watercolor, 2020
available, 11"x15"
A little piece of the tail of a 1957 Buick. It's hard to tell from the reference photo I had, but I think this car had been hit somewhere in the rear causing an odd looking shift in direction for certain parts. Or, I guess it's possible that at such an isolated view some things just look like they fit together quite right.
mixed; 2019
NFS; 8"x10"
A quick little piece I did for a friend's father. This was a car he used to own and only had a couple photos of it in his driveway. I sent it to him through his son, my high school friend, and he liked it so much he mailed me a hand-written thank-you note. Better than any commission check.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
A quick look at a northwestern church with a classic car parked out front.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
It's probably just a sense of nostalgia, but I have a soft spot for even these old full-size Jeeps. I'm sure if I actually drove one, I would feel like it was too big after driving a much smaller XJ Cherokee for years. But, I can't help wishing I'd been introduced to these way back when.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
This was meant to be a quick, sketchy car painting. But, it turned into a much more realistic piece, though it still took just a few hours. Most of that was drying time for the several layers of red.
watercolor, 2019,
available, 11"x15"
Once upon a time, your spare tire was part of the elegance of your car. Painted fairly loosely to begin with, I made this one intentionally looser with a judicious addition of gesso even in unusual areas. I like the result enough that you'll probably see it again. A little white watercolor pencil helped with the spoke reflections.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
An older Jeep Cherokee Chief. Successfully kept it a little loose. But, I think the photo is a bit dark.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
In spite of the attempt at looseness, this classic car still looks pretty detailed. It also seems more darkly-toned than most of my car paintings. That wasn't really intentional. But the shadows in the reference photo were a little unusual. Maybe I captured a little atmosphere without knowing it.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
Just an old Buick left to its own devices on the prairie. I used a little thinned gesso to knock back some of the color intensity in the bottom corners. I like the look of the gesso rather than just lifting with a wet brush. There's also a considerable amount of dry-brush to get the lightest grasses.
watercolor, 2019
available, 11"x15"
I'm very happy with this Jeep J20. I was able to get it loose-but-detailed and the colors complement nicely. It's probably one of my better car paintings of the last few months.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
Nice value contrast. Nice foreshortening. I like how the color contrast worked out between the manganese and phthalo blues and the burnt sienna/umber reds. My favoritest part is that highlight just behind the headlight. I don't know if I could do that again on purpose if I had to.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
A rusty old Packard. Not much more to say about this one.
watercolor,2018
available, 11"x15"
So far, my favorite vehicle that I've ever owned. I'm still holding out for a Wrangler, though.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
Milton's rusty old Chrysler hasn't run in 50 years.
There's a fair amount of dry-brush on this one. I also used some thin acrylic gesso to wash out corners.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
Bessie is the car used primarily by the third incarnation of the BBC's Doctor Who played by Jon Pertwee in the early 1970s. The original car used in filming was a kit car built on a British Ford chassis and is in an automotive museum in England. The car in the reference photo I used for this painting is either another kit car or an original Ford modified to honor the original Bessie. While filming the license plate read WHO 1 or some variation depending on which Doctor was using it. But the car couldn't be registered under that number officially because it already was in use by a private citizen. I left it as it appears in the photo because I just didn't feel like struggling with the problems of perspective and lettering.
I initially set up this post in late December since you can schedule blog posts and I like to know I'm covered for a while and all the information above already was set two months ago. And I included that information about the original car because I was afraid (and rightly so) that someone would have an issue with this painting and it's subject matter. Sure enough, some idiot on a gallery site this week spent several hours (by his own admission) researching information about the original car used in filming to try to one-up me on calling this "Bessie" while it was "so obvious" that it wasn't the original on-screen car. Sometimes - even in art - you just want to slap some people.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
A Marathon cab in a dark garage. Yellows are always a struggle for me. There were times when I didn't think this one was going to make it. Then I had to deal with that black background with the backlighting. The license plate isn't misspelled; it includes my kids' initials as most of my paintings do.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
Convertible red muscle cars are always popular. I've started experimenting with shooting my paintings with my dslr instead of scanning them. The gradients and color are better. But, I'm still struggling with even lighting and getting the paper as white as it should be.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
I couldn't resist juxtaposing a rusting out hulk of rolling sculpture that's only about 70 years old against the still-chugging steam locomotive that's probably well over 100 years old in the background. There are a couple issues here, but everything pales in comparison to how well that smoke turned out.
The title is from Sam Raimi's mid-90s Western. I thought it was appropriate.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
Just a close-up of a bullet hood ornament. I just can't remember what model this is.
watercolor, 2018
available, 11"x15"
That was a tough green to create. I tried to match an actual factory color. It's close-ish. If you know the color, you'll get the idea. Call it a "suggestion."
