A Huge Challenge!

Ive been asked to do a large (A2 size) portrait of a fellow worker's parents.
Her father has passed on a couple of years ago and her mother is quite ill so the family wants a nice portrait to remember them by. They are from Samoan / Chinese background and the reference picture chosen for me shows her mum in a very complex head dress with a detailed colourful costume!

A BIG challenge but one Im very happy to take on and so far, so good! I can sense a LOT of glazing to come tho..

Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari

Completed now... All the twiddly bits smerged over or tidied up and the road markings completed
(I assume these are actually white markings that have been rubberised over by the F1 cars going over them. ) The rubber peels off on to the crevices and cracks etc..
It does give more of a curve / corner feeling to complement the turning of the wheels and where the driver is looking.
Will be up on trademe very soon for sale of prints!

Red red and more RED!

Ferraris are red, right! and my arm is SORE!  but its looking cool! if I do say so myself...

Just some touch ups and the curving track marks to go.. phew...

Flame spitting Turbo

Finally found some more time..
Started to fill in the driver and a bit more round the rear of the engine etc. Leaving the big areas of RED till last...

Looking forward to a wee holiday in 3 weeks. over to Martinborough and down to the coast past Lake Ferry.. should be nice and relaxing... Im not cut out for this working lark I reckon.. pity that I need the dosh! Lotto failed this weekend for me too.. Oh well the odds were agin me really!! :)

Red 27

Topped and tailed! That red is funky man!

Gilles!

Started a nice Overhead picture of Gilles Villeneuve in his Ferrari (126K?) in the early 80's.
Good solid work on the tyres for a kickoff.

Mazda Montage

Finally completed the Mazda Montage... The chocolate side panel was quite tricky in the end.. had to get some special pencils and then I applied a wash of acrylic paint to darken it and then after that dried, some more pencil on the top. Quite the mixed Media image in the end.

ps: the pic is a photo and the lights caught some parts at a funny angle! The scan should be way better.

Nearly there

Finally attacked the red/brown sides. walked for ages this lunchtime to the art shop to get a pencil.. caput mortuum violet! Best match I can see but its still to reddish and light. have to darken it somehow... Might be time for some water colour paint!

I KNEW that was going to be a tricksy colour!!

screen time

Hard at the RX7 to try and complete this by the weekend.
Unusual pastel colours quite hard to match but looking OK so far I think.

on the 7th day

I got into the RX7! Tricky tricky wheels but perseverance has paid off I think and they look OK.
I must admit they were acting as a bit of an artist's block for a few days but its onwards and (literally) upwards now into the bodywork colour!

Looking very Familia?

Got stuck into the familia today and its pretty well done.
Now on to the RX7!

mazda progress

slow for sure..  but steadily getting the smaller car done!

Very complex wheel on that RX7!!! I think it will be more of an impression of the shapes.

Mazda Commission

I was then contacted by a young lady wanting another picture of her partners mazdas. I had done one for her ages ago and she tracked me down to complete the set (as it were).
Very happy to oblige especially with these rad cars. They look super mean and are great to get stuck into.

Not much as yet (due to afore mentioned health issues occupying my mind) but the pressures on for a deadline so having at it from now on...

The Familia has started and the RX7 is below outlined.

This was the original pair!

Capri Completed

Finished this one a couple of weeks ago.
Decided to finally attempt a second Cologne Capri, but this time Paul Fahey's NZ version.
Turned out OK in the end after an intense couple of weeks.

Then I discovered a bit of a health issie with rocketing blood pressure and suddenly it was all on to bring that down with a change of diet and lots more exercise. Plus pills!! Yes Im on the meds finally and its coming under control. But it did stop drawing for a couple of weeks.

and yes I finally DID finish the SR-71 jet!

Reach for the stratosphere

been a while I know but finally picked up the brushes again. Wow! for a small subject thats mainly grey its technically very tricky smerging in all those colours.
Coming along tho..

Spitting Flame

Added some rough colour to the exhaust. Can you see the undercarriage doors through the flame?

Sea and Flame

Completed the sailboat on Wellington harbor for Peter and started a new painting Ive been thinking about.

The yacht (I can NEVER spell that word!) finally worked out well. The rigging was tedious but necessary and was the icing on the cake (so to speak). Glazing has darkened the hills and given a depth to the rest of the painting and the sea is looking fine (imho!). I hope he likes it!

And so onto the SR-71 taking off with those massive exhaust flames. A great attitude for this plane that catches the eye and even at this early stage of a very rough under painting (or grisaille) it illustrates the massive power of the plane. One thing I tried here is the preparation of the canvas with a sprayed on blue acrylic plus a very light spray of white near the centre to focus the eye there. The plane was then traced onto that pre prepared canvas before starting the rough painting. I an very sarisfied with this one even at this early stage.