Thursday, October 29, 2009

An old sketch.


Regular readers will know that from time to time I mention my favourite colour combination of blue and orange, or rather blue and rust.
Many times I have found this combination to create some striking images found in nature, and for me never more so than when seen on an old car. For those of you that have visited my other blog this vehicle might need no introduction, it is a variant of the Citroen 2cv, the restoration of which that blog was set up to chronicle.

Old Citroen 2cv's rust - spectacularly! Yet for all that they seem to settle into a patina of rust and wear that appears perfectly acceptable. Why I don't know, but the rust just seems to add character.
I painted the sketch above a few years ago, it is a painting of a vehicle that was actually still in regular use, and I just couldn't resist recording the details!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Corroded mainline 57


corroded mainline 57
Originally uploaded by movitz
Once again a 'pretty as a picture' scene of dereliction!
I love the way the sweeping chrome strip on this Ford has stayed a sharp as the day it was made, while all around it crumbles.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The fall of light.

I may have posted the image above before, I don't remember, but the reason I post it now is to describe how powerful a thing light and shade can be.
Imagine the old car that this 'nose' belongs to. It has been sitting outside for many years, uncared for, perhaps forgotten, and yet what striking beauty it has if only one takes the time to see it! The strength of the sunlight makes the shadows deep and the highlights sparkle, where sometimes it is the patterns of rust on the actual metal that can attract, here the beauty of the curved form is complemented by the fall of light.

The car above displays elements of all the things that attract me to old cars as art. The stylish original design incorporating those fantastically 'over the top' rear light units blends into the wraparound chrome. The original colour is changed, mottled into interesting shapes by the fall of light, the blue sky turned light purple by the old chrome.

Here again, this old Caddy could easily have been just a mouldy piece of junk in the woods, but look how that sunlight brings it to life! On a dull day you could walk right by this scene without hardly a glance, but with the correct lighting conditions - Boom!


Even without colour, the light, and the way that it falls can make an impact. The old truck above is so weather worn there isn't even any paint on it, just the dull red/brown of the rusty metal.
Set simply against a blue sky this could have easily been a real boring picture...until the light play came in to create a dramatic scene!

I love the play of light on an object, the way it hides some things yet reveals others, adds so much interest to a subject. And when that subject is a rusty old car that already has beautiful curves and lines, and a fine patina of age then it's a winning combination.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Well folks I'm back!

I can't believe it's been over three months since I last posted on here...where does the time go?
For those of you that have followed this blog for a while now please accept my apologies for the lack of recent postings, the explanation for which is the time I have devoted to restoring my own old rusty heap!
I have opened another blog in order to continue documenting that process, so in addition to posting those finds of interesting yet rusty cars on here, I'll be updating the resto blog too...be sure to take a look!

I'll end today with these two images that have something of an 'On Safari' feel about them. The vehicle below looks almost camouflaged sitting low as it does in the undergrowth, it's striped roof enabling it to blend into its surroundings!