Pure Porsche Pleasure

The 917 is coming along nicely now. Trying to do a bit each day despite the constraints of house painting!!!
A dab here a dab there and it slowly starts to look very cool. Wish I hadnt used Gouache tho... the re wetting is a bit of a pain sometimes as white is very hard to over paint, ditto red. Did the BP sign then toned it down a bit.. overall happy so far.. Wonder if it will sell... advance orders can be placed :)

runaway martini

well its 4:30pm Boxing day 2013.
The kids have all left for their respective homes and were cleaning the house!! Another Christmas over and there was quite a lot packed into it. The unpacking of presents, Christmas lunch, petone beach walks, the fibre optic garden lights, the Royal Variety Show on TV, Millie waking Yen up, Being beaten 3-1 by my son in magic AGAIN! (after all these years), walk up to the Percys Reserve waterfall, coffee at Days Bay and not to mention the ever present background of speed Jigsawing.... Puzzle Time! Last piece fell into place with minutes to spare to get Nic and yen to the airport! Woohoo!

and amidst all that I found time to add some colour to the Porch..  niiice..

ho hum.. back to (relatively) normal life...

Mustang completed.

So this is the final version of the Mustang. For something started about 3 or 4 years ago and then left Its turned out very satisfactory for me anyway. No sales as yet but here's hoping for the New Year.

As Im now on holiday (for a fast 2 weeks) Ive started another pic thats been waiting for many years! I spotted this one in a book at least 30 years ago and kept the reference pic all those years. I happened to spot a long thin canvas in the storeroom a couple of weeks ago so decided to do another Christmas/New Year painting! The ref photo is black and white but I do happen to have colelcted a wee 1/43rd model of the car and so I can use that for the colour of the decals on the car. As they are Martini stripes in vivid blues and reds I think it will really stand out from the dull monochrome background of the Le Mans Mulsanne straight.

This is just the very start with an underpainting in blacks and greys..

I already love it... (but Im biased).

You may be able to see the ruler on the right hand side to give an idea of scale. Its some 60cm high.

Tracking the stang

Nearly done. Too much contrast in this photo but it gives the idea..

Apparently I've sold a framed Catalina print from capital books too. Woohoo! That's worth a few $$ so I spent it! Rather nice 1:18 Brock torana I've been coveting..

Let's hope the stang sells!!

Throwing it around!

more work on the tail... note the cream / off white tones.. it wasnt a pure white car!.

went up to Feilding today for a funeral. Stopped at a BP station for gas and saw these fantastic 1:14 scale RC supercars. Could NOT resist at the price.. $45!!!
so I got the Merc SLS straight away.. may get the Lambo later..

Stang tail lights

rear end lights appear.
and luckily Ive found a nice pic I took in 2009 of this same car from almost the same angle at the Aussie Muscle Car Masters so the colourising has just got easier.. yaaay!

Driftin' stang

and here it is... Big Pete Geoghegan's notchback mustang! Based on a well known reference pic but colorized based on my 1:18 model of the same car. I set it up in more or less the same posture (tricky) and lighting (trickier) and will be using that for the colour. Not to difficult as the car is actually mainly an off white with green stripes.

so far so good! Love the wheels (as usual).

Phoenix rises!

Finished the dragster last week and as I was going up to Auckland on business I took it up and gave it to the commissioner. Id tweaked the background a tad and made it a bit more 'in context'. He loved it apparently so its all good.

But what to do next? I have at least 2 more commissions to do but as is my habit Im sneaking in one maybe two personal drawings for Trademe stock. The first one is finally finishing one thats been lying around for about 2 years..  more in next post.

Smokin'

another week has passed and its been pretty busy in the evenings so Ive not had a lot of drawing time.
But here she is.. The Phoenix! I think Ill call it done. Im leaving the background deliberatly just shaded impressions of a couple of guys to give an idea of fences and the track but theres no full on background this time. It allows the colours of the car to pop I think and sets it off nice.

That smoke was harder than it may appear, theres pencil, crayon and even paint in there.. I hope its OK...

Prints wise this week has been great with about 6 sold already and a couple of bids on trademe for the weekend already. Good thing too as I blew a bit on a nice 1:18 scale Jug from badcattoys yesterday!

90% there

Saturday... spent the morning at the Petone Craft Fair and sold a few things, Calendar, prints and even a framed print.. actually took along some of Warwicks (remember him?) trains and sold $55 of those too.

and then Ive got into the Phoenix tonight with a good solid effort on the windscreen and roof etc..

Not the best photo under fluorescents but you get the idea and progress!

Looking forward to the smoke tomorrow!

Tiger Moth

Fitting in a quick drawing at work. Boss asked for a Moth picture for her grandson. All I have on hand at work are work HB and mechanical pencils so its just a simple shading A4 size... But rather fun and very 'pure' without all that colour..

This is the start..

The pipes are calling!

multiplied the side pipes by 4 and got into the whole front and bonnet area. Even started the side window area.
I hope the Kendall GT1 looks OK?
A bit of colour really help eh?
Wifey is away this week on holiday so Im able to do a bit more in the evenings. Took a few prints and calendars up to Manfeild on the weekend and sold a couple so its all good! Might even have another commish!!

Smokin'

started some serious colour on the shadowed side.. Had to leave a lighter area around the exhaust etc..

I made the stripe a bit redder too as it is actually quite a bright red.
coming along..

2014 NZ Motor racing Calendar

My 2014 Calendar is for sale

Fold down calendar on 120gsm A3 size paper. All my own work. Each print occupies a full A4 sheet.

Each Calendar will be signed by myself.

Artworks featured are:
Rod Millens Pikes Peak Celica
Jack Nazers Miss Victorius Victor
Red Dawsons Marlboro Monza
Paul Faheys FVC Escort
Denny Hulme portrait
Bruce Mclaren M8A Canam
Clark proctors Nissan GTR
Leo Leonards PDL Mustang I
Bevan Wrights Gulf Cobra
Peter Wyness Mk2 Jaguar and E-Type Jaguar

and one Plane.. The RNZAF Catalina

all those for $20 + Postage

email me at b.young@paradise.net.nz if you want one.. get in quick!

wheelies!

well two wheelys! lol

coming along fine... sorry about the crappy photo, its better in the flesh!

Phoenix Rises

and so onto the Chev Camaro drag car, The Phoenix!

This is very early stages, the wheels are no where near completed even but its a good start I think.
Lots of smoke wreathing the rear!  Trying to show the crinkles in the tyres... needs more black!

Broken Blockage

Finally cracked the blockage and finished the Vampire properly.
Its been bugging me for ages, the cockpit needed highlighting, the plane didnt 'pop', the clouds were crap and overall it seemed aenemic. So I cracked open the water colours and went for it. Greens fading to blues in the distance, better darker Ohakea, much better clouds. .. It aint Robert Taylor, but Im happier and now i can get on with the Dragster commission.

Vampire over Ohakea

Well its been a while and the Vampire has come along pretty well... Was trying to keep the background low key but its growing and growing!!  The clouds need more definition but its nearly there I think.
Then its on to another commission... I have to have a crack at peter's racing yacht now too!! but that will be a painting over Christmas I think!

Jaguar finished, Vampire started!

worked up some courage (and with a little encouragement from my wetcanvas buddies I added a wee bit of very light blue sky.  And its done! signed and sealed, now for the scanning etc..

sold a Gambia from trademe and a Cobra and a Moffat from ebay so this week is lookin good already. That plus the ABs win and Team NZ winning the first 2 Americas Cup races... woohoo..

Started a quickie in between drawing of a DH.100 Vampire plane. Felt the need for a plane, they sell well, especially RNZAF ones and I remember these planes zooming around my home in Feilding, near Ohakea when I was a lad. Will use an impression of a background I think.. might try and get an aerial shot of Ohakea to use..

Coming on fast so far tho...

Green Trees, Blue Jaguar

Might be finished... not sure whether to do a light blue wash on the sky or not... dither dither...

quiet couple of weeks sales wise... 3 planes and a Senna in two weeks! But picked up another commission and sold a DVD so all good.

or are E-types red?

well the chasing one is.. but whats that white one behind?  I couldn't say but Peter has told me so maybe Ill let you in on it next post!

Roses are Red e-types are Blue

just about done the main car now... the sides need more 'smerging' tho...
started the chasing pack and will do those roughish to blend out to the background.. and maybe a water colour wash of the track..
Another week has passed, flicking by now, 2 sales this week (and a clock) but its a bit quiet for sure.. Still, saves me worrying about tubes! Lots of chores yesterday so got into the Aviation Tour photos today and went to Mitre 10 with Anthea to get an Old Fashioned English rose! (hence the title). All Blacks won again last night and Lewis got pole at Spa. All's well with the world.

and just for a bit of fun.. 4 of my Indy Car collection. All 1/18 scale. Front to rear. Bobby Unser's Olsonite Eagle by Carousel, Bobby Rahal's Reynard by ERTL, Danica Patrick's Motorola Honda by Greenlight, Scott Dixon's Dallara Honda by Greenlight.

Blue Monday

Good weekend. Anthea's birthday last week so we did a seal safari round to Red Rocks via the Wind Turbine road. Great trip, just us two and the driver. One Billy McGrath who turned out to have quite a background in art himself. Mainly surreal stuff but very interesting.
So not much drawing over the weekend but with a tad sunday evening plus half an hour tonight ive got this far..

I think you can start to see the driver!!

Blue Flanks

Wednesday. working forward on the E and doing the driver as an impression inside the shadowed car.
Tricky blue! 3 or 4 layers and still not quite right. I hope its close Peter?!!

enjoying it tho.  Signed up for the Petone fair tonight so that's done, and 5 prints this week.. all blown on a Reynard Indy car I think... such is life.

Blue Body

another week goes by.. didnt manage much this weekend, spent most of it ferrying around getting stuff for the house and for a wonderful Chicken Biryani this evening!! Hell of a mess in the kitchen but tasted great!
The wires are now done on the car and the headlights so I can start moving up to the body work or maybe the cockpit area...
This car has a great attitude Peter.. you can sense it rolling and getting the power down as it corners..

Might have another table at the Petone fair coming up.. I think its in November.. Ill give a heads up the week before if anyone would like to drop by and say hello.

Blue Friday

been trying to do at least 15mins per evening on the Jag. Front wheel finally looking cool! and Ive staretd a wee bit of the colour on the flanks. Its in shadow so there's a lot of undercolour in black! But Im pleased.

Also started a new idea on Trademe this week. Brought back a nice simple clock from the UK Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre and it generated an idea to do the same with my prints. So I made a template of a clock face and super imposed it on one of my prints, had it printed by Dave, bought a cheap warehouse clock and took it apart to insert my new face. Worked a treat and sold one already... If anyone wants one I can do them using any of my prints.. just email me, the address is at the top of the blog!

Impressionism - Wires!

Went and saw the Light and colour art show at Te Papa on the weekend. Monet, Renoir etc etc.. Just love how those masters could dab on paint that close up is just almost random, but step away and the picture just appears!  and such light in their work... you cant beat original oils for that!

so Ive don e afew more sessions on the Jag and the wheels remind me of impressionism.. Theyre just black and grey almost random shapes up close... but move back and narrow your eyes and Voila.. wire wheels..

self hug moment!

racing E-Type

Im back from an awesome month off tripping round England going to just about every aviation museum and show! Overloaded on Planes (and some cars)! Sold at least 11 prints while away so thats cool and decided to start the next commission today.
Its for the same guy I did the red jaguar for a couple months ago only this time its his Blue E-Type... very cool..
Started with the wheels and undercarriage as usual and just a touch of blue round the mouth to show the colour!  The wire wheels are already killing me!!

Cobra Scan

Scanned and tweaked, this is the final version for prints.
Original has been gloss varnished and is ready for pickup or posting.
Will get print #1 done Monday.

and I think it looks triffic!

Cobra Complete

Bit of a hiatus battling with the background but after paint then pencil then a wash over that its finally OK.
the green area is still a tad wet so the waves in the paper are showing in the paper but that will settle down.

So its signed and Ill move on to the scan and printing. Last day possible really before I go on leave for a month so Ill whip it in to work for the scan tomorrow.

Hope you like it Bevan? The print will be tweaked a bit to be slightly darker overall than the original btw.

Finger painting

Now dont freak out! This is very much an intermediate stage.. I realised the original dark grey was TOO dark so Ive redone with various lighter shades. Which I will also have to do with the green!!
Then Ill start pencil over the top of the paint... Its really just preparing the base paper color at this stage plus a bit of under shading..  gulp...

painting the Snake

just slapped on some grey for the road. Dont worry the waves will come out and there will be pencil over the paint eventually. This is just a simple colour layer. But it pops the car out a bit already.

Whew.. that's the car and driver

Pushed on Sunday evening and finished the rollbar and driver..
Sort of just an impression of the driver but if you squint a bit and hold it at arms length he suddenly appears... I love that!

Now ... background! I think it will be worthwhile but its going to be an acrylic paint wash plus some pencil over the top. The paper will draw together as it dries and wave a bit but that eventually flattens out..

Sunday progress

Been a slow week, preparations for the big trip been taking up evenings (try hiring a car in Cambridge on a Sunday!  hah!) but theres been lots of viewings of the blog from christchurch.. hmmmm so Ive buckled down today and really got into it.. just the rollbar and Bevan to do now! maybe a bit more this arvo..
Time to put the slow cooker on now!! and take a break.

and, of course, the Background... eeek!

Queens Birthday

Bit more over the monday of Queens birthday..
stripes starting to stand out nice now!

4 weeks to go til a holiday so I hope I can get it done...

Gulf Blue Sunday

Queens Birthday weekend...
been a bit slow lately and had to do 'gardening', and then there was the 4 hours playing Magic!!! ah well a bit more this evening.... very very tricky blues. Getting the lighter areas and the darker greys over the blues is ummm... difficult... not enough tooth in the paper I think... but I struggle on..

Snake Charmer

starting to get some colour now and looking brutal... just like a Cobra should.

Gulf Cobra

Completed the Olds and passed it over to the new owner. Very satisfying!
Started the next commission and have got this far so far.. Little bit of colour but feels good! Some drawings you just cant wait to get down to and some are 'jobs'. This is one of the former! I think a background is in order too! The car will be shown racing up the Leadfoot drive in 2013.

wedding car blues

and whites!  Pretty well completed now... maybe needs a background... hmmmmm
could spoil the clean lines tho...

Oldsmobile nearly completed..

Hooray, contact has been remade with my drawing partner!
Hoping we can get together to draw someday soon...

meanwhile work is absolutely tiring me out... or was it the late Magic card playing night last Friday!
either way the olds is stalling a bit...  come on matey... one more push!

Big arse olds!

wow! that bumper and those fins are really starting to jell now!!
Im starting to enjoy this! 1.5 hrs sunday morning!  a bit like the old days with Warwick... wonder if he's still drawing?

rear light

Good progress on the bumper and one rear tail light which, IMHO, looks superb!