Peterbrough Hot Rod, Custom & American Car Show.
Will we see you there?
We’re looking forward to exhibiting at Peterborough Show Ground this weekend for the Hot Rod, Custom & American Car Show, along with the Modified Show.
It’s shaping up to be a great weekend. Will we see you there?
My website has recently had a major overhaul in the background including a security update, you may have noticed the new https status.
All good news apart from the possibility that some of you who have subscribed for email updates on New Artwork and info on upcoming Shows and Exhibitions may have lost your subscription for which I apologise.
I will share this post across my social media platforms but a quick way of knowing whether you’ve lost your subscription is to see if you receive this post as an email. If this update arrived in your email inbox you don’t need to do a thing and I thank you for your support.
To subscribe simply scroll down and look for the subscription box, it looks like this…
… just fill in your name & email address and click SUBSCIBE.
Please let me know if you had to re-subscribe in the comments below
We hope you are all healthy and coping in the best way you can in these challenging times.
I just wanted to let you know that although the Corona Virus may have caused the cancellation of car-show events, we are still OPEN here online. And I’m pleased to emphasise that the Delivery Services are all still working so we can process our online sales with no problems at all.
We have lots of artwork here with us and if you want some of it there with you just send Mandy or myself a message and, if you’re struggling, we can play some haggle games on pricing. Don’t be shy, I mean who would have thought that the governments of the world would have the entire population standing 2 meters apart within just a few months, so anything is possible! and as a helpful tip Mandy is usually much friendlier than I am when it comes to a deal (I still scavenge through skips looking for something that might “Come in handy”! )
In the meantime I’m going to be displaying my latest work for sale online together with any offers, so don’t forget to subscribe for updates.
And if you’re cheeky enough to speak to Mandy …
You’ll find her on Facebook – www.facebook.com/MandyGuy.writer
I never set out to be an artist! I’d never taken myself seriously enough to know really what I was doing or why and to be honest the art world and art galleries kind of scared me. I was just compelled to draw, an impression in my own mind of the finished piece wasn’t what drove me forward it was more a feeling or an emotion that I needed to express, confidence was something that evaded me.
Moving on quite a few decades and wondering how I had got to this point without real plans or direction I’m realising more and more that it’s the love and appreciation of my work that is the very catalyst of everything that I am and for that I will be eternally grateful. There is a certain vulnerability to this too which feeds my adrenalin, you guys have the power to make or break me, the decision is in your hands and you are always surprising me.
A couple of years ago whilst we were trading at one of the more arty shows I was approached and asked if I would be interested in selling my used palette! My disposable palette? After some confusion on my part I signed and exchanged my used cast-off for cash and wondered what the hell had just happened.
A year later and in the lead up to the same show, I realised because of my commission work load that I didn’t have any original paintings to display and then remembered the palette sale. So I began to play with the idea of rendering a vehicle in oils onto a used palette knowing that I would have to loosen my style and colour combinations to compliment this abstract background squelch of tones and hues that lay before me.
For me this was a huge ask. I am obsessively a stickler for detail, often far beyond need or want, never happy with a finished piece and I was now challenging myself to be, for want of a better word, loose, messy even. The clock was ticking as I sent myself down a road to which the consequences could not only have been messy but there was the distinct possibility of an explosion of emotions leading to self-destruction. I console myself sometimes about my strange behaviour by thinking back to the day a very wise older lady turned to me and said “You’re allowed to, you’re an artist”. This was the excuse I was using now for my change of style and possible reaction to comments such as “What the hell were you thinking”…
This Palette Painting sold on its first showing along with such comments as :
“I think I prefer these to your normal paintings” “These are much more arty” “I love the idea of owning an actual physical piece of the artist’s creative process”
The question that I have tried to push to the back of my mind now however is, has my obsessive attention to detail previously been influencing my customers’ choices with regards commissioned work? I’ll leave that there for now. The art lover who took it upon himself to ask to purchase that first palette I’m sure doesn’t realise how that action and his kind words activated a shift in my thinking, helping to change my perception of how I work and within reason how I deal with my life/work balance. I really enjoy the looseness of these paintings, the freedom to experiment and explore.
A year on and I have a growing list of new commissions for these strange paintings that manifest from ready and waiting incidental background splashes of oil paint that hold within them the mystery of previous creations. And the attitude of the customer has changed too.
“We’ll just leave it to you” and “You’re the artist, you just go with the flow”
I will always love creating a ‘story’ with my more detailed paintings but the freedom of movement I have with these new sporadic palette paintings is strangely empowering, encouraging me to take risks and venture to places that have previously been my own private guilty artistic pleasure. The best thing of all is that it’s ok, you said, and anyway, I’m allowed, I’m an artist! …
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And here’s my latest, they both sold quickly after writing this. I’d be interested in what you think but I’m not fully liberated yet, so be gentle …
Prints of this Model T Hot Rod are available here
These palette paintings are proving to be so popular I’m now having prints produced. Here’s the new range so far including new palette art not seen in this article :
motoringartist.com/product-tag/palette-painting
This painting, which I’ve called “Low Flyers”, had been festering in my mind for some time before I was able to capture it on canvas. I knew it had to be imposing and I wanted it to take the viewer through a varied range of emotions. The canvas needed to be large to make an impact not only when viewed but I wanted it to be ‘heard’ too. So deafening yet so humbling that it almost falls silent, begging the question, if a young girl screams excitedly but no one can hear her, does she actually make a noise? I chose a 2ft by 3ft canvas and had to force myself to find enough time to put aside to create this piece. This decision was helped along by my family telling me that putting it on hold was starting to affect my commissioned work and I was also becoming impossible to live with! Incentive enough!
Canvas primed and eagerly grabbing my oils and brushes I was ready to capture the feeling of speed and raw overwhelming power.
So here it is. Just as the boys and the girl think they’ve reached the edge of a full adrenalin rush in their hot rods suddenly from nowhere comes the almighty sound and overpowering presence of a B17 Flying Fortress bomber accompanied by a P51 Mustang and a P47 Thunderbolt!
If you’re interested in a print here’s a link:
Flicking through some photos recently I came across a rarity, for me, in the way of a set of progress shots on one of my paintings.
I always try and remember to take progress photos when I’m painting, they make for a great record to look back on. But I’m usually so lost in the moment I totally forget. This time I’d had the great idea of sticking a post-it note on my studio door in the hope that when I headed for a coffee break I might just notice my sign to myself that reads simply “Take a Photo!”
So here I can share with you the few photos I remembered to take on the progress of a recent commissioned painting featuring some real American Icons, a Mustang, an F150 Pickup and a couple of Harley Davidsons all resting at a classic Gas Station.
I had a good few photos presented to me from which I was able to choose suitable angles to work with …
The brief was to capture these two as the main feature and, although the setting was left to me, a Gas Station had been suggested. This was going to be a present for my client’s wife, she being the owner of both bike and car. Knowing him as well as I do I thought with only a little detective work I just might be able to get hold of a couple of shots of his bike and truck and slip them in to the background somewhere as a little surprise for him too. Good old Facebook didn’t let me down as a good source of photos.
So a few quick sketches were doodled for composition and Gas Station design (sorry I’ve no photos of those) and then I was straight onto the canvas …
You’ll notice I’d progressed quite well into this painting before remembering to take a photo! But you’ll see a strong underpainting in sepia browns that I usually let dry overnight before working, as always, from the back to the foreground. In particular here you’ll see I’m already adding the surprise bike and truck, whilst leaning on my trusty self-made mahl stick with tiny brush in hand.
Working on the building here and also defining the road on the left, including the white stripe that really helps to add depth to this composition as well as maybe lead your eye off to the distance to go exploring.
Big jumps in the progress of this as, like I’ve mentioned, it’s so easy to get so deep “in the zone” you forget you’ve told yourself to stop now and then to take a snap-shot.
Here I am getting lost in all the chrome and details of the Harley. Motorcycles can take so much time to complete, and get right! So there’s my tiny brush again working overtime.
And here’s the finished result from burning the midnight oil. It’s hard to get a good photo of a shiny Oil Painting under artificial light but I’m sure you get the idea …
Scribbling away at trying to come up with a girl to feature in one of my paintings I was determined I didn’t want her to be obviously pretty and draped across a car, I mean, how often has that been done …
No, I wanted a character that left you asking questions.
Doodling frantically I was conjuring up a backdrop in my head, and the scene was quickly becoming rather apocalyptic. My ideas heading towards a gloomy uninviting American Diner with broken buzzing neons and unwelcoming signage. I was sketching an “Eat Here” sign and whilst going back over the lettering with darker thicker lines I stopped at EAT HER … and thought “Zombies!”
Although it’s not necessarily noticeable straight away, which is how I want it, the whole composition is based around the large image of a skull.
These early stages are always the trickiest ones where too much coffee is consumed and there’s a lot of sitting and staring …
As progress unfolds there’s something not working for me as I try to fit everything around the large skull hidden in the Diner …
At this stage I stop! … drink more coffee, stare and curse!
That skull just isn’t working where it is, it isn’t lining up with the car. But I’ve put so much work into it already. Yes, but it’s in the wrong place and also, those eyes are a little bit …. comical! Ouch, comical? Do I have to be so brutal and honest?! Well okay, you carry on then if you don’t want to hear it, but you’ll be cursing all the way through to the end of this one if you don’t do something about it now …
… and I have to admit that the skull was never going to work where it was, and okay it didn’t look angry it looked … comical
So I scrub it out and paint over it moving the skull just a little to the left so the top jaw and cheekbone lines up with the C pillar and roof of the Cougar and whilst doing so I work on changing the mood of the expression from, what I thought was, angry to a little more sinister …
Of course this is much easier said than done as I now have to re-work the Diner to suit. This entails subtle changes to the details, things like the corrugated iron, the layout of the windows, the doorway and the smoke coming out of the chimney. You’ll see I added another chimney …
Ok, now we’re getting somewhere, things are lining up, falling into place and looking good. Another coffee I think, and then on with the details, like some neon signs and that area on the left where the light is coming through. It needs something, or someone, to just catch the eye …
So now I’m really getting into the details and focusing on the area that’s going to grab the most attention, the girl …
I find the subject of pretty girls one of the hardest things to paint. One little misdirected brushstroke and all of a sudden no longer is she pretty. The face I’m painting here is no larger than my thumb nail …
… just a little more close up work …
… and I think she’s done …
So it’s time for another coffee before taking a look at the canvas again as a whole.
With the girl in place and the major details dealt with it’s time to work around the canvas adding and tweaking …
I pull out skulls from the shadows and contours of the ground as they almost seem to present themselves to me. And I tweak the lights, not only on the Mercury but also the neon signs and the lights inside the diner. Adding highlights, shadows and details that complement the overall composition, including birds on the wires, I stand back from the canvas making sure the major skull is not lost within the picture and yet still not too obvious. Just a few more brushstrokes, a little more looking, maybe one more coffee, until …
It’s finished! Almost an anti-climax as I stand there with a loaded brush and nowhere to offload the paint. It’s done. I didn’t decide it was done, it kinda decided for me.
So there you have it, the ramblings of mind and coffee as another artwork is produced and another image is set free from my imaginings.
I’ve recently finished this commissioned oil painting featuring The Crop Duster Funny Car and it’s companion The M&R Special Slingshot Dragster parked up in the Grove at Famoso Raceway, Bakersfield, California. You may not notice at first that a crop duster light aircraft also appears in the artwork …
My clients for this one are long-term collectors of my work and now good friends. The brief was simple as they have come to trust in what I produce.
Working with a selection of their photos of the featured cars and plane and some of my own photos of the Grove at Famoso I was able to come up with a composition that not only worked well for featuring everything requested but, even at the rough drawing stage, excited me!
I was quick to grab a 20″ x 16″ canvas and set to work drawing up the composition in more detail and colour washing the canvas to get rid of the bright white background …
So here’s some progress pics …
I’m happy to say that my clients were very pleased with the results, as were the owners of the cars, and plane.
Prints are available, here’s a link, click on the image 
