As an automotive artist/historian, it’s also important to me that my art tell a story. I try to challenge myself and the viewer by trying different medium to tell that story.
The chosen medium for an art-piece is influenced by many variables; my location, my mood, the story to be told, how that story might have been told in the past, and how it can be retold differently.
One of the mediums that I sometimes choose is creating the art on a specific colour of paper. For example, I did the 1969 Matra with Sir Jackie Stewart driving, which is done on blue paper.
Though I’ve used no blue in the art, an interesting illusion happens where the blue of the body of the car looks different than the blue of the paper. The mind re-interprets the colour!
I’ve also create laser-cut stainless steel illustrations, in this case, the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1, where the black part of an original pen & ink artwork is laser-cut clear out of a sheet of stainless steel, then painted the main subject colour (green).
I have black-painted sheet metal behind the illustration coloured sheet metal, and paint the highlights and secondary colours on the green illustration sheet metal. It all hides the fact there is no black in the art, but it is actually cut out metal.
Using the same kind of laser cutting, I added another layer of information in the illustration but doing laser-cut art of the engine, hidden behind the bonnet. It makes for a nice surprise for the viewer!
Most recently, I’ve been playing with the idea that a bunch of abstract colour blocks become a recognizable image as you step further away for the art-piece, which featured the 1966 12 Hours of Sebring-winning GT40 MKII X1.
For this artwork, I choose the use coloured paper, which I match as closely to the original image as possible, then trim out and glue down on the 3000 + rectangle grid that I’ve created to build the art.
Though it was very tedious to work on, the final result is very surprising. As a test, I blurred the photo of the art using Photoshop, and it looks like an original photo was used!
Interesting, the final art seems full of action, which is possible caused in part by the “vibration” that happens when certain colours are put side by side.
I think as an artist, one mustn’t stay in the same medium or technique and get “comfortable”; the artist should always push themself into new territory, and constantly explore.
This helps keep their art fresh and challenging.
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