Double Mustang Trouble

The boat is on hold til the commissioner confirms the reference photo. So I started this great action pic. I took the photo in 1975 (gosh 39 years ago!!) at one of THE greatest muscle car races ever in NZ. It was at Wigram race track and there were two unbelievably powerful current Mustangs racing together driven by two of the best NZ race car drivers, Leo Leonard and Jim Richards. They were known as the PDL Mustang (the blue one) and the Sidchrome Mustang (the red and yellow one), and I happened to catch them diving into one hairpin corner together showing off their big mustang backsides! You can see from the left hand side of the blue one there has already been some 'rubbing' going on! I was saving this for a big painting but thought that given Im laid up with this ruptured achilles tendon and in a cast Id better use the time to get into it..

post Christmas 2014

and after 6 days!  Crappy model.. lots of filler.. having to fill all the gun places because I have Enola Gay decals and that plane was stripped right down for the nuclear bomb mission. Having to scratch build a little boy bomb too..

also managed to rupture my achilles tendon Christmas Eve so have been spending quite a bit if time indoors. Lucky I have this model to make really i suppose as I cant hobble round too far on crutches.

Good Grief!

Im making a model!!
brief hiatus in the drawing over Christmas so decided to drag out an old unboxed kit I had lying around and build it oob but using painting tricks ive been practicing on pictures. Call it a 3D canvas (sortof). I wonder if Robert can guess the model? fun so far (if a bit messy).

pre-Christmas week

Slow going on the Mercedes but getting there...
Started looking at next commission too... A Yacht!! something different for me..

Still selling prints well, latest one is one of the yacht commissioners cars, the E-Type.

Nic be home Christmas morning and his girlfriend on Boxing day.. should be a full house!

and the Yacht ref photo..
I think its to be another A2 size full acrylic painting!!!!

Senna appears

getting there and have outlined senna in the window. Have to get on with this as Christmas approaches and Peter wants his yacht started.!!

Double post

Finished the Sprite and started a Senna Mercedes.

The Sprite got a simple acrylic background which sets off the pink (sorry, cerise) nicely! Tricky scan tho.. I hate that the paint waves the paper!!

Then I started the 2nd pre Christmas picture. This one is of Ayrton Senna in his famous Mercedes 190E in 1984. The Brazilian took the chequered flag ahead of Lauda, with Carlos Reutemann in third and Keke Rosberg in fourth. It marked Senna as a forced to be reckoned with, and made the car he drove a significant piece of motorsport history.

Its a gold colour so tricky to reproduce. layers of greys, browns, purple and even blue!

Im loving it tho.. nice to be back on the pencils, listening to the National Program on the steam wireless and simply colouring in!

Its a Sprite!

A cerise Sprite...
Sick day but still drawing..

Glider was passed to its owner on Sunday. I thinks he is very pleased. he's asked for 3 prints for his kids at least! so thats very cool.

Pinkeration

Cerise!? whats cerise? Oh well I hope its something like the layers of pink Ive used..
Nice to be back with the pencils.. faster to get something out.

Pink Panther

New coloured pencil car portrait started. Tom Donovan in his turbo midget some 40 years ago...
Trying to add some saleable images to my stock ready for Christmas...

Black and white ref photo and colour from my old personal slide photos.

The labours of Hercules

Warwick tells me he's started a commission of a Herc over Rongotai.
This is the initial sketch.. hope to see more as it progresses..

Gliding Further On...

Nearly there now..
This is from last weekend after adding more definition on the river valleys. Theyve been glazed over since then and the glider itself has been extensively tidied up and repainted. Notice the better clouds now too.
the glazing is working well, quite chuffed with the technique. One more push and were there! I think grumpyglider (the commissioner) is getting quite excited too...

3 more hours at the easel

Had a good go at the glider today.. had to really as Ive had about a month off painting due to an overseas holiday (south australia) and then a couple of weeks back at work and the ensuinging tiredness!!
So really got into the hills today and then glazed them all. Quite pleased really.. needs a few touches of black/blue spots and the glider itself being masked and cleaned up and Im done I think.

Picture is a bit naff.. taken with iPad and the shiny glaze made it too reflective.. bit of photoshop tweaking but not really too good.. will get a better one tomorrow with the camera.

Tarn-ation!

Tidied up the glider a bit, tried out some glazes (hence the extreme reflection behind the tail) and added a small blue/green tarn in the middle foreground on the right!  Too much detail to go... aaargh!
Maybe 20% done at the moment.

The hills have some depth

well they getting more life anyway!! lots of work on the definition in the foreground. I think its looking OK.... layers more to go tho...  and then the glazing!  ps: the photo is a bit dark!

Damn but I love those clouds drifting down the valleys.. very serendipitous!

The Hills are alive..

yes, well... slow going but sortof have the main hills slapped on now plus some cloud and a first layer on the Glider. Coming along nicely!

Gliding On and an old mate pops up..

Bit more work on the Glider but the Hills are daunting!.

Lots more detail...  siigh ... to go...

and guess who popped up?.. Warwick is back in the saddle and drawing again. This absolutely amazing portarit of a mate of his was done using a mix of soft & hard pencils, graphite and blending sticks. and judicious use of various rubbers to create highlights. No colours or greys, no wax pencils. 

Lets hope we see a few more of his pics soon..

Glider

Just started a nice A2 sized acrylic painting for a mate..
Pictured over the Southern Alps near Hororata. Has to be emphasis on the landscape in this one but Im finding I need to do a little on the glider each time to work my way into it... so far, so good.

RX7 Swoosh

Added a bit of a swoosh to the track to balance the white areas etc..
This is not the finished version... that has had more work done on the track.

RX7 on the track

Well... Ive coloured in the track showing the curbs as the car heads into a chicane.. but...
Theres an awful lot of white space under and over the car...
Not sure whether to show some grass or just leave it.. less is more im thinking and green grass may clash with the other colours.  decisions decisions...

and I still need to paint in some signwriting...

The pinking of the RX7

Not the engine pinking... just the bonnet..
Just the windscreen and the impression of the curbs to go... Coming along nicely after a long weekend off up in Akl to see my son.

Number 78

thursday evening... more work on the side and the roof. Although the car is in focus Ive left the window blurred as I assume it would be wound up while racing and thus hard to see thru.
Some of the signage will have to be painted or inked after the colour is laid down.

I sure hope the red colour is correct?

scarlet RX7

Monday evening.. having printed a better photo showing the colour, Ive had a good try at starting the red.
I think its OK but needs a tad more pink maybe..

Racing RX-7

New commission on the go...
A tricky one as the reference photo is quite blurred and far away so having to work from other clearer photos to tidy up edges / sign writing etc etc... not to speak of the wheels!! but lookin' good so far.
Great attitude on the car and brilliant colours!

3 cars in a row

Mini, Midget (NOT a spitfire I think!) and a Cortina..
Simple Vignette but it took me quite a while to complete as Magic card sorting kept me busy for a few weeks. But times moving on and I have another two commissions to get into one of which is the acrylic A2 size painting so Id better get at it...

Hope you like it Peter!

Mini spitfire cortina

slow going since the last post but it progresses... the Cortina is starting to appear! couple more sessions and we'll be there I think.

spitfire hassles mini

Got tired of the Mini windscreen so started the spitfire behind.. The red helps the composition I think.

mini progress

more slow progress... But peter is away for a bit.. apart from needing to get on with the glider painting in July because Ive got another commission after that! A red RX7 racer! All good stuff...

Racing Mini

Well, its been a while since the last post.
I had a quick commission to do for a local author. He wanted a specific picture tweaked and then drawn for his book cover! It started as the DN3 Shadow of Tom Pryce at Barcelona but I had to remove the signage and change the airbox and add a front wing and all in black and white. The people were tricky, not to mention the trees but it all came together in 2 intense weeks and the author is very happy. Nice little earner too!

plenty of room for the Book title on the right too. Called F1: The Deadly Years and is fiction but based on the authors real life in various forms of international racing. Very cool to do.

Then on to another commission for my Patron (Peter Wyness). Having done his jaguars already Im now onto his Mini. Going quite well and having fun with it. There's a spitfire and a Cortina in the pic too!

May Already?!!

Finished the McCully Begg... signed, sprayed, scanned and tweaked..
Commissioner has asked that I not sell prints and that's certainly his call... pity, it looks very cool, all pinkish!

Now on to a new commission.. Ive been asked to do a book cover in black and white, in 2 weeks! Pictures to come. AND Ive got to start Peter's Mini!  If only this paid a living wage!!

Purply!

Had to de-pink it a bit as it turns out it was a darker more purply shade back in the day. The lettering still to do but fleshed out nicely I think

Pinky!

Easter Monday so well into it! rear end, engine and airscoop nearly done.
Off to play some Magic card game now so maybe a tad more later.

and Matinee Idle on the radio too!!

Pink!

Just a bit on the nose! which could sum up the working week as well! lol. Been cataloguing Magic cards and havn't been keeping up the drawing, but Easter draws near so here's hoping the Begg gets lots of attention.

Tons of sales this week, hard to keep up with the wrapping actually but I guess that's really good! AND an original sold too! Plus 3 more calendars.. what can I say.. coff!

McCully Begg FM5 started

s\Ive been asked to do Alan McCullys pink Begg FM5 from the day so after a scout around for pics Ive started this one.. wheels away first..

wait till you see the pink!

Achilles launched

finished the Achilles... well almost finished... just need to colour the air recognition banner on the B turret.. This shows it slightly pre WW2 actually!
1 sale already so thats cool...

HMNZS Achilles

been a couple of weeks since I last posted here. Decided to start a couple of commissions. First off the block is the HMNZS Achilles, possibly the most famous NZ warship of WW2 and a nice complement to my previous Gambia. Should be quite quick as its basically grey although the sea will need some colour. Coming along quite quickly tho..

Went and saw Sole Mio last thursday. Not my sort of music but you have to respect the power and control of those 3 lads. They will be big internationally soon I think. Obviously the Stones is off till November but that does let me go to a local model meet next weekend so its all good.

The Croz is racing!

finished the picture, worried over whether to do a background or not.. eventually decided not and loaded it into trademe. Bugger me if 2 didnt sell within a day! So all good.
Started sketdhing out the Achilles warship to complement the Gambia and also the McCully F5000 commission. Two at once, I must be mad! wife been away for 3 weeks so batching a bit.. was looking forward to seeing the Stones in April but thats postponed now.. never mind..

anyway, heres the finished Crosby Suzuki XR69.

Racing Suzuki nears completion

Maybe another day to go..
Been a busy week topped off with a long evening playing Magic cards with mates. Good fun!
sold a couple of cards yesterday for credit for more cards. got some great ones!

anyway heres the Suzuki, good progress while listening to Kim saturday morning..

Lonely Sunday

well Anthea has skipped off for a 3 week holiday with her 91 year old mother round the South Island in a Bus!  So Im rattling around here on my own.. managed another hour or so on the Croz..

Slower Progress..

.. life gets in the way... 3 more commissions in the pipeline too... another racing car, a WW2 warship and a glider over the southern alps...
I think Id better retire and just draw (if there was a living in it!!)

Suzuki wheels

slow progress this week as have been cataloguing my Magic card collection online. Fun to discover cards that have big values that I didnt know I had!
But 2 more sales and an order for the Tauranga aircraft museum. Still... the Croz is starting to really interest me.

Croz

finished the Tiger Moth.. agonized over a background but decided to leave it blank.

and now Ive started a 'quick' study of Graeme Crosby on his 1980 world championship Suzuki
I like the folds in the riding suit... lots of black as usual...

Yellow Tiger

the yellowness!! my eyes hurt!  but its looking great to me...
nearly done now except for the background.. leaning towards wispy cloud effect..

Tiger Tiger....

Finished and scanned the Fangio/Mercedes A4 pic (see below) and decided to use the other A4 page (I sliced an A3 page in half for Fangio) to colour in the Tiger Moth I did for the boss a couple of months ago.
I simply printed the black and white scan onto the good cartridge paper and away we went. The black shading underneath the colour looks OK I think... anyway it feels good seeing the plane emerge into colour! Possibly should have used blue paper but then the yellow would have turned green!

and here's the Fangio scan,