My first print run!

I've had quite a lot of nice comments about those little car thumbnails. So much so that I thought I'd try a run of prints. I 've found a local printer and we spent Friday afternoon tweaking the image and trying out different papers and I now have now the first batch of A3 prints in my hands. I'm really pleased with how they came out. I've decided to limit them to 100 prints and they are signed and numbered. If anybody would like one I'm selling them for £35 including postage in Europe or the USA (if you're somewhere else please get in touch and I'll calculate the extra shipping cost).

Goodwood Revival

Found out on Thursday that I'd have Friday free so I got a last minute ticket for the Revival - only Friday tickets were available so I didn't manage to get a huge amount of drawing done. It was pretty chilly too and I didn't do too much watercolour this time as I hadn't packed my big waterbrush. Still, I had a fantastic time, jaw-droppingly beautiful cars abounded and I managed to get a few nice photos in as the sun set too. I'll be posting some images on flickr shortly.

First up is the 1959 Maserati Birdcage. It was fun trying to capture the curves of this beautiful car. I thought I'd done alright but Cathy said it looked like an A level piece. Perhaps it is a bit stiff - first one of the day, the cold etc etc...


I like a challenge so I had a go at the BRM H16. They had a beautiful selection of BRM's there...


This is a very quick sketch of a supercharged Austin Special - Mrs JoJo...


This is a rather stunning Bugatti Type 54 from 1931...


You'll notice that I've drawn a lot of these from the same angle - I didn't have a paddock pass so mostly I was restricted to drawing these from over or through the fence. Unfortunately this famous ERA had had its engine removed - you can see part of it on the ground next to it...


I quickly tried to get this last sketch in as the light disappeared. It's a beautiful car with a wonderful, well used look...

Bloodhound

Next door to where I work is a small building that used to be the Maritime Heritage Center. It's currently being used by Richard Noble's Bloodhound team - who are hoping to build a car that will exceed 1000mph. Here's a quick sketch of the full size mock up which is used to raise money and excitement for the project at various shows and events. It looks stunning and I can't believe my luck at having something like this going on so close to home...

Kilve

Kilve is on the Somerset coast. It's very interesting geologically - with a beach made of large sloping shelves of rock and some shaly cliffs behind. It's quite a good spot for fossil hunting too with lots of ammonites. It's only about an hour from where we live so we went for a picnic. Here the shale cliffs have eroded to leave the silhouette of a face...


... and it would be silly to go this close to Devon without stopping for a cream tea. These ruins are in the gardens of the Chantry Tea Gardens. The scones were excellent - should have only had one though...