The Naked Silo

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009, private collection Even though I finished this painting back in September --just before my exhibition of classic cars at The Pilot tavern in Yorkville-- I've only just now gotten around to taking a good photo of it for my records (and my Etsy shop (link below)...and this here blog). I guess that's in keeping with the spirit of this particular car: I spotted the vehicle on the south side of Queen Street, across from Trinity Bellwoods Park this summer, but only just had enough time to get off my bike, get my camera out, and snap a quick one before its driver got in and pulled away, heading east. Then, the exact year of this model eluded me in my online search (and still does, hence the simplified title). I think it's from the 1940s or 50s, but the design of the damn turn signals over the front wheels doesn't match the other parts chronologically, so I think it's a bit of a hybrid, kitbash, mélange of MG eras...

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009, private collection This painting is also in my current show at The Pilot Tavern in Yorkville (see this post for venue details), which will be up through Christmas. I though I'd try something a little bit different with this one, so I painted the background dramatically as though the sun was setting and made much of the dark areas in the car a sort of purple to complement the surrounding colours. I didn't work in much of the "sunset" colours into the car for some reason and this strangely keeps the car separate from, rather than incorporating it into, the background. Maybe I was thinking of the backgrounds of the 1960s Spider-Man animated series when painting this.

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 This painting is also in my current show at The Pilot Tavern in Yorkville (see this post for venue details), which will be up through Christmas. When I was painting this car, I initially thought the white roof was convertible (and it's hard to tell from the photo ref) but I am assured by my cousin who's got a keen eye for cars -and could tell just by looking at my painting- that it's just a different colour. Growing up I had a friend one street over whose dad had a car almost exactly like this (the roof was the same colour as the body and the colour may have been more on the gold side) and I remember getting a ride to school one snowy winter's day in that car. Back then I didn't know anybody else who had this kind of car and didn't seem to see one anywhere else, even in passing, so an early 70s Dodge Charger was always "Jim's dad's car" to me --even while painting this picture rough...

each: 20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009, both in a private collection These paintings are also in my current show at The Pilot Tavern in Yorkville (see this post for venue details), which will be up through Christmas. When I shoot reference I sometimes don't know in the moment just what angle I'll use for the final painting, so I tend to over shoot and end up with more photos than I need...but I keep all my photos because maybe these alternate angles will be used one day as part of the series...or in a completely different way. And so it is with these car paintings; walking or riding my bike around Toronto, I often stumble upon a great old car and, if I'm lucky and have my camera with me, I'll get some quick shots. Obviously, I'll shoot the front and make sure I've got the "face" well documented, but sometimes these beauties have really nice back ends and some even have fancy fins --which I love, but are very rare around ...

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo plastic, 2009 This painting is in my current show at The Pilot Tavern in Yorkville (see previous post for details), ongoing through Christmas. This isn't a classic example of a 1973 Corvette Stingray (or one from any year, for that matter), but it is a great example of 1970s-style shiny hot rod customization. This car was designed for and was featured in the 1978 film, " Corvette Summer " starring Mark Hamill as a high school student who transforms a piece of junk from the scrapyard into the gleaming beast pictured above. I remember seeing this movie in the theatre for my cousin's birthday. He was really into cars back then --and still is: Bob's had his own auto body shop for most of his adult life. Thing is, I was only around six years old at the time and I was more interested in seeing Luke Skywalker again than I was in the hot rods featured in the movie. But this car did strike a chord with me and I'...

This Wednesday (23 September) at 8PM is the opening night of my show at The Pilot Tavern in Yorkville . Venue details are at the bottom of this post. A dozen of my watercolour paintings of cars on Yupo plastic were hung there today and they look great. The show will stay up until around New Year's, so if you can't make the opening night (which promises to be a blast), feel free to stop by and enjoy The Pilot's ambiance, have a few drinks, and look at some fine art over the next few months. This happens to be my 100th post and I'm celebrating with a bright new look for the blog. The new banner image is from one of a trio of recent watercolour paintings on Yupo of a friend striking martial arts poses while weilding deadly kitchen utensils (the deadliness of which, I guess, is purely contextual). __________________________________________ Autos en Plastiques Opening Night Wednesday 23 September 2009 at 8:00PM The Pilot Tavern 22 Cumberland Street (Yorkville) Toronto, ON 4...

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 When I saw this car on Queen Street a few years ago, I was so happy to have my camera with me. This Ford Fairlane is awesome: shiny red paint job, chrome, curves...it may be a horrible, gas-guzzling behemoth, but it's still a car with a ton of charm and personality design-wise and very fun to paint.

1963 Pontiac Parisienne,  private collection 1969 Pontiac GTO both: 20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 A couple more cars done from reference I shot around Toronto over the years. For my first few car paintings I concentrated on their fronts, but I have multiple photos of most of these and some from interesting reverse angles, so maybe, one day, I'll diversify these "portraits" with some new views. Maybe make a calendar, or something... Apparently, that GTO is also a Pontiac, but I don't know the name/model of the black one. I do find it kinda weird, though, that most of the interesting vintage cars I shot around town just happen to be Pontiacs.

1971 Pontiac LeMans 20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 1949 Oldsmobile Deluxe Coupe 20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009, private collection I'll be showing a number of my new watercolour-on-plastic paintings in the upcoming SpeakEasy Drawing and Painting Show in June (details in this post ), and these cars will definitely be part of the show. I love rendering metal -especially chrome (whether it's in colour or black and white ), and Yupo is pretty amazing for doing this since you can just wipe away areas you want to be white, and with the narrow edge of a brush, the results can be nicely convincing. Along with the interesting and sexy shapes and curves older cars have (compared to modern cars which are more aerodynamic and more fuel-efficient but visually boring), I like their inherent reflectivity and shininess (the hood of the top car is a perfect example of this) which is also fun to render.

20" x 26", watercolour on Yupo, 2009 Ever since I started painting, I looked at my watercolour palette and was fascinated by the strange and interesting ways the colours would dry on its plastic surface. Some time later, I saw a display for Yupo synthetic "paper" in an art store that someone had painted on with some watercolours --not an image, really, but abstract colour mixing which looked a lot like my palette. Interest piqued, I bought a few sheets and tried one out immediately. The results were interesting but, as I expected, there was a bit of a struggle getting the paint to do what I wanted --or at least what I was used to with regular watercolour paper. The biggest difference is that regular watercolour paper is absorbent and Yupo is not, so I had to come up with a new way of painting. The results are strange and fantastic, yet still watercolour-y, and I love how my brushes glide over the smooth surface like skates on ice so, a few yea...