Red Tractor VI, 192

Smaller version of one of my favorite subjects. This is the same Farmall I have painted several times before from references taken in Tennessee. I really like the way it broke down on the 24"x30" canvas, sometimes I miss that abstract quality I get on the small canvases. Eventually, when I am done with the work for the restaurant, I will try to break them down a bit more... I just need to ride this one out.

Budget Motel, Chattanooga 187

Found this gem on or excursion of Highway 41. The way up to Lookout Mountain is covered in old Googie signs. This one was actually a bit further out, but I found several more between this sign and the top of the mountain. This piece will go into the grouping for the Log Cabin Restaurant.

Robin's Egg Blue Caddy 073 SOLD

This is a cell phone image of the painting I just finished, I wanted to get it up on the blog before I could get it out for a picture in the sunlight in case I get hit by a car tomorrow. I really feel like I am on to something at this point and that all of the hard work, expense, blood, sweat, tears and tantrums have paid off. I have plans for doing some large scale paintings that break my genre, but these car paintings keep me up at night and coming back to the easel every day.

I hoped this would be the last piece of the week because it is so big, but I just want to do more, more, more... We stopped at a body shop in Carrollton a few weeks ago on our way back home from Birmingham because they had a fully renovated '76 Landcruiser. Little did I know that they had this little gem back there. I love old Caddys, especially ones with fins. What a great time in American auto design. If they could design cars like that that really hit it home like that, they wouldn't be where they are now. I got at least 2 more shots of this car I will be painting in the near future.

Salt and Pepper

When I was in Savannah for the MUSE conference this winter, I took a picture of the salt and pepper shakers in my favorite breakfast place, Clary's. Clary's is a greasy spoon type place of Jones Street in downtown. It used to be a local haunt until the book and movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil made it famous. A decade and a half later, tourists are still abundant. I love the decor of the place right down to the soda fountain, counter, silverware, straw dispenser, cups, mugs and salt and pepper shakers. Classic restaurant stuff. It is the kind of place that doesn't refrigerate their ketchup and they still use Heinz glass bottles. I guess it reminds me of the old, old Sprayberry's... when you used to come in the original door on the corner. This is the first piece I have done on museum wrap, which has a 2.75" profile instead of the 1.25" profile of gallery wrap.