NewBo Arts Festival...

Well, I am happy to be able to say I've been juried into another art festival.  On Sunday Sept. 4th you will find my booth among others in the NewBo Arts Festival in the NewBo District of Cedar Rapids.  I've been busy painting away in preparation.  I'm still trying to build a bit of a stock after my wonderful experience at Houby Days where I sold about half of my paintings.  Yahoo!  I hope it goes well at the NewBo Arts Fest and swing on by if you happen to be in the area.  Here's one of three paintings that I finished this last weekend and early this week.  I've got more in the works....

"Old Blue with yellows"; Watercolor and Ink on 10" x 12" Paper.
SOLD!

"1959 Biscayne Rear"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" Paper
Available for purchase

"1926 Franklin"; Ink with Watercolor on 8" x 10" Paper.
SOLD!

A Franklin on a Patriotic Day

Photo:"A Franklin on a Patriotic Day"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 16" Paper
Available for purchase.

Here's the latest I finished last night.  It's a little off in a new direction.  I took several photos of this 1926 Franklin that I saw on the 3rd Avenue bridge in downtown during a 4th of July car show.  I was just fascinated with listening about the guy who owned it talk about the engine and how because of the specialty of the steam-powered engine he had to go up to Minneapolis area to have it serviced.Then he talked about the restoration that he had to do in the interior.  I found myself taking photos from several angles with my phone.  Later as I got to looking at this particular photo of the back.  I liked the Cedar Rapids skyline that was showing in the background.  It simmered for a few days and this was what came about.  I put extra flags into the piece with a couple of them on the car itself.  I still may do others of this Franklin car.  It's a very unique car.

A Ford and Veteran's Memorial...

Here's a latest that I put together.  It's based on a photo I took during the 4th of July car show in downtown Cedar Rapids.  I found it fun to do a loose version of Veteran's Memorial Building in the back ground.  It's one of my favorite buildings in the downtown area....

Photo:"Green Ford with Veteran's Memorial"; 11" x 14" watercolor and ink on 140lb. cold press paper.
SOLD!

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments you may have!

Joe's Auto....

Here's the latest of my commissioned pieces and it was a FUN painting to do!  I always wanted to put a gas station behind one of these cars that I have been painting.  Joe was excited at the possibility and was please with how it turned out.  This is his 1970's blue Chevelle in front of an older Standard station.

Photo:"Joe's Station"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" cold press paper.
Commissioned Piece

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any feedback you may have.

Buick Roadmaster Convertible...

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to post something on here.  I'm still painting but things get busy sometimes.  Here's a watercolor/ink that I finished about 2 weeks ago.  This is based on a photo I took at Good Guys Car show a couple of years ago when it was in DesMoines.  I believe it is a 1952- 1953 Buick Roadmaster Convertible. Enjoy....

"Buick Roadmaster"; Watercolor/ink on 11" x 14" paper.
SOLD.

I'm currently working on a commission of a Harley Motorcycle that I hope to share with you soon.  Thank you for stopping by and please feel free to email me with any feedback you may have!

Happy Holidays!!

I wanted to wish all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  All of the Christmas orders have been taken and filled... I put the finishing touches on the last one this last Thursday night.  I had quite a few this year and here's some that I know have already been given out before Christmas that I can share with you....

"CCR Customized Motorcycle"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

"Blue Fairlane, His Baby", Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

"His 56 ", Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 14" paper.

The two above were for the same person and were commissioned by his family at his request.  I designed them so that they can hang side by side.  I've seen both of these cars at local car cruises and they are amazing.  There's more commissions that I can't show here yet because I don't want to ruin the Christmas surprises.  There's dogs, a cat, and a house.  I'm hoping to post them after Christmas here.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Taking Christmas Orders....

I still have a couple of openings available for commissioned work for Christmas.  So if you are looking for a unique and special gift, think about a gift of custom art work.  Perhaps, a car painting for that classic auto car enthusiast or perhaps a painting of a lost best friend to serve as a memory.

Contact me soon, because the calendar is filling up and Christmas is also fast approaching.  I can be reach via my email listed on this site.  Just put Christmas Commission in the subject of the email.  Thanks for stopping by!

Stude 37 Inked!

I did a watercolor of this a short while ago, and I thought that it would be a fun experiment to do it in an ink.  I really enjoy the details of this 1937 Studebaker that I took a photo of last summer at Good Guys Car Show.  So here it is done in black and red ink.

Photo:" Black, White, and Red Stude 37"; Ink on 9" x 12" watercolor paper.
SOLD.

I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for stopping by!

A 60 Polara...

Based on a photo I took from a car cruise that took place at the Coralville Mall near Iowa City, IA last Summer.  It was a 1960 Dodge Polara.  This was a fun and relatively fast watercolor and ink that I pulled off hopefully showing off some of my car artwork tomorrow across the street from the Chelsea Car Show in Chelsea, IA. I just hope that the rain forecaster tomorrow morning is short and sweet.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Photo: "60 Polara"; Watercolor and Ink on 9" x 12" paper.
Available for purchase.

I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for stopping by!

A STUDE 37

This was a quick fun one that I did.  It's based on a photo that I took at the Good Guys Car Show last Summer.  It's a black 1937 Studebaker.  I decided to just do part of the front end of the car to focus on some of the details more.

Photo: "Stude 37"; watercolor and ink on 9" x 12" paper.
Available for purchase.

I welcome any comment and thanks for stopping by!

Car Row...

Here's a fun one I just finished.  It's based off a photo I took of a row of cars from a car show last summer.  This row seemed to be cars in the 1930's-1940's.

Photo: "Car Row"; watercolor and Ink on 9" x 12" paper.
Available for purchase.

I welcome any comments you may have and thanks for stopping by!

Stingray Blues...

I just finished this for a surprise 4th of July birthday present this last Friday.

Photo: "Stingray Blues"; watercolor and ink on 9" x 11" paper.
Commissioned Piece

A wife wanted to surprise her husband with a painting of his 1971 Stingray.  It was a fun project to work on.  I worked up four different layout drawings and she rather had a tough time deciding on which one.  But finally got it narrowed down to Option #1 below.

It's always fun trying to surprise someone with a piece of custom artwork, or at least I think it is. :) Thanks for visiting and I welcome any feedback you may have!

Yellow Nomad Dreams...

I took a photo of this car last Summer when I was at the Swisher Car Show in Iowa.  I really fell in love with this beautiful 1955 white/yellow Nomad.  I could easily see myself cruising down a two lane highway in it.  The "station wagons" have always had a special place in my heart.  No surprise there when you consider I've had three different station wagons and they always have room in the back to stow a bicycle which is my first love. lol

Photo: "Yellow Nomad Dreams"; watercolor on 11" x 14" paper.
SOLD.

I think it's ironic that just as I am finishing up painting this beauty, I end up seeing the same car at the Houby Days Car Show.  It's a small world sometimes. lol I gave the gentleman a business card and asked him to check out this site within the week.  But I got so enthused after seeing the car again that I went home that evening and finished the painting.  Here's some photos of the painting in process...

Photo: Prelim background work and sketching.

Photo: About half way done...

Photo: Almost there...

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments you may have!

Comings and Going of a Black Hearst...

I saw this black Hearst a couple of months ago at a car cruise in Coralville, IA.  It immediately grabbed my attention because of the spider web detail on the head light.  It was SO "Halloween" and being one of my favorite holidays I took quite a few pictures of it.  It's a 1940's vehicle and I'm really unsure as to anything more than that.  I just thought it was rather neat and not of the "norm"; if you know what I mean.

Then, the idea of painting it came to me when I was looking through some of the car photos that I had.  But I didn't want to do it in a normal type of way.  So I played with a bit of drawing and came up with a cropped view of it coming towards you and another that's going away.  I call it the "Comings and Goings of a Black Hearst" and here it is...

Photo: "Comings and Goings of a Black Hearst"; Watercolor and Ink on 11" x 17" paper.

I welcome any feedback you may have.  Thanks for stopping by!

Old Chevy Pickup

I had a friend that teasingly challenged me to paint an old Chevy Pickup Truck.  I found a picture among some of the car shows and cruises that I've gone to with Mr. Motorhead.  I found this old Chevy Pickup among them.  I believe this truck is from the late to mid-1940's by the styling of it.  It was a copper colored on the top of it and black on the bottom.  I call this painting the "Black Bottomed Truck". Enjoy, here it is...

"Black Bottomed Truck"; Watercolor and Ink on 9" x 12" Paper.

So, Sal... What do you think of my version of an old Chevy truck?  Let me know! :) Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments you may have!

Pink Mercury 9...

Here's a cute little one that I worked on this last week.  It's based on a car I saw at a local Cedar Rapids car cruise night some while back and I was enamored with a pink car that was not a "Mary Kay" car. LOL!  I tried to just focus on the unique tail lights and the back end of this vehicle.  I also decided to play with a bit of cropping view of the car for something a bit different and new.  Here it is...

"Pink Mercury 9"; a watercolor and ink on 8" x 8" paper

 I believe it is a 1964 Mercury Monterey that I based the painting off of.  Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any feedback you may have!

Red Chevy at Duffy's...

Here's a quick little painting that I did a couple of nights ago.  It's a 1950's red Chevy that I saw when I was at one of the Thursday night car cruise nights at Duffy's in Cedar Rapids.  I thought that the Duffy's building in the back gave it a vintage feel to the painting.  Duffy's is a local place that specializes in selling collectible cars.  They usually have the business open so you can go in and view the cars inside during the car cruise nights; otherwise the hours are just during the days.  These are the type of cars that you wouldn't leave out on a car lot.  They are more of the pampered type.:)  Course, don't let Mr. Motorhead, my boyfriend, hear me say he pampers his car.  That's not very man-ly! LOL!  Here's my latest painting... Enjoy!

"Red Chevy at Duffy's"; Watercolor and Ink on 8" x 8" paper.

I welcome any comment you may have and thank you for stopping by!

Alien Grill Grin...

I sometimes am at a loss on how to name a painting.  This particular one was based on a photo of a close up I took on an older model classic car's grill.  It was taken during another car show that I attended with Mr. Motorhead, my boyfriend.  But I didn't know enough about the type of car or year to use that as a name.  Yes, I guess I need to ask more questions while I'm taking photos than just learning all this car stuff by osmosis. I am guessing that it's a 1930's or around there by the hood but that's all I can figure out.

Here I am at a loss for a title and I hate having "Untitled" and a number after.  Not my kind of thing; its too vague.  Then I had an idea, I would put a photo of it on Face Book and see about suggestions for a title.  Thus, a title for this painting emerged.  It's called "Alien Grill Grin".  A few of the people on Face Book thought it had a bit of that "Alien" Giger feel about it.  I'm unsure about that and will let you decide.  Here it is....

"Alien Grill Grin"; Watercolor and Ink on 10" x 13" paper.

It was rather fun to just focus on part of a car, and don't be surprised if you see more of these types of paintings in the future.  I welcome any comments or feedback.  Thanks for stopping by!

1930's Chevy...

I managed to do this cute little painting during a free evening this week.  It's based on a photo I took from a car show a couple of weeks ago that I visited with Mr. Motorhead.  It's a 1930's Chevy but I'm unsure as to what year.  It's a combination of watercolor and ink.  I've been calling it "Boo Chevy" because it looks like a face that's saying "Boo!"  I know it's silly of me but that's what I see!  You can decide for yourself; here it is...

"Boo Chevy"; Watercolor and Ink on 8" x 11" paper.

Here's the photo that I based the painting off of...

I managed to get a ton of more material for car paintings this last weekend.  I took a ton of pictures while at the Good Guys Car Show in DesMoines this last Saturday.  Mr. Motorhead and I went down to the Iowa State Fairgrounds and spent the day seeing tons and tons of cars.  It was an interesting way to spend a one year anniversary.  But when you are dating a Mr. Mopar Motorhead, well... LOL!  From what I understand there were at least 3000 cars at the event and I must have walked at least 10 miles trying to see all of them! THAT might be a slight exaggeration but I tell you my legs are still sore from doing all of the walking that day.  So there may be more car paintings on the way soon!

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear any comments or feedback!

Purple Plymouth Special

Wonderful Summer time!  It’s that time of year when there’s more and more car shows going on.  I went to one this last weekend with Mr. Motorhead.  Then, this last week I got to looking at different photos that I had taken of cars from last year’s season.  This is based on one of those from last year. 

   

Here is the painting; I refer to as, “Purple Plymouth Special ” …

"Purple Plymouth Special"; Watercolor and Ink on 10" x 10" paper.

This is a watercolor with a bit of ink.  I thought that I would try something new this time.  I decided to just focus on the front of the car and leave out all of the various other details.  I purposely made for white spaces to be in the painting and just added in shapes for cars and trees that were in the original photo along with the Plymouth.  Please don’t ask me what year or specifics on it; but the original car was a burgundy color.  I can tell you that much! J  Though, I do believe it is late 1940’s Plymouth Special Deluxe from doing a bit of research on-line.

I welcome any feedback you may have and thanks for stopping by!