number 22, the day my father passed away, so it was beautiful to pay homage to my dad. I chose a 1987-layout and Pacman because Pacman was invented in 1987. And there’s the last name.”

She has created other cards of former Pirate star Dock Ellis, which features an LSD motif related to the famous story of the hurler throwing a no-hitter while on the drug, Nolan Ryan and Roberto Clemente. The Clemente card was inspired by the legendary T-206 cards.

Palmer did more than just paint a portrait of the player, though. She dug deep into their stories and backgrounds to get a true idea of who they were and used that knowledge to create some remarkably special cards. Look for her Cardsmith creation, which features an Art Deco vibe, sometime in July.

Where Palmer goes from here remains to be seen. She’s engaged and is looking forward to starting a family and being a mom. That doesn’t mean, however, that she’ll be done with art. Palmer has fallen in love with baseball and doesn’t see that relationship ending any time soon.

“When you’re in your late 20s or early 30s, you have this vision to sell massive paintings in big galleries in places like Paris,” Palmer said. “Those are beautiful goals to have. I just think, though, that where I am at right now, I am going to stay present without the constant yearning and wanting. It becomes exhausting.

“Being a mother and having that next chapter is one of the most important things I will ever do.”

Palmer’s work can be found at www.brittneypalmer.com, where her cards range in price from $45 to $99. She would love to work with UFC and the WWE on cards but there is nothing on the horizon for either of those projects as of yet.

Whatever she winds up doing, though, it will just be another part of what has been a fantastic journey, one that seemingly will always take Palmer where she is supposed to be.