Jamie and I came across this handsome old car while out in Venice yesterday, and as we pulled into the spot kitty-corner to it in the parking lot, we couldn’t help but acknowledge its resemblance to a certain Paul Newman-voiced character. It even had a stunning dark-blue paint job. Jamie ran a quick errand while I hung out and did a quick sketch.
A couple minutes later, the owner showed up and we got to chatting. Turns out that he’s a retired technical illustrator. Primarily jets and cars, from what I recall. He also mentioned that he had a friend named Nicola Wood who does paintings of cars and with some pretty interesting techniques. He was very friendly and even invited me out to have breakfast with he and Nicola sometime this week!
Later, Jamie and I were watching The Fog of War on DVD and saw some old stock footage of what looked like this very car or perhaps the sedan model, rolling off of the assembly line.
Serendipity at work.
By the way, I also have some beach sketches from yesterday, which I will post later.
Real cool car drawing. It has that soft feeling that the Pixar folks added to their car designs. Cheers!
Well, thank you, Arna! Terrific compliment. I wasn’t going for a Pixar feel here, but maybe something crept in subconciously. I did have Hudson on the brain. It’s also a little distorted because I was standing so close.
Just a great story of meeting the owner and having some breakfast. Cars are something I really want to get better at sketching. You’ve nailed it on the money with such minimal lines. Actually the first thing that popped in my mind was Hudson from “Cars”. Funny you mentioned that.
I met some interesting people while I was skethcing them at the Geoge Lucas “Letterman” Park. They caught me dropping some watercolors and a conversation sparked. One is a professional photographer, and one is a graphic designer for 15 years. I’ll be joining them for a picnic this weekend.
Hope your breakfast meeting goes well.