Archive: More Drawings

These are a bit later, mid 70s and on. They're more technically proficient but I feel like I lose some of the gesture in the process. I like the way I drew as a kid and work to recapture some of the freshness from the early days.

Roy Disney



Frank Wells




Jacke and Cheryl Crump

Around the mid 80s I started drawing people related to Ferrari cars and eventually the cars themselves. After these, most of my drawings were done as preparation for paintings; people wouldn't shell out money for pencil or charcoal work but they seemed slightly open to buying paintings.

Enzo Ferrari

Phil Hill and Enzo Ferrari

Phil Hill

Sergio Pininfarina


An Early 50s car in the process of being built.


The first test drive.


The first Testa Rossa being weighed in before racing at Le Mans.

Archive: Collaborating with Scott

In the formative years I was fortunate to collaborate with my great friend Scott Gladden. Scott and I have similar interests, temperament and artistic sensibilities. Scott has an easy and natural bias toward creating that I've always admired. Every day we would sit and draw, listening to loud music, dutifully consuming the plentiful variety of substances on hand that were used as a call to inspiration.

We learned silk screening from our high school art teacher Ilona Rymer. She would divide school printing needs between us, Scott did some and I did others. But most our time, definitely our creative time, was spent in his room making art.

We made a lot of silk screens together. All of them were hand cut from our own drawings, often sitting knee to knee with a common drawing board across our laps, busily carving away at the lacquer film. His portion was often carved out upside down and I was amazed he could draw expressive parts like hair and fabric with a knife.

During the printing process he would experiment with different colors of paint on the same stencil, and coming back to hand detail parts of the screen with his finger. He has always been fearless in his approach to everything and gave me confidence to go way passed my perceived limits (in many aspects of life).

There are few survivors from this period of work from 1970 ~ 72; what I could find is represented here. The earliest dated one is Jimi (in front of the amp) from ’71, but they are all from the same basic time and each of us had a hand in each one.

Below is a charcoal picture of Scott and me at the card table in ’72 or 3. Musicians Ken Rhoads and Mike Rafnel, artist Bill Jacobi and producer Mark Ferree had rented a house at 1208 E. Commonwealth that became (among other things) a poker palace. I imagine Bruce Beckman took the photo, but it could have been Joey Viles, both had cameras on hand at Rhoads house regularly. The drawing was done in ’73 and I probably lost the hand.

Itty Bitty Show

The Gallery on Birch Street Promenade in Brea is doing a show of Itty Bitty paintings for November and December 2010. All the paintings are 3 1/2" square wood panels and they are all fun and unique. I have 20 pieces in the show, all portraits. Here they are all bunched together:

They sold well during the show and a few are still available, drop a line if you are interested in one.

1st row: Jimi Hendrix , Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Jack Kerouac, Elvis Presley

2nd row:Keith Richards, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix

3rd row:Neil Young, Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison

4th row: Jimi Hendrix, Ringo Starr, Neil Young, Jerry Garcia, Neal Cassady

Santa Ana College Portrait Show

Curator Phil Marquez has announced a portrait exhibition to be shown in the Santora Building near the end of the 2010 summer. He is planning on having all sorts of media in the show from traditional to abstract. The show will be in the Santa Ana College Gallery on the second floor of the Santora (207 N. Broadway).I will have four pieces in the exhibit and encourage you to come to one or both of the receptions. They are on Saturday August 7 & Saturday Sept. 4 from 7-10 pm.The Santora is in the heart of Santa Ana's art scene. On the first Saturday of each month all the studios and galleries have an open house. If you haven't been, you need to. If you have, you know to come early to get a table in any of the cool restaurants in the area before they fill up.

Here are three of the four entries (the forth will make it's debut at the show):

Deb

Junior

Torn Circus

Orange County Fair Art Competition

I've been encouraged to enter the Art Exhibit at the Orange County Fair. They allow up to three entries per artist and all fortunately all three of mine were accepted. The fair runs through August 15th. If you're in the neighborhood stop in and check it out.

These are my entries:

Parts is Parts
The Happening

Access

P.S. On August 5th the painting "Part Is Parts" was awarded the 2nd place ribbon.

Junior

This is Hershel "Junior" Conway. He is one of the pioneers of custom car painting, getting his start with George Barris in the 1950s. His mastery of paint finishes has become legendary and owes much of his success to labor intensive hand finishing. His client list is a who's who of car enthusiasts. His work has expanded to complete restoration of classic and exotic cars, including the complex assembly of these hand made cars. We met a few years ago while restoring a Duesenberg. The car won Pebble Beach, the most prestigious classic car event in the world, and we became friends.

I had decided to do a series of paintings of people behind the scenes in vintage car preservation and restoration and Junior is included in the series. I spent a couple days with him shooting pictures and talking about how to best represent him. One of the things he is very proud of is a spiral staircase he painted for a San Franciscan client. The staircase is carbon fiber, designed by Swift Engineering and presented a variety of challenges for him and his crew. Since Junior is already firmly established in the automotive community I thought I'd include the staircase in his portrait. Although it is outside his normal range of interest, his attitude and work ethic delivered another world class finish.

The oil painting is 18" x 24".