When old meets new.

Sometimes working with new technology can be a little daunting, I remember the first time that I ever sat before a computer keyboard how impossibly new it all seemed!

Being a 'traditional' Artist, in that I still work in oils on canvas (a process that has seen several centuries of use) I look upon the emerging type of computer generated, or digital art with a mixture of some bemusement and not a little awe.
Some of the better exponents of this art can produce images that are astoundingly good, and more and more they are applying this 21st Century technology to recreate early 20th century images!

The image above is one such example, it's a work in progress done - not by me I might add, but by someone far more adept in the use of computer digital art sofware. The vehicle represented is an Austin Seven Ulster, and the other photos in this series can be found by clicking on the link.

New York 1945

From London in the 50/60's to New York 1945.

Take a look at those wonderful old cars...truly 'Jellymould jalopies!' While the daily hustle and bustle of the people of new York goes on all around, the sturdy old vehicles battle through the icy winter streets.
Each time I come across a photograph of a long abandoned car of the '40's I wonder how it looked back in it's day, and to what kind of use was it put?

Well here's the answer, for many they were working vehicles, Taxis and delivery trucks are nose to tail while parked at the side walk are the private vehicles of the shoppers, or possibly the shop owners?
The one that stands out for me is the very clean car parked on the right hand side, obviously that car has been garaged overnight and looks pretty well looked after....I wonder if it survived?

London 1960

Just an interesting old colour picture that I came across, entitled 'London in 1960'.

How many of those old vehicles still survive I wonder? Perhaps none at all, but London was certainly more colourful and picturesque then, than it is today!
As you can see most of the stuff on the road is of pre-war design , I would suspect the photo was actually a little earlier, perhaps even early to mid 1950's.

A time of optimism.

I mentioned in an earlier post how the 1960's became a pivotal time in our history.
From a nation enduring the post war gloom of the 1940's, through to the austerity of the 1950's, Britain seemed to be on the brink of something new.

Many of us Brits watched with envy as our counterparts in the United States celebrated the post war era by developing ever more outlandish yet beautiful cars.
Chrome, power steering, automatic folding roofs, radios, heaters, air conditioning and more were fitted to a host of '50's U.S. models, while we Brits made do with re-introduced 1930's designs, or even more basic '50's designs! (we didn't even have side window winders on some models!)

For the working man during this period, steady employment meant that he could trade in his motorcycle and sidecar and become for the first time ever a car owner! The choice was limited, but the number of cars on the road gradually increased.

Then in the late 50's - BAM! American styling influences hit the Uk, through the grey and grimy streets of our industrial towns came sightings of huge (to us) flash, cars in the most outrageous colours!
At the end of the 1950's, credit became easier to obtain and the impact was amazing. Streets now glittered with brash new vehicles, now we too had style and fins and chrome were all the rage, gone were the black, greys and greens of the pre 60's car liveries.

One of the most radical British Automotive designs of the 1950's was undoubtedly the PA Cresta.
With its transatlantic styling and plush six seater cabin the Cresta could waft along on just a pur of the big six cylinder engine.
I can just imagine the 'Harrumphs' uttered by the old boys in their gentlemans clubs, as they shuddered at the thought of such ostentation!

The painting above is of a 1959 PA Vauxhall Cresta, the car was bright pink....unheard of by jove!
I painted a pink one with a white roof as this was identical to the car that my uncle owned back in '65, I still remember vividly riding in it one night and being too small to see out of the windscreen!

For Britain, cars like this heralded a new era, one of optimism. No more 'make do and mend' for us, now the age of consumerism had dawned.

Snow, ice, and the automobile.

It's the age old problem, snow and ice are not conducive to the long life of an Automobile!

Different strategies are employed by the many local authorities to keep the roads ice free, but by far the worst in terms of the harm caused to old cars is the policy of laying down road salt! How many wonderful old vehicles have been reduced to scrap in a few short years by the rust bug largely cause by road salt corrosion!

I suppose the argument goes that if the roads weren't salted then there would be more accidents and possible loss of life, I accept that point but surely a less corrosive ice inhibitor could have been developed?

In the mid 20th Century, the Ford Anglia/Popular range (subject of the painting above) were sold as 'The cheapest car that money can buy'.
The pre-war design was simple, rugged, and reliable - no creature comforts here, even a sun visor was an optional extra!

Needless to say that in the post war austerity of Britain they sold in their thousands. I can remember a time when there seemed to be quite literally, one in every street. Motoring in those days must have been a much hardier experience to that of today, with no standard equipment such as heater, windscreen washers, or indicators, and a mere 6v electrical system to light the way, our fathers and grandfathers battled the freezing winters and 'pea soup-er' fogs of the day.

In the 1970's these old cars became a favourite of the Hot Rod crowd, with many being customised almost beyond recognition.
Such was the simplicity, and ruggedness of manufacture there are still surviving examples around, some of the most amazing survivors are those that have lain abandoned for many years and come to light needing little more than re commissioning to drive again!

In the painting above I have shown a typical 1950's Ford Anglia or Popular parked by the roadside. In Britain, the 1950's seemed to be the demarcation of the old world and the new, Victorian buildings and pre-war motor cars still served purposefully in the '50's, all that was to change in the brash new 1960's.

Winter arrives.

Over last couple of weeks or so here in the UK the temperatures have dropped hailing the onset of winter proper.

To continue my theme of 'Beautiful decay' I suppose that one could consider much of the changes around us to be a sort of decay when compared to warmer months, the trees have now lost their leaves, and the weather has become much less hospitable.

Looking out on a frosty morning with the sun rising a sort of lemon yellow, the rooftops glistening, and the shadows containing a strong blue tone, once again reminds me of the beauty that is revealed during wintertime.
The other morning I saw from my front window a spiders web, stretching from one garden bush to another, and frozen white it revealed structures that only our most complicated computers could design!

My painting for this week harks back to my previous post about the Citroen 2cv 'Ugly Duckling', here I have painted a 1960's AZ version with the front 'suicide' doors, and the double chevron grille (which was one of the most popular types).

Sitting next to an old French petrol pump, both have been considered obsolete for years and yet here combine with winter to bring a scene of colourful nostalgia!

The ugly duckling.

When does something ugly become beautiful? And how is that possible?

I've spoken before about my concept of 'Beautiful decay', whereby an object on the evidence of a casual glance would appear to be scrap, but on closer inspection, and seeing it in a different way it can actually become quite beautiful.

A case in point would be the Citroen 2cv. Made in France between 1948 and 1990 this car was as basic a concept as you could find, 'an Umbrella on wheels' is what the design brief called for and the designer Mr. Boulangier gave them exactly that!

This is a car that from any angle, even by the standards of 1948, was considered ugly. It was as spartan a vehicle as had ever been conceived, made from very thin steel, with canvas 'hammock' or deck chair like seats, and a cloth full length roof.
As a young man I thought these cars were hideously ugly, many's the time that I wondered just what it was that posessed anyone to buy one of those things! Of course they were cheap to buy and run, but to a young male the ownership of such a device would ensure that you remained a batchelor for some time to come!

More recently, as the numbers of these strange little cars began to dwindle on our roads, I came to see them as a quirky but cheap second car, or hobby car... and I bought one!
At that time back in the late '90's these cars were literally being given away, there was a standing joke among owners that you never have just the one as they seem to multiply!

The cars simplicity, ruggedness, fuel economy, and the ability to cruise flat out for hours on end without complaint won me over. Mechanically they don't come much simpler, and can be dismantled completely in a matter of hours with the minimal of tools, and are almost supernaturally reliable in any extreme of temperature.

I immediately appreciated the surprisingly good ride quality and comfort, superb brakes, and the way the entire roof rolls back in good weather is great!

So is it still ugly? Well, yes and no.
This is a car that is ugly to the unacquainted, but as familiarity grows, so does the respect for both the original design and the functional yet minimal form of its components. It's the automotive version of the Ugly Duckling, and only ownership then reveals its true beauty.