Archive for the ‘Automotive Art’ Category
February 21st, 2010 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art
Flipping through Nicolas’ portfolio of a variety of racing imagery is a real treat. There is a wonderful variety here that really impresses, not just variety of subject matter, but of technique. I’ve always been drawn to well-executed watercolor, largely because the required approach just hasn’t clicked with me whenever I’ve picked up the brush.
Control over the amount of liquid; layering the colors to get the right richness and value of tone; creating strong and well defined lines: all of these fundamental techniques have completely been thrown out the window every time I’ve made at an attempt. Usually my own watercolors become a long and intense study of mud puddles. For Nicolas though, he’s somehow able to create the pits at LeMans or the body of Clark’s Lotus from the humble, yet elusive, watercolor palette. Marvelous stuff—and that’s just one of his mediums.
One of his pieces absolutely leaped off the screen at me. The rendering of Jackie Stewart in a BRM is remarkable. The contrast of the shadows and highlights that we’re so used to rendering in one long gradient on a white canvas becomes so much more nuanced and interesting when broken into a 2 pronged approach on a medium value background. Using the paper color to create the base tone of the BRM’s livery is fantastic. We often think of working in black and white, when usually that means black ON white, actually dividing the tones into black AND white produces beautiful results.
You can see more of Nicolas’ work at his site and see the prints at his blog.
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February 5th, 2010 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art, Ferrari, Historic Racing Photos
Looks like I’ll have to add Salon Retromobile to my list of future automotive events to attend. I usually prefer my vintage racecar events to include some racing, but these photos from Martin Vincent’s Flickr Stream have me convinced that the fact that this event is held indoors is no barrier to seeing some very high quality machines. This unveiling of an ex-Regazzoni, Andretti, Galli and Merzario Ferrari 312B really puts me over the edge. Beautiful!
See more of Martin’s remarkable shots at his Retromobile Gallery.
More on the Ferrari 312B at Hall & Hall.
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December 6th, 2009 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art, Ferrari
Have you ever played too much Tetris?
When I was playing A LOT of Tetris as a kid, my mind went a little funny. Whatever I would see that day—a car, the space between buildings, the front of the classroom—in my mind I was subconsciously figuring out what Tetris pieces I needed to fill in the space. It’s an odd sensation.
I imagine that Paul “Lego911″ has a similar affliction. Whenever he sees a shape, I’m betting his mind starts figuring out how to sculpt it in Lego bricks. The condition must be grave, because he’s got serious skills. You probably didn’t think you could craft the gentle arc of a Ferrari 250 GT Lusso’s bonnet, the distinctive mouth of an Aston Martin DB5, or the short tail of a Porsche 917K from humble Lego bricks, did you? Turns out, in the hands of a master, you can.
Thankfully, Paul has learned that he’s not alone. He’s started a Flickr group called LUGNUTS as a support system of sorts and found others with the same condition artistic vision.
Check out Paul’s blog, his Flickr stream, and the LUGNUTS group pool and prepare to be amazed.
I bet he’s better at Tetris than me.
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September 8th, 2009 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art, Historic Racing Photos
I first saw Tim Scott’s photography as I browsed the always exciting inventory of classic and competition autos at London dealer, Fiskens, web site. While it should be the norm, a fair bit of dealer photography is no better than the average eBay listing. Fiskens, however, invests in beautiful photography of their inventory, usually shot in interesting locations that accentuate the subject. It wasn’t until recently that I learned that we have Tim Scott to thank for that. His portfolio site is well worth a visit for fans of everything from vintage racecars to Bonneville specials to classic cycles and Italian motor scooters. Here are a few of my favorites, definitely visit his site for the complete breadth of stunning work.
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December 10th, 2008 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art, Grand Prix, Racing Ephemera, Racing Gear
It’s that time of year again, friends. While I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding a special gift for the vintage racing enthusiast in your life, it seemed like a good time to collect some of our, and probably someone on your list’s, favorites. Perfect for anyone snuggled in bed, while visions of racing cars dance in their heads.
Racing Books
It seems that gearheads never have too many bookshelves. Every year another hundred or so racing books are published; these are a few of our favorites.
Movies
I would hope that the racer on your shopping list would have these films in their collection already. If they don’t, they’re mandatory.
For The Walls
I’m sure there’s still some small piece of bare wall somewhere. No? Not even in the garage? Maybe the master bathroom.
Video Gaming
It’s winter. Chances are, the racer on your list can’t take their car to the local track until spring. These should tide them over until then.
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November 3rd, 2008 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art
Welsh painter, Rob Ijbema, maintains an remarkably prolific blog of his automotive paintings at his Car-A-Day site. His work is quite varied, from watercolors to pen sketches and everything in between. Rob’s subject matter is pretty evenly split between historic racers and modern Formula 1, with a bit of road cars and rally thrown in for good measure. I particularly like his watercolors of early racers of the likes of Fangio and Moss. There’s so much abstraction in some areas of the work that it’s almost an optical illusion when you take in the wider piece and see the level of detail hinted at by seemingly random dashes of color and line—Virtually impressionistic in execution. The best thing about Rob’s blog is that you can wade through two years of near daily work and revel in the shear breadth of work. Many of the works are marked “sold”, but I don’t readily see a link to his representing gallery, but perhaps you can buy one for yourself if you drop him an email. This is definitely a site to keep tabs on.
Be sure to check out his “Demo’s” section for a bit of insight into his process as he works through a painting. Excellent stuff.
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September 10th, 2008 | Published by Harlo in Automotive Art
Paul Chenard dropped me a message the other day pointing me to his wonderful sites. Paul’s illustrations and paintings are marvelous; and I love the variety in his work. Some are remarkably photographic and realistic, but what really struck me are the charming pencil sketches and lively suggestive drawings. The limited edition quartet of Phil Hill in race winning Ferrari’s are absolutely fantastic (one of which is pictured here). All four, and much more, are available at his online shop.
Paul also maintains a blog at automobiliart.blogspot.com where he posts about racing news and showcases his latest work. Check it out.
At the very least, download and build his papercraft Maserati 250F.
DISCUSS (2 Comments)
Flipping through Nicolas’ portfolio of a variety of racing imagery is a real treat. There is a wonderful variety here that really impresses, not just variety of subject matter, but of technique. I’ve always been drawn to well-executed watercolor, largely because the required approach just hasn’t clicked with me whenever I’ve picked up the brush.
