Classic Car Portraits: Purely Natural!
My classic car portraits emerged naturally from my early passion for cars. It was always a passion less for the technical aspects and more for the design. Throughout my childhood I was creating car portraits: My own designs, as well as of Formula 1 cars from Motor Sport magazine. I loved the sculptural quality of cars, and the unique character of each one. The forms and colours felt irresistible and still do.
Considering a car design course at University, I went to talk to people at the design department at Ford, which was then headed by Uwe Bahnsen. This connection was enabled by a family friend. At the time I came away feeling that the car design world was too overwhelming for me. I went on to work briefly at Wolff Olins, the design agency in London known for their pioneering work in corporate-identity design. After that, I began studying architecture.
Seminal cars which were notable in my early automotive life were: 1966 Daimler 250 V8, 1968 MGB GT, 1973 Fiat 130 Coupe, 1975 Opel Manta Turbo (Broadspeed), 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Berlina, and Fiats 600 and 850.
I spent many years in educational illustration and animation. After years painting Biblical subjects, I found my attention veering automatically back to cars. I gradually began making classic car portraits.
Classic Car Paintings on Wood My aim was to make a beautifully detailed, almost jewel-like, artwork of this client’s Mercedes to add to my portfolio of classic car paintings. The car, isolated against the natural texture of birch, is clearly and calmly presented, with no distraction. Wood panel art, a craft traditionally associated with […]
An Aston Martin Artwork This original car painting depicts one of the Aston Martin DB4 Zagato, Sanction III cars. This one was built in 1999, registration no. 001 V (see history section below). The artwork is acrylic on birch wood panel, and measures 40x80cm. For further details please get in touch with me. These photos […]
Recently I had the pleasure of creating a painting for this fine car’s owner in Geneva. The curved shape of the Porsche is a work of art in itself. Below is a quick photo-journal showing the art process. But first; a little history. The Porsche 356 is considered a landmark in car design. It was […]
This is the first of a series of larger car paintings on wood. Measuring 50 x 70cm, it’s an acrylic painting on 10mm plywood panel. The lovely Fiat 500 was designed by Dante Giacosa in around 1955, and replaced the earlier tiny Fiat “Topolino” (nicknamed in Italian after Mickey Mouse). Fiat produced the 500 from […]
A dark green MGB roadster from 1967 is the subject of my new classic car portrait on wood. The original car is in the collection of a gentleman from Alberta, Canada. His wife (well, technically, ex-wife) wanted to give him a personalised gift celebrating the car that he’d inherited from his father. This was also […]
A bespoke car portrait is not just about what the car looks like: lines, colour, texture and so on. It’s also about the life of which the car has been a part. The human journeys it’s been a part of, and the places it’s been…..All this can be reflected in the aged finish of its […]
Automotive Artwork This automotive art piece depicts the elegant and powerful Fiat 130 Coupe. Designed by Paolo Martin for Pininfarina, it was a large grand-touring car produced from 1971 to 1977. One of these rare and very expensive cars became our family car in about 1974. It was a most amazing and unusual car bought […]
