70 GTO - watercolor

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.

50 Nash Healey - ink+watercolor

mixed, 2018

available, 5"x7"

prints and gifts also available

      A little American roadster from the era of the roadster.

55 Series 62 - watercolor + ink

 

mixed, 2018

available, 11"x15"

 prints and gifts also available

      Back when American cars were big, heavy and beautiful. A look at this one before the watercolor was applied is below. 

prints and gifts available only

65 Bonnie - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts also available

      A 1965 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. Yellow is a pretty difficult color for shiny sheet metal.

Red Bird - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

prints also available

      More fun with suggesting details. And, yes, another red car.

54 Corvette - watercolor

watercolor, 2018

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts also available

     I'm not sure I've painted a Corvette in a while. Classic Corvettes are one of those cars I have to paint once a year or so because of how beautiful, popular and fun they are. So, I guess I've filled my quota for a while.

Smiling 65 Galaxie 500 - ink+watercolor

mixed, 2017

available, 9"x12"

prints and gifts also available

      My mom had a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 when I was little. It wasn't a red convertible like this one. It was a sensible white four-door hardtop bought just before I was born. My dad drove a little two-door Ford Falcon with an engine that barely fit in the engine compartment. 
      It may sound strange but I'll always associate the grille of the 65 Galaxie with my mom's big, bright smile. I guess it's a mental association akin to pareidolia in which our brains automatically search for pattern and familiarity in an otherwise random jumble of stimuli. It's part of what makes us see familiar shapes in clouds or faces in the burn pattern of toast. I suppose a lot of people see faces in cars - some cars more than others; it's probably the genesis of the Cars animated movies. Maybe everybody thinks of their mom when they see a particular car. I consider myself blessed to get to see mine smiling at me when I see this one.

39 Cadillac - watercolor

watercolor, 2017

nfs, 11"x15"

prints and gifts also available

      Loosening up on car paintings always feels like a double-edged blade. I'm inclined to render cars photographically as I did for several years. But, as I've mentioned here before, I no longer want to be a camera; I want to interpret and paint loosely. So, sometimes I try to split the difference and render some parts tightly and some loosely. Baby steps. The grillwork on this one is loose partly out of necessity. If I were painting this on a full sheet or even a half, I might have been more exact in the execution of all that grill chrome. I've done it before. But, at this size I'm not sure my hand is that steady. So, we went loose and gave the impression of lots of chrome grill tines (for lack of a better word). The yellow is a factory color of the period, I think, though the original color probably wasn't so bright. The original isn't for sale because my daughter expressed an interest in it when it was still in progress -- mostly because her favorite color is yellow.

47 On The Block - watercolor

watercolor, 2017

available, 11"x15"

prints also available

      This is from an old photo from the late '40s or early '50s found in one of those caches of "found photos" becoming popular on the web these days. When I thought I was done I felt the buildings in the background were too dark and intense, demanding too much attention. So I used one of John Lovett's tricks and added a very thin layer of white gesso over them and the most distant car to tone them down and push them back. Worked like a charm.

55 Desoto - ink + watercolor

mixed, 2016

available, 9"x12"

prints and gifts also available

      A quick, little ink and wash classic car. This one works out pretty nicely in spite of a general loosening of the details in the chrome grill.

442 - watercolor+ink

mixed, 2016

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts also available

      I decided to jump forward into the muscle car era with an Olds 442, or 4-4-2 to be exact. The numbers stand for four-barrel carb, four-speed transmission, and dual exhaust. I had my doubts about doing a yellow car. But, using three different yellows and controlling the highlights actually made this one pop. The ink-only version is below and prints and gifts of it are available here.

50 Futuramic - watercolor+ink

mixed, 2016

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts also available

      It's been a while since my last ink+wash car. This time I thought I'd show the ink-only version (below). This one worked out very nicely. I played just a little loose with both the ink and the watercolor. Prints and gifts of the ink version also are available here.

48 Pontiac Silver Streak - ink+watercolor

mixed, 2015

available, 11"x15"

prints and gifts available

      This is how I spent part of a day off. I haven't done one of these in a while. It's time to get them back in the rotation.

53 Olds 98 - ink+watercolor

mixed, 2014

original available, 9"x12" $75

prints and gifts also available

55 T-Bird - watercolor + ink

mixed, 2013

original available, 9"x12" $125

prints and gifts also available

67 Firebird #2 - gouache

gouache, 2014

original available, 8"x10" $125

prints also available

From a photo I shot at a car show in Spencer, NC in May.

60 Chevy - gouache

gouache, 2014

original available, 8"x10" $150

prints also available

63 Corvette - gouache

gouache, 2014

original available, 5"x7" $75

prints also available

32 Ford - pencil sketch

pencil, 2014

original available, 8.5"x11" $45

prints also available

This is just a quick drawing I did over a couple slow days at work.

Mustang #4 - acrylics

acrylics, 2008

original available, 13"x17" $150

prints also available

It's still April and Mustang's still 50!