La Vie En Bleu, Prescott

A wonderful weekend at the French-themed festival. There's always a great party atmosphere with musicians, can can dancers and very funny performers dressed as chefs, policemen and onion sellers. Got to see some old favourites and also some cars that I'd hoped to see for a long time. Didn't get an awful lot of sketching done - too many distractions. I'll add some photos soon.


I love this huge-engined monster. 4 cylinders and 17.5 litres...

Another favourite of mine. Very low slung. I love the way the big V8 and exhausts stick out the sides...

This is a beautifully engineered car - very crisp looking in its bare metal with a stunning supercharged engine...

I've wanted to see this for a long time. It's one of my favourite cars and I really enjoyed sketching it. Originally it had a 16degree V-Twin - it's now fitted with a single cylinder engine of the same vintage. Frustratingly the original motor is rusting away in a garden but the owner won't sell it...

Wonderful aero-engined beast - capable of over 130mph - if you're brave enough! Starting to get bored of the black Prismacolor pencil so I tried sketching with a blue pencil for a change...

VSCC Prescott 2011

I only made it to Prescott for one day this year so my sketches are a bit loose and scribbly. I'm pretty happy with them though. Got to see lots of old favourites and a few new machines too - and met lots of people whose cars I'd painted or who I'd chatted to on the internet.

Here's a splendid, low slung Piccard-Pictet or PicPic with a 9 litre aero engine...

... and a stunning Peugeot 148 from 1913...

This car has all the details I like. Great proportions and stance, big side exhausts, the GN chassis with it's chain gang and a terrific looking Cirrus Hermes aero engine...

Here's a very elegant looking recreation of a GP Sunbeam. Love those long tails...

I slightly exagerrated the proportions of this tiny Carden - not by much though...

Another powerful looking aero engined special, this time a 1913 Theophile Schneider...

I spent a little longer on this one...

Here's a couple of cars in the car park which I was comissioned to draw. I may still add a bit more watercolour although I quite like it as it is. What's tricky is that they were both black so there won't really be anything to contrast and catch your eye. Perhaps all it needs is a bit of a wash to the sky...

Finally, just as I was thinking about leaving (huge grey clouds gathering overhead) I saw this wonderful creation. I thought I might be able to get a quick sketch in before the deluge. The rain came, and so did the owner, Mark Dixon from Octane magazine. He's a very kind chap, not only did he give me a small feature in a past issue but he also held an umbrella over me while I got the sketch finished! I added the colour back at home. It's an interesting car, based on a model T and built by Peter Stevens - designer of the McLaren F1 no less...