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.

Chevy Breeds Racing #1 and #2

Another commission finished just in time for a Christmas gift.  These 2 paintings are based on a father and son's cars and was commissioned by a daughter/sister for the pair.  She wanted both the paintings to look as much a like as possible and have the cars racing.  The loaded question was whose car should be out in front.  She said her brother's which is a 1968/1969 Chevelle SS.  Her father's car is a 2012 Camaro. Here's the final paintings...

"Chevy Breeds Racing #1"; Watercolor on 8" x 10"

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2"; Watercolor on 8" x 10" paper

I started out with this as an original photo to work with...

Original Photo worked from

 From there I worked out 3 options and this was the one that was decided upon...

Option #3- drawing that was chosen.

It was decided that there would be a "grill focus" in the upper corner of each painting to make it special gift for each receiver.  Here's one of the paintings in process...

"Chevy Breed Racing #1" Watercolor painting in process.

Then I took what I thought were the finished paintings to show to the Sister/Daughter and there were a couple of things that needed to be fixed....

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2- What I thought was done?

It turns out that the father's car had a black stripe for part of the hood.  That was an easy fix.  The other error that was discovered is that the brother's car now had a 496 engine instead of the 396 engine that was showing in some of the other photos that I was given.  Oooopss!  That was a bit more of a challenge.  Because it's not so easy to erase or paint over with watercolor.  I ended up doing a bit of improvising and this what was the result...

"Chevy Breeds Racing #2"; final Watercolor on 8" x 10" paper

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

Demon Four Pane...

The dust has finally settled and most of the boxes have been unpacked from my move.  In fact, I’m preparing for a little housewarming get together soon.  BUT the really important thing is that I managed to find my good camera and I was able to take some photos.  Here it is, in its entirety – The Demon Four Pane! 

"Demon Four Panes- four 8" x 11" paintings on paper.

 Here's them individually...

"Demon Logo"; watercolor on 8" x 11" paper

"Demon- Rear End"; watercolor on 8" x 11" paper.

"Demon- Side View"; watercolor on 8" x 11" paper.

"Demon- Front End"; watercolor on 8" x 11" paper.

P.S. Mr. Motorhead was VERY please with his paintings!  Thanks for stopping by and I welcome any comments!

A Halloween Move & Glimpse of Latest...

My favorite time of year - Halloween, and I will be moving into to new digs near the Czech Village area of Cedar Rapids.  No longer a renter, I'm becoming a homeowner.  Here's a photo of a current commission project that I'm trying to finish before my move.  I warn you, it is a poor photo.  Yes, the camera is packed and this was taken with non-internet-accessing-low-tech phone. As you can see my shadow above.  It's going to be a four pane of a red 1971 Demon.  This is for Mr. Motorhead to pay for a riding lawnmower at the new digs.  It's a big yard - I NEEDED it! Enough said :)

Photo- Prelim ink drawings for Demon four pane.

I hope to share a better photo of the real paintings soon.  Thanks for stopping by!

Half of Green Machine...

I've recently been house shopping.  And while I'm going through all of these houses, I've been dragging Mr. Motorhead along with me to look at things.  It always comes in handy when you have know someone that is a maintenance man to take a look at things.  It gives me an idea of what's fixable and what's not so fixable. Poor Mr. Motorhead putting up with all of this and never once complaining.  I decided that he little a extra Thank You for all that he's putting up with.  So, I did another painting of the Meen Green Machine for him.  The Meen Green is a 1971 Dodge Scamp that Mr. Motorhead owns and pampers.

I had Mr. Motorhead close his eyes while I put it out the painting in front of him and then had him open his eyes.  He liked it; I could tell!  But the first thing out of his mouth was: "Where's the other half?"  Yep, he has a bit of a smart-alack streak in him.  I told him if he continued to be nice to me, I MIGHT paint the other half of the car! Course, I told him it would be a smaller version if I did.  LOL!  Take that one buddy; got to keep him on his toes!  Here's the half I did paint...

"Half of Green Machine"; Watercolor and Ink on 8" x 16" paper.

   So hopefully, in the near future I will be sharing some good news about a house in the Cedar Rapids area that has become my home.  I would like to have a permanent place to call my studio.  I'll keep you posted as the process goes on.  Thanks for stopping by and always feel free to leave a comment!

Shawn's 1970 Camaro...

Shawn is a friend of Mr. Motorhead, my boyfriend, and I was rather excited when he asked if I would do a painting of his car.  Shawn has a 1970 Z28 Camaro that is a beauty.  It is a Sea-green color with black striping with a bit of pin striping.  It's in mint condition and I just jumped at the opportunity to paint it.  Here's the finished painting...

The challenge with this painting was narrowing down on a layout.  The front grill and the split bumper is very unique to this car.  I wanted to do it justice.  But at the same time, I wanted to do a view of the whole car.  Mr. Motorhead and Shawn were playing with a few ideas one night over dinner and the idea of a two shot of the car came into being.

I did three different lay out drawings for Shawn, but he had a hard time visualizing it.  So I took the one that he seemed to like the most and did an ink shading drawing of it.  That seemed to help him out with what it would look like.  Here's the ink shading drawing that I did...

This really was a fun project to do and it went relatively quick once the layout was figured out.

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

The Meen Green Machine...

This is the car painting that I did for my boyfriend, Mr. Motorhead, for a Christmas present.  I was so nervous about giving this painting to him because he's such a Mopar Muscle car fanatic.  And I titled this "Meen Green Machine"; rather than what I really wanted to call it--- "The Other Mistress".  LOL!  I figured I better keep myself out of trouble, if I can. ;)

I struggled to do this a little different but still try to stay close to the true-ness of the car.  I kept it to a limited palette of greens and blues; a masculine color pallet.  I thought that the smoke coming from the tire area would bring it a little more alive in the painting rather than just a static car sitting there.  Then, I felt it needed a bit of a Mopar logo-like for Mr. Motorhead.  After all, he is a Mopar Man!  I also felt like I needed something more in the upper left hand corner too.  I tried to kind of replicate a Mopar badge like logo that I found on-line.  I think it turned out well.

Mr. Motorhead was happy with it.  In fact, it is already framed and up on the wall in his living room.  The only item on the wall; which makes me feel special that he wanted it there for all to see.  Here's the painting...

"Meen Green Machine"; Watercolor on 11" x 14" Paper.

The car is a 1971 Scamp.  As to the engine and more specifics, I'm unsure and still learning.  But I have spent some time strapped in the passenger seat and I can tell you it has some real muscle!  In fact, I was in there once when he did peel out and burn some actual rubber on the pavement.  It was an exciting experience!!  But here's a photo of the actual car...

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