SEEN THE USA - 5

Some time ago I had painted a series of old cars and I decided to look back at them to compare to this old Chev, to see if I felt that progress has been made.

So, for the swan song of this painting, here is another old rusty Chev that was done some years ago for comparison to the new Chev.

I’m not really sure that I’ve made any painting progess – I still like the old one!

What do you think?

SEEN THE USA - 4

Well, now I’m starting on the background – first coat of light washes.

More work on the background. Can this still be ruined??? Why, of course it can!
My thought was to layer miskit and paint, gradually building up the darker colors.
I also added some vegetation around the car.

At the end of this process, I hate the background. After removing the miskit it looks too “scratchy” to me. I may try more paint, or some collage or . . . it’s a do-over (which is the direction I’m leaning).
I had such high hopes for this one. Oh well, lesson learned. I’m very happy with the car itself, though!

SEEN THE USA - 3

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack from my annual painting retreat - didja miss me????

While I was gone, I worked on the old Chev some more.

Here more rust has been added – on the trunk . . . .

. . . . and top.

Here is a close up of the rust.

SEEN THE USA - 2

Starting to add the rust.

This old car was in a cow pasture down in Tennessee.  A friend and I ventured "off the beaten path" to get some photos.  Fortunately, we live to tell the tale!

SEEN THE USA - 1

Finally – an artful post! Oh well - slow but sure.

However, due to my schedule, I may not be posting often for the next couple of weeks or so, but promise to have more soon.

Here is a little more on the car I began for the art club demo.  I am going to post this as I work on it; usually I "edit" my posts so you just get the better, but I'm taking a chance with this one!   I'll have more next week.
As a refresher – here is the start.

I’ve added some raw sienna on the body of the car and some (I think) cobalt (or maybe french ultramarine??) and manganese hue in the windows.

IT'S A DILEMMA! - 2

Well, I’m not unhappy with this one, but not sure what to do with the background.
My husband says to make a “mansion” in the background with a driveway sweeping down toward the car; my friend says if I do that she will never speak to me again! What’s a gal to do??? I think this one may sit a while and/or never be completed!

(I should have thought it through to the end but was just wanting to do an old shiny car – oh well . . . . . )

You know how some folks call their paintings “Untitled” (which bugs me!!). Well, guess I could call this one “Unfinished”!!!

UNFINISHED OLD BLUE ’31 FORD, watercolor, 15x22

IT'S A DILEMMA!

I haven’t painted a car for quite a while and thought I’d like to do another one. So I picked this old Ford that I photographed at the local farm machinery show a couple of years ago.

Miskited the whites.

As usual, I began by laying in some thin washes and then zeroing in on one area at a time.

IT RUNS!

Here’s another old Chevy – a “woody”.
For those of you “young-uns” now scratching your heads about that term, let me explain. A “woody” was a station wagon with wood (REAL wood!) on the sides. (You may be familiar with some of the new PT Cruisers that have the fake wood trim on their sides, which is a nod to the old “woodies”).
If you happened to be traveling and saw one of these cars, it was mandatory that you punch your traveling companion in the arm and scream “Woody” at the same time. Have no idea who thought up that one, but it must have been a boy!
Anyway, I saw this one on another trip to North Carolina and just had to take a photo.
And this painting will conclude my car series of paintings - hope you enjoyed them!

JUST LIKE GRANDPA'S

This is an old Chev (don’t know the year) that made me think of my grandfather. He had a green one a few years older than this one.
I added the garage behind it and don’t think it turned out too bad!

MY AGE, BUT IN BETTER SHAPE

For a few years I was in a gallery in Rising Sun, IN, about a 50 minute drive from my house. One day while I was in my “car painting mode” I saw this old Ford truck in Aurora, IN, so I stopped and took a photo and later painted it.
One day I opened an art magazine and was dumbfounded – for a moment I thought it was my painting! When I showed it to my husband, he thought the same thing!
The artist who is in the magazine lives in Pennsylvania and paints in oil, but it really looks like the same truck – even the angle of the photo is the same!
(My photo and painting are on the left side above)
“My Age, But in Better Shape”

PRETTY IN PINK - MODEL A

My husband and I were on a trip and were somewhere in the North Carolina mountains when he hit the brakes and asked me if he should turn around (a miracle, since his car never seems able to make a U-turn!). He had spotted an old Ford in the weeds beside an old run down shack.
This old truck had probably been brown in its early days, but had faded out to a rosy pink. I think it made for a great painting, thanks to my husband!

FLYIN' DOWN THE HIGHWAY

Yep, it does look like it’s flying! Could it be my lack of painting expertise at that time????
This was the car that caught my attention before the farmer drove out his yellow classic! (See my previous post “Bill’s Beauty” on November 4).

LOOKIN' AT A '31 CHRYSLER

This is the front only of the same car as “Bill’s Beauty”. (See my previous post “Bill’s Beauty”).
Sadly, I was not as organized then as I am now (???) - thanks to digital camera and computer - makes it a lot harder for me to actually loose things - and I would be hard-pressed to locate my old photos. But, if I do find them some day, I think I may repaint some of these old cars and see if I can do a better job now.

BILL

“Bill’s Beauty” is an old Chrysler.
One day, I was driving down the local highway past an old (1800’s) and beautiful home that I always admire. On that particular day the sun was shining and it glinted off the windshield of an old car for sale, so I pulled into the drive and looked around. Seeing no one, I started to take some photos of the car. Just then a man came out from behind the barn and I introduced myself and told him why I was trespassing (!) and taking photos. He wasn’t upset at all, and asked me if I’d like to see another car.
Well, he took me around to a building behind the barn where it was clear he liked to restore old cars! He proceeded to pull a tarp off of a lump and there was a beautifully restored old Chrysler. He asked if I’d be interested in some photos of it, and when I said “yes” he proceeded to fire it up (what a “purr” that engine had!) and drive it out onto the front lawn where I took several photos.
The first painting painted from those photos sold before I could get a picture of it! However, I still have this one in my “collection”!

I painted an old, red VW which is titled “Dead Bug”.
Seems like anyone who ever owned an old bug takes a liking to this painting, but it also seems like they all had a different color bug! I did paint a yellow bug for someone who saw the red one and wanted a gift for a friend who used to have, of course, a yellow bug.
People will ask me “Do you have it in green (blue, yellow, etc.)” as though the painting is like a sweater in a store. Unbelievable!

I'll be pretty busy the next week and a half or so finalizing the ViewPoint show, so I thought I would put up some of my older work, starting with my series of old cars. (Sadly, I began painting the cars prior to obtaining my digital camera and so don’t have a photo of all of them).

* * * * *

It all began with an old Buick.
My friend saw it parked at an herb farm we were visiting and she came running for me to take a photo.
There it stood, in all its glory, with a water bag hanging from the front fender. But just as I took my photo the owners approached, so I left, not sure if they would be upset that I was taking photos of their car. However, the photos turned out so well that I eventually painted a few paintings of that car.
About a year later my car paintings were being displayed in a gallery in Rising Sun, IN during the local car show. To my utter disbelief, the owners of the old Buick walked into the gallery, having seen the painting of their car in the window. (Small world!) Well, they didn’t purchase that painting, but they did later purchase a smaller one of just the front of the car, as well as ask me to make name tags for their annual car club get together using the painting of their car.
“Day Trip” ‘37 Buick, Watercolor