Cars and Trucks

This last summer (2013) I was over in my childhood hometown of Delta, Colorado and had some time on my hands, so decided to drive out to see my brother-in-law, it had been a long time since we had talked. As I was on my way to his house, I noticed this old truck and junkyard that I hadn't ever seen before. I made a mental note, completed my visit, and headed to my son's house for the evening. Next day, I climbed into my Tacoma and headed back to the junkyard. I drove up to the entrance, parked my truck, and spied a gentleman not too far off. I walked up to him and introduced myself. He said he was the owner, and it would be fine if I walked the junkyard a took photos. Unfortunately, it had rained the night before, and everything was mud, but I didn't let that deter me. I probably shot 90 photos--you never know what you got until you can load the images on your computer and look them over. When I got back home, I knew I had struck paydirt--there was some amazing stuff. This particular painting is a cropped version of the whole front end. I slaved over this, taking a great deal of time to get the reflections right, and think I got pretty close. This is on Arches 140lb cold press with Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith watercolors.

I've been thinking about one of these paintings for years--something with a lot of chrome. I got to looking through all my photo images that I've taken over the last twenty years or so, and noticed this particular image. This is a 1955 Buick and it was sitting in one of my favorite junkyards-now deceased. Such is progress--slowly we are crushing all our old cars and trucks. Anyhow--I was hesitant to take this on with all the chrome, but figured I would make it happen or not. I've been working on it for two months--I have a bad habit of sitting and looking when I don't have a clue about how to handle something--building up courage. Arches 140lb cold press with Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith watercolors.

I've been sitting on this painting for about a decade. I'm taking photos all the time, and keep them hazardly organized on my computer, and it usually takes me about 20 minutes to find a file or folder when I know I have something hidden. I really ought to do something about my organization skills. So one day, I was looking through old images and found the photo this painting was based on. I do remember taking the image--was visiting in Colorado, and my wife was lunching with her sister. I decided to take a road trip, driving the back roads, and eventually came across this guy who was hiding out in a small valley between two mesas. I knew it would make a good painting. Glad I finally got it done.

This is the second installment of my color truck paintings. I ran across this old truck on a trip from Utah to Wisconsin--where I avoided the Interstate and drove mostly two lane road from Sioux City to Dubuque. I had a chance to stop in many of the small towns and take photos of many interesting relics such as this truck. As usual, I spent a good deal of time drawing this composition before painting. The truck was painted first, followed by the background, and then the foreground.

Every now and again an idea pops into mind, but you're not sure what to do with it. The idea for this painting has been rattling around for a couple of years now. I think it is the creative process at its best--an idea that needs flesh. You can't get anxious about these things, you have to let them work, you have to be patient. So this last summer, the summer of 2009, I took some time to hang out with the art teacher at my school--an artist and gentleman by the name of John Brewer. We would meet up in the art room and do art--so I spent some of those days drawing on this composition, finally finishing the compositon at the end of the first week of August--just about the time school was getting ready to reconvene. I took the composition home on the 7th, and painted every day and night that I had time, completing the painting on the 16th. That is a fast painting for me as I generally spend several months painting on these big compositions. I think the idea worked, and I'm looking forward to more paintings with this use of color.

This last summer (June 2007) I was over in my "growing up" home town of Delta, Colorado--a short fly fishing trip. On my way out of town, I stopped at a local junkyard--one I had been meaning to visit for the last several years. There was a chain across a dilapidated gate--not much of deterant for an addicted watercolor painter of old cars and truck. It wasn't long until I had 30 or so digital photos of the various derelicts scattered around the yard. I was in and out in a matter of fifteen minutes. Recently, I found out the owner of this junkyard had passed away, and it is anyone's guess whether the old cars and trucks will survive another year. I'm glad I got the images.

It has been a year and a half since my last old car/truck painting. I wonder how I've managed to get so behind. I took a photo of this old International in October of 2005--in Montrose, County, Colorado. My wife and I were over visiting her sister--in Delta, Colorado, where we grew up, but no longer live. When my wife and her sister decided to go shopping, I took off in my truck and just went driving--around the whole country side--checking to see how the country had changed over the last 40 or so years. Of course I had my camera with me, so when I came upon this abandoned truck, I stopped and took numerous digital photos. Although it took me year to get around to the painting, it was worth the wait.

Every painting is a piece of an artist's soul. They don't come easy and you fight to get the best out of yourself. All paintings fall into that category, but my old truck/car paintings always seem harder to bring forth. Part of the difficulty is the size--a good metaphor might be comparing a 10k run to a marathon. Both require ability, but the marathon pushes one's endurance and commitment. I know when I start one of these paintings, I will be involved for many hours over a number of weeks. Yet, it all seems worth the struggle when I finish.

The years seem to roll right along, and as I get older, the faster they pass. There is probably some kind of universal statement like the Peter Principle--something like, "The rate of the passage of time is directly proportional to one's age." That is why teenagers are completely bored most of the time--time is forever. For those of us that are somewhere on the back side of the life journey, everything is interesting, and our problem is figuring out how to see and do everything we would like.

I try to do one of these old car/truck paintings a year. There are a lot of these old abandoned wrecks along the roads, but I think they are getting fewer and fewer. I like the idea of saving a slice of history when I do a car/truck painting. It is my way of caring about things that will be passing into history soon. I wonder who drove this old truck--what did they think--was it a grandpa that took his grandchildren for a ride in the old "pickem up truck?" Who knows, and I wonder about the stories that could be told.

When I started this watercolor journey some 25 years ago, I learned from two books, both by a watercolorist by the name of Ted Kautzky. His watercolors still speak to me, especially his seascapes. For the last 25 years I've been meaning to get to that subject and I guess I have finally gotten there. Last summer I made a trip down the Oregon coast and took a number of photos along way, this old boat being one of them. There are many common themes running through our artwork--and when I did this painting, I was thinking cars/trucks on water. It seemed to work.

I'm not sure how I got started on the truck/car paintings--I guess one day I was driving by a junkyard and decided to take some photos--with the thought in mind I might try a painting. When I got the photos back, I found a likely subject and put together a painting. It worked reasonably well--being my first effort and all. It was 22" x 30". It dawned on me that the paintings might present a bit better with a bigger size, so I took on another old car--and it turned out quite a bit better than the first painting, and I was hooked. This is about the 10th in this series, and I don't see any end in sight.

Watercolor -- 32" x 44"

This painting (4/19/99) was completed for my Demonstration Page. I don't know whether this truck cab was a new addition to one of my favorite junkyards or I had somehow missed it in my previous visits. Whatever, I was back looking around this junkyard last Thanksgiving vacation and came across the cab. I take lots of photos, and some end up in paintings and some don't. I knew this was a painting the minute I saw it. If you want to know more about this painting, visit my demonstration link above.

This last summer (summer 1998) I made a number of trips to one of my favorite fly fishing spots. The trip always took me by this old tanker truck and finally one morning I stopped and took some photos. These truck/car paintings don't happen overnight, and I suppose most of the paintings take somewhere around 20 hours to complete.

Every now and again you find a subject that just says "paint me" and this subject was one of those. This particular car (plus two others) were sitting in a field that I drive by on my way to work. I drove by them for about three weeks--constantly thinking I needed to get over and take some pictures. I finally got the photos taken and developed--and began a small study (see image below). Once I had worked out the kinks, I set to work on this painting. These larger paintings take several weeks, working on weekends mostly. On my last trip by the field, I noticed that all the old cars had been removed, except one--and that one was on a trailer, ready to be hauled away. Glad I didn't procrastinate any longer than I did.

This watercolor was completed as a study for a larger painting above. Sometimes I'm not sure about color, composition, or a particular technique. I've learned over the years that it is best to work these things out before hand. I like the way this worked out, but as I was painting I found several things that I will do differently in the larger painting. Of course, all things aren't equal. Painting at a 15" x 21" is quite a bit different than painting at a 32" x 44" size. I start the larger painting next week and I know I will face problems that weren't revealed with the smaller study.

I spend a lot of time wandering through old junkyards. This car was in one of those junkyards--a junkyard that has gone to junkyard heaven. It seems that the gentleman who owned the property started collecting his relics after the Korean War. He collected all manner of things--some of which you will find in other paintings on this page. Several years ago, some government agency found explosives on the property (yeah, I know, I was walking through that)--and decided to condemn the property. At the date of this writing, the whole thing is gone.

This car was found in the another junkyard. The junkyard is located in Delta, Colorado--where I grew up. I guess to be truthful, you couldn't really call it a junkyard. There were about five cars sitting out next to one of the local highways--they were all that remained of a junkyard. I suppose I drove by this location several times until I finally decided to take some pictures. It is a good thing--as at my last drive by, I noticed they had all been removed.

This is another old car from the explosives junkyard. Although the junkyard is no longer in existence, I made five or six trips to it with my camera. I probably have over 100 pictures of things in the junkyard. I suspect there are many more paintings lurking in the photos.

I sometimes feel like a junkyard dog, wandering through each out-of-the-way junkyard I can find. There are some pretty interesting things in junkyards, especially the ones that have been around for a long time. This truck was located in the explosives junkyard mentioned above. As they were cleaning the place up, I noticed many folks hauling the old trucks and cars away, I suppose to be restored.

I think this painting is the first I ever did of an old truck. I started this car/truck deal with a watercolor of an old car--and that painting is in a collection in Colorado--and it wasn't very good--but someone liked it. This is the second of my car/truck paintings--and I don't think it was very successful--but I was learning. My third painting was a big step up--and I grew in confidence with that one--it isn't here on this page because I just retrieved it from my youngest son. When I get time, I will get it out of the frame and include it on this page. I think that was the painting that really got me fired up about these type of car and trucks. It is a journey as I have stated in other epistles. Who knows where it will end?

I found this truck in a junkyard in Delta, Colorado. When I saw this truck, I knew I had the perfect subject for a painting. I could hardly wait to get home and get my film developed to get started. I've only done one painting of this truck, but have several different views of it on film, and am contemplating another painting.

Another painting from the explosives junkyard. I must say the gentleman that was collecting all these old cars and trucks did me a big favor. I must have done five major paintings from subjects located there, and I know there are several waiting in the wings.