land rover

land rover, a photo by Stefan Marjoram on Flickr.

Been a while since I've sketched anything from life so today I briefly braved the sub-zero temperatures to make a quick study of this old land rover.

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...

Hotrod Hayride

 I saw some very exciting photos from this event last year. A few months later I saw a poster for it on Eric's Historic Engine Company blog and the seed was sown - I just had to visit. I was a little nervous before I left - I know very little about the Hotrod world other than that I like the cars and the art scene which is such a big part of it but I needn't have worried - they were the nicest bunch of people you could ever meet. The atmosphere was terrific with visitors from France, Belgium, Holland, Finland and even Spain. People sat strumming guitars and singing rock and roll songs by their tents, there was a soap box race, wall of death, stalls, drag racing, live bands, good food and drink and a constant stream of awesome cars and bikes cruising past. I spent most of the time sketching and loads of people came up to chat so I left feeling that I'd really taken part in the event. So often when you're a photographer you never really get to interact with anybody and you come away from an event having viewed the whole thing through a viewfinder. Anyway, on to the sketches...

One of the first things I saw was this amazing creation with its huge truck wheels - towing a caravan! I got chatting to Mark the owner who told me he'd made a thumbnail sketch and then built it himself in three months out of the most unlikely collection of parts. He certainly nailed the proportions and stance and it all tied together perfectly. To be able to design and build your own car just blows my socks off...

Here's the first of a string of Model A Fords and perhaps my favourite car - a 34 Coupe with a huge Chrysler V8 in it. I found out that it's quite local to me so I'll be visiting to do some more sketches soon...

This flathead V8 was also in a great looking car - it looked like it would have been right at home at Bonneville. Below is a very smart looking Model A roadster in black with a tan roof...

 

This Chevrolet Cab-over was finished in bare metal and towered over everything else. It's a great bit of design and I'm not sure I've done it justice here...

 I loved the stance of this pickup and the simplicity of the roadster...

Interesting air filter arrangement...

What caught my eye here was the chopped top combined with the powerful looking engine...

These two are dirt track midget racers imported from the US. The top one originally had a V8 but when Niall bought it it came with a Fiat twin-cam. It looks just right and it made it a much more user friendly car - so much so that Niall was happy to drive the 230 miles from Yorkshire in it! The lower car is powered by a high revving 750cc Crossley...

Finally here a page of thumbnails - I think they work particularly well for Hotrods as the shapes and sizes are so varied and interesting...

And that's it. I took loads of photos too - still need to find time to sort through them before adding them to Flickr. Thanks to all the nice people I met for making it such a memorable weekend - and thanks also to the French people I met who gave me a round of applause after I showed them my sketches - never had that before :)

Goodwood Festival of Speed

Spent 3 days there this year. Friday I spent filming the Bloodhound team in action on their stand and also an F1 in schools tournament. The rest of the time I got to take some photos and do some sketching. As usual it took a while to get back into the flow of it - and the huge numbers of visitors combined with the busy goings on in the paddocks meant it was a much more challenging place to draw than sitting under some leafy tree at Prescott. Still, I was quite pleased with a few of the later ones.

First was this 1911 Fiat S74. This car has some similarities to the S76 I've been drawing but at 14 litres it has half the engine size....

I really don't know much about this 1935 car but it's striking aerodynamic shape caught my eye. I keep thinking I've drawn it stretched but it was pretty long. the aerodynamics suffer a bit when you see most of the top half of the driver sticking out the top...

It's always a treat to see Jim Hall's Chaparrals - there's really nothing else like them. The wing on this 1996 car could be tilted by the driver to give higher downforce on corners and less on the straights...

One of my favourite cars of all time. Unfortunately it wasn't running particularly well (you could find it by following the trail of oil). It was built by Ernest Eldridge in 1923, who used it to set a speed record of 146mph...

With so many people at Goodwood I had to try hard to find out of the way places to sketch. Quite pleased with how this one came out...

This magnificent 1930 car was once owned by Malcolm Campbell - he won his first race in it at Brooklands...

Another favourite of mine - it won the first ever Indy 500...

I was very taken with the pre-war Indy cars. This is the engine from a 1923 Mercedes...

Should have been red but I was quite pleased with the sketch and didn't want to ruin it...

Another of Jim Hall's brilliant ways of creating downforce - a pair of huge fans driven by a snowmobile engine to suck the car onto the road...

There was a wonderfl collection of boat-tailed cars on the lawn. I liked the proportions of this one...

There was a bit of a delay so I quickly sketched this terrific car waiting to go out. It's also a Land Speed Record holder - Rene Thomas took it to 143mph in 1923...

I've been wanting to sketch this for quite a while and finally got the chance at Goodwood. I was made very welcome By Ralph - who looks after this massive record setter. it was great to sit and study the interesting details for an hour or so. Particularly unusual was the way in which the bodywork had been 'sewn' together using short strips of screwed in metal - apparently to allow for the car to flex...

When you only have to turn in one direction you get some very unusual engineering innovations - this has to be the weirdest, with the driver sitting ina sort of side car alongside the engine...

These are becoming a bit of a tradition now. The cars are, Mercedes 710 SSK, Bugatti T35, Delage 2LCV, Bugatti T45, Fiat S74, Fiat Mephistopheles, Marmon Wasp, Miller Special, Miller Preston Tucker Special, Kurtis Kraft Novi Governor Special, Duesenberg Cummins Diesel and Peugeot L45...

Quick visit to the Anzani and Fiat

Haven't been to visit Duncan for a while so I popped in one free afternoon to catch up. The Anzani was being readied for the Lands End Trial and the Fiat had it's gear box mounted and was about to have the rear wooden frame sent off for the bodywork to be fitted to it...

More Bugatti Sketches

Whilst drawing in the Bugatti Trust I met Charles Trevelyan, the owner of one of the other cars on display (the T23 in the previous post) who asked if I'd sketch his car too. I found it harder than usual - I need to find a way of dealing with the pressure of doing a comission instead of just drawing for yourself. I seem to be getting slower instead of faster too. Despite this it turned out to be a very exciting day as I got a ride up the Prescott hill in Charles' other Bugatti - a wonderfully sporty looking Type 37. This car drawing has become quite an amazing adventure - each drawing seems to lead to meeting another enthusiastic owner with another exciting car - getting the chance to occasionally ride in them is the icing on the cake.

Here's a quick warm up sketch...


A couple of longer A3 studies...


I felt they were getting a bit tight so I reverted to smaller, looser drawings. I'd be interested to hear which ones you think work better...

This is a car which also belongs to Charles. It's a Type 52 - which is actually a half-scale children's version of a Type 35 - the first one was built by Ettore for his youngest son in 1927. Lucky chap. It had an electric motor and the engineering, naturally, is superb - even featuring cable operated drum brakes to all four wheels...

Finally I ended the day with a quick sketch on the iPad using Adobe Ideas...

Antigua

Just returned from two weeks in the sun - jolly nice it was too. So nice in fact that I didn't do half the amount of drawing I planned to do - prefering to lounge around on beaches, float in the warm turquoise water, drink rum punch...

Not making you jealous am I?..

Here's a couple from Falmouth Harbour - it was filled with the most amazing collection of super-yachts - very shiny, very expensive...

Just next to Falmouth Harbour is English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard. Still used as a harbour and features a beautiful collection of restored buildings which were once sail lofts, workshops and stores...

I loved all the different types of palms - here's just a few of them, the second one done on the iPad...


Still battling with the watercolours - here's a couple of tries at a lobster shell...


There was a wonderful old church in the neighbouring village of Liberta. It's made of a pale green stone which can be found on the island...

Almost forgot this one. Antigua's a wonderful place but compared to where I live in the UK it can be really quite noisy at night. Tree frogs, crickets, noisy cars, distant discos, noisy neighbours and the dogs! bark, bark, bark, bark, bark.... Bark, bark, bark, bark... Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark, and on, and on...