Catalina progress

as promised an update!  Can you see the progress?
The tail, the base of the clouds and a bit more reflection...

soon Marcus... soon!

For reference the canvas is 62cm x 46cm... thats like.. A2 size.

day after the day after Christmas

whew, thats Chrissy over... now back to reality..
Catalina going well as Matinee Idle has restarted and the afternoons are just perfeck for creating.
Matinee Idle? For those who may like odd musical references by a couple of old musos with comedy public interaction thrown in try listening to the New Zealand National program in our afternoons.
Meanwhile here's another couple of new models! Both 1/18 scale. The BMW is by Anson and not the best model but complements my JPS BMW nicely and the Tyrrell is Jackie stewarts 006 version and very tasty indeed, created by True Scale Miniatures.
catalina update very soon!

Painters Block

Must be a blockage of some sort as its been over a month since the last post.
Nearly Christmas. Sorry Marcus... looks like it'll be finished in the New Year.. given we survive the apocalypse! Ive been on holiday for a couple of weeks and doing lots of packing of prints and DVD's not to mention the calendars I made up after hearing about Warwicks super pro versions. Mine are simple but selling well!!

anyway I HAVE managed a few hours on the Catalina. S L O W going now with tiny brushes but Ive done the engines and most of the front and am moving into the centre section and tail. You 'may' be able to see some progress?

Catalina reflecting

Bit of a slow couple of weeks for the Catalina but Ive had a good go over the last two evenings.
Finally made some progress on the front of the fuselage. Have to turn the canvas upside down to do the reflections... Progress finally!!

another weekend, another market

Warwick convinced me to attend a local craft market with him yesterday...
Manfeild had just about wiped out my stock so I had 14 prints printed and armed with them and a few seconds plus a couple of framed prints I toddled along.

We shared a table and I managed to sell 10 prints and Warwick about 4 or 5. What a nice surprise! also had some great conversations and might have a few more sales in the offing.. especially the Phantom guy!

Anyway, came home and decided to place the Catalina on hold for the weekend and start a new commission!
This is a Plymouth GTX Hemi. 9.6Ltrs and 800hp! What a beast and all BLACK!
Started the wheels as usual and coming along.

MG Classic Meeting Exhibition

Great weekend!
Was invited to exhibit motorsport pics at the MG Classic race weekend at Manfeild.
Four well known (I hope) motorsport artists attended. You can see their bios here...
http://www.mgcarclub.org.nz/ClassicRace.html
Great complementary mix as Don does oils, Mike does gouache, I do coloured pencil and John does watercolours. Worked extremely well and we had lots of visitors pass through. I managed over the two days to sell just about all my prints I took up and one framed print (the Dawson Camaro).
This is the scene just after set up. My area is behind Mike Nidd setting up on the table.
Don's oils were super professional but very expensive!

sunday cat

Bit more work on the Cat..reflections.. nose of the plane etc...

Catalina dreaming

been tweaking the Cat during the week, mainly the background hill! started to fill in reflections as well. Slowly coming along but need a real effort to get into this one!! Still... its enjoyable in a masochistic way... :)

45 years to the day

Look at the poster behind his head! Well, almost to the day... close enough!
Denny Hulme resting against a sunlit terra cotta wall at Monaco 1967. Which he went on to win as part of his Championship winning year!

This is now completed and in a temporary frame.

Moa moa!

more drawing... Labour day today... did the lawns, went out for a coffee (Starbucks, surprisingly good!) then took the sprite for a run to get some Moa beer! and finally settled down to get into the Hulme portrait! Gee this one needs some colours... you can see a selection in the pic... its coming along nicely despite the weird paper!  and best of all... Matinee Idle on the radio!!

Hulme again, Hulme again..

started a small portrait of Denny Hulme to take to the Hulme festival in January.
Based on a nice shot of him resting against a Monaco wall in 1967. Looks a bit sunburnt so far... heh..
This is using a new type of rag based paper called Magnani. Magnani are based in Florence and apparently produce some of the highest rated fine art papers in the world. Im using their Incisioni paper which is probably not the best for coloured pencil but has a nice warm cream tone.

The catalina is progressing also and I just got another Muscle Car commission. An awesome (and although that word is overused it certainly suits this car) Plymouth GTX Hemi from 1969. The engine is just HUGE... 9.6ltrs and over 700hp!!! when it drove up my driveway yesterday the ground was shaking!!  heh.

Catalina dreaming...

Finished the Lola so Ive re started the Catalina. Just large rough areas of colour for now but it already feels good. I hope Marcus is watching and liking?

Lola signed and sealed

but not scanned yet...
But its done... so on to the Catalina!

Flash! and another one...

nearing completion now.. just the track and curbs. Its a smooshed car a bit! ie: its not got clear edges or outlines... thats coz its going FAST!  (and coz it was ever so slightly blurred in the panned shot I took in 1975 (I think).. anyway  here's the update..

Flash! .. and another week goes by

The Lola is progressing well..
As are the sales.. I think about 12 went last week... Im starting to lose track! and the first Gambia print sold today which is great. Im marketing it via military collectibilia rather than art!!

Jetty rendezvous

Finally caught up with Warwick after a couple of months (at least) when we had coffees at the Jetty cafe on the Petone esplanade. He's been pretty busy what with a sick mum, selling his house, seeking a new place and starting to look for a job... so its not surprising!!
After a brief walk on the beach I came home and did a little more on the latest pic. Its Graeme Lawrence's Lola T332 F5000 car from the 70's.. My own reference photo and I love the colours.. black, purples, blues and red!
coming along nicely... next one has to be a Millen Celica I think!!  But have to paint the Catalina before that!

L.A.V

stands for Light Armoured Vehicle and I couldnt resist this Elite Force 'toy' the other day..
1/18 scale and with working front wheels (4 of them), opening rear hatch and moveable turret plus battle Barbie! (lol)
very cool I think..

HMNZS Gambia

Hauraki Gulf 1945 accompanied by a flight of RNZAF Corsairs.

Completed the ship bit

and started a corsair..

then the sea!!

Study in blue

hmmm... took a photo in late afternoon shaded natural light on auto and got quite a blue background. AAh well you can see the progress I guess.

Good solid progress after a week..

Just watched final race of GP3. Heart stopping stuff but Mitch Evans has won the championship... Can an F1 drive be far ahead?

Gambia started, Roadrunner finished

Started a new commission. HMNZS Gambia WW2 Cruiser operated by the Royal New Zealand Navy.
All black and white (and grey) plus 3 superimposed Corsairs!
THIS should take a while!

and sprayed, scanned, cleaned and darkened the Roadrunner ready for dispatch to its new owner in the States.

Pushing On...

Couple of hours today to get this Plymouth done...
and I think (!) it is... Ill mull over it for a couple of days tho...

nasty nascar

the second smaller roadrunner is now underway. I like that the main axis of each car if drawn out to the left would intersect at the caption. Serendipitous but a nice balance.

Happy Birthday to Meeee!

now THATS what I call a birthday pressy!!

and no it didn't cost $39.84!!! But it was off Trademe not ebay!

should look cool with the Messerschmitt............

BACKUPS Dave, Backups!!

our printer had a hard drive crash... lost all the tif files so weve had to copy all the scans back to his machine! Last backup was some months ago!!!  Still cant complain.. we have our own backups and dont depend on his PC and he does a great job overall.

The Roadrunner is starting to please even me. It IS a commission for another artists who couldve done it herself I think so I am putting some effort into this 'un. The chrome is starting to look good even.

Real Mopar Progress

finally started attacking the side of the car and the windows. always hard and very finiky shadows on this one.. Also started playing around with lightening the far side of the hood and showing the lip of the fender top. also tricky but coming along. I can see a lot of late dark blending on this one.. Finished the wheels on the race car too..
want to start the ship trace soon!

on another note read a Mike Caey book this week and got a couple more from the library. Great writing set in a paranormal London. Very dry humour in his writing that makes me laugh out loud now and then. "He had on a perfectly tailored suit. For a chimp!"   Love it.

Montage Mania

2nd car started... couldnt help myself.. needed to do a tyre...

Commission City

Bit more work over the weekend. Heard from Warwick that he's doing some work for his local coffee shop patron and has a commission for an RAF plane of some kind. Good on him!
I have got another commission myself but for a SHIP! HMNZS Gambia, a cruiser operated by the NZ navy during the war. Luckily a black and white pic so could be quite easy to do.

Saturday birthday lunch

The birthday bash continues! Took Anthea, her mother and our daughter and her boyfriend to Logan Browns in Wellington for a 3 course lunch. Superb! I recommend.

got back very full and did some work on the Roadrunner. (received check from the US for this today so I guess Id better put some effort in... lol)

also thought Id better show the final product of the Porsche. This commission was for a local racer and is his 1977 Porsche 911 SC 3.0 litre. Once Id done the scan and a bit of a tidy up it came out superb I think. Ive been contacted for a couple more commissions this week too.. a Lotus 7 look alike and possibly the HMNZS Gambia from WW2 (thats a ship!!!). Not holding my breath but its all good... Too good!

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Cheetah day

well... today was my wife's birthday and her present was a visit to the Cheetahs at the wellington zoo. The Cheetah encounter. Two large 50kg boys we got to pet.. very cool..
I also did a wee bit on the Plymouth.. the front end is super complex so this is it so far!
Note the special white pencil.. its called a stabilo 8052.. an interesting white pencil that will draw over just about anything. Give a s beautiful white line. Its made from the highest quality pigment and can write on glass plastic or even metal. Great addition to the stable.

Mopar Muscle

new commission for a lady friend (for her boyfriend for Christmas)

I love how the wheels 'pop' out of the picture when one starts! For those interested its a Plymouth Roadrunner in road and track versions.

finished the Porch

Ill leave it for a couple of days and get on with the Mopar one but I think its near as dammit done. Just a subtle curbing and grass brings it out nicely.

nother commish

nearly done the Porch...
another commission in the pipeline now. For a fellow lady artist overseas for her boyfriends Christmas. A collage of old Mopar Muscle... How do I get into these things?

and the mopar muscle collage reference pic.

Good Porsche Progress

This is the result today after some 3 - 4 hours during the week and today.

Warwick up in Auckland so no communal drawing today understandably. Lots of good sales tho.. including one to Japan today!! AND another commission... for a Plymouth Roadrunner!!

Racing Porsche

started this porsche.. a commission for the driver who races it in NZ.
as usual the wheels have it for a start..

quietly screening...

well I did the screen and then found a better reference photo that was clearer so it aint quite finished yet. Nowt from warwick... are we ever gonna do sundays again matey?

nearly done

bit more work on the Fazzaz.. only the screen to go now!
not sure if I will be drawing collaboratively tomorrow, no missive from warwick as yet!

New Porch

This just arrived from the US. A 1/18th True Miniatures Porsche Kremer 935 K3. The 1979 Le mans winner and I think my fav Porsche..

Ferrari progress

bit more on the Amon fazzaz..
going better than I expected. Warwick hived off to Paraparam to sell some prints this morning so we missed again... Did you get any sales Warwick?
Had a few this week and a Subaru today so its all good.. Capital Books took up my excess stock to the Auckland Speedshow too so I may have got lucky, who knows?

amon again..

just about finished the Hulme... painted the track (Gouache) and letting it dry before doing some last pencil textures. So Ive started an Amon Ferrari. A 330 P4 I think.. Rough reference photo but the 1/18th model can help with some detail..

contact!

contact with warwick again.. might even be drawing again this Sunday. Tuesday now and Ive pretty well finished the car.. now on to the broad brush of the background...

starting to think about the next one now, Car? Plane? Commission? hmmmm...

another rainy sunday

but thats good for drawing...
good progress on the Brabham..

plus a link to a wee video I made this morning showing my workspace and 'technique'..
http://youtu.be/XsElkXk4twc

and another nice wee model has arrived. The Local hobby shop has had a fire sale on IXO models and theres a few planes for sale at quite ridiculous prices.. This is a japanese Emily, 1/144th scale yet still quite large.

Belmont Silence..

still nowt from warwick.. Im not hasslin' as I assume he has reasons.. busy time of life I guess.
but I keep on alone...
The car has benefited from a few solid hours this week but that engine is sooo detailed...
almost as bad as a train undercarriage..

exhausting!

well the car is.. lol
Ive posted a close up of the lower engine area Ive just completed tonight..
very impressionistic of mecahnical bits hidden in shadow.. quite pleasing actually.