Saturday, February 23, 2008

Run'em, Wreck'em and Store'em..Auto Wreckers, Sort of











Where the roads are rough, sometimes washed out and the crusher never gets there, you can find yards full of cars that are all one make, but different years. They were bought for $25 bucks, mid last century, run into the ground and when they would go no more they became permanent gothic yard ornaments. The next runner brought in and kept running as long as interchangeable parts from the previous wrecks would allow. And then the next one was acquired...thats how yards in remote areas got full of cars. The details man, the details, just give me the details...okay, okay, just bink to blow.

Sunday, February 17, 2008


Alright, here's the story. On the other side of the narrows, past the two foot drop where the currents meet, past the thirty foot whirlpool, its as calm as a mill pond. During prohibition some comedian built this house with three stories and his version of a light house. There were logging camps all up and down the coast and fishermen everywhere. Since the cops wouldn't bother going past the maritime hazzards, the setting was perfect for booze and women for rent. Navigation through the narrows at high tide was risky business but highly rewarding whether you were buying or selling. Rum runners did it and brought the women with them. The loggers and fishermen came in from the north and some braved the narrows from the south. Either way they managed to frequent the Logger's Maritime Motel. They came in one lung Easthope double enders, fishboats, cruisers, tugboats, skiffs, runabouts, canoes, rowboats, whatever they could manage. The light was a hollow welded lantern with a glass orb on top. Below the "lantern" was a round room with a fire pit that provided the light and warmth for customers seeking seclusion (however well illuminated). You could see it a long way off and everybody knew what it meant. It lasted through the depression, coast guard patrols shut it down at the start of WW2. They hauled the customers off and nobody went back for anything. You can see strange lighting at dusk, things glowing...maybe its just the sun at a certain angle... Blast for exploded view.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Logged In


Just playin' around with the paint...like it or don't. Could be the start of some style exploration on my way to nowhere in particular. Panoramic expansion available with mouse bink.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Bonnie Loch

Another land locked retiree, awaiting repairs but more likely abandoned to the earth. Expand your horizons through subject growth-bink.

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Spent on the Shore of Malcom Island





This hardworking boat has finished working and will return to the sea flake by flake. They are everywhere here and yet they disappear as the industry vapourizes. Bink for a closer look at the inner workings.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

The Voyager


I am exploring the colourful yet gritty approach. I don't think they will be big sellers but they are more realistic yet more exagerated at the same time or something. This building actually sits on the Fraser River in North Bend. Splode it.
This building was a "Logger's Hotel" on the bank of the River Fraser. The car has no relation to the abandoned lodging. Its a "runner" that conveniently died by an open space where it underwent the ritual "tire letting". Buy it for 25 bucks, run it as long as you can "haywire" it together and the brakes last and where it dies is where it rests forever or until the crusher comes.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Plymouth Among the Rocks and Grass



Allrighty then, I redid it with a rock under it. I like this style.



This forlorn specimen is sitting in the yard of a homestead that has been abandoned since 1966. We have Scotch broom everywhere now and it grew out from underneath this wreck. And moss is actually growing on the trunk and hood. Blow it up.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

The Bel Air Sat in the Salt Air




Now this gorgeous car was left on the beach in a remote area of Vancouver Island. It came into a logging camp on a barge and was left when the camp burned, nobody came back for it. Why it was taken in in the first place is a mystery or why it didn't burn for that matter. Its gone now so don't bother looking. Bink for more in depth baloney.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Queen Anne Shanty-Home of the Happy Medium














Okay here's the story. When I was a kid this was the house of a local "entertainer". By day she read taro cards and tea leaves. She stopped short of gazing into her crystal ball, but she did mount a glass float on her roof, a symbol of her trade I suppose. The interesting thing about the float was that she had figured out how to light it up with a red glow. It had to be kerosene or candles because there was no power. So I guess her income generation program involved extended hours. She didn't close day or night. It was near the beach, a shanty with log "ginger bread" details and pretentions to a Queen Anne Style. Another comical aspect was that because the shack had no foundation it was sinking so you had to stoop to get in so it kinda looked like a hobbit house. This is my idea sketch, just a doodle, the trees are too red, the spot of light leads your eye out of the picture etc...I am collecting ideas-painting on scraps just gaining momentum. __________________

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Idea For a West Coaster


I have always thought the Californian watercolourists of the mid twentieth century were boffo superb. Interpretive, full of motion, light, colour...just all round fabulous. This is my salute to them,
especially Duane R Light. I am going to refine this idea.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Demo















This is the final result of a step by step demonstration I did for "Paint Doodles". Bink to blow for greater appreciation of nothing in particular and everything in general.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Friday, December 07, 2007

Cars From Day 1


This is my idea for a painting of someone's cars from the first one to the present....

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Work in Progress

This is the second draft.











This is a scene I am working on- this is the first draft.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Cumberland Yard

This painting contains a house from Cumberland, my buddies car (the red/pink Plymouth), 2 cars from a commission and a coupe (on the left) from an old junkyard now gone. Bink for illumination and copyright infringement.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Royal Oak Station

This was part of a series I did with Fords as the main characters. Bink to blow..up.
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Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Okanagan Sun Patina

This subject was one of my first discoveries. I learned to paint on this car. I've painted it many times, practising, practising.....
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Saturday, November 03, 2007