So far this year we have featured fifty artists from all around the world. Today, we are right back to the UK to introduce Kurt Jones to you. Enjoy...
Kurt has always loved cars. It all started with his father John and his uncle Hughie. Aparantley, between them always having a different array of wonderful cars such as Jaguars, Fords, Morris, BMW, Hillmans, VW, Triumph's, Austins and plenty of Americana - the list goes on.
He recalls his dad building his own Scammell Truck on their driver way as well as fixing friends and neighbors cars! His uncle on the other hand would roll up in some cool machine which he may not have owned for long, as he fancied another! Kurt's uncle has managed to keep some of them as he now has well over 40 cars in his collection.
"When I learnt to drive and had my first 2 cars (a Mini and a Cortina) and the troubles that come with owning an older car my Mum Dawn would advise and what could be at fault. I can remember carb trouble on the Cortina and Mum saying 'yes, we've had them go on ours before in the past', - try doing this....etc etc'" comments Kurt.
At 5 he can actually remember drawing cars, and then one by one getting better with detail and realism over the years.
"I wanted pictures of cars I was interested in, I loved station Wagons and Estate cars, and in 1987 there was no google search bar on computers I had to rely on memory, movies and a very kind Primary School teacher who's brother was a car journalist and would bring me in lots of brochures and photo's of alsorts of cars which was incredibly kind of her looking back. Thank You Mrs. Silcox!" he explained.
"I can remember in class being asked to draw an Indian totem pole and what would be on the totem pole that we worshipped or found sacred. Most of my classmates drew totem poles with Chocolate bars or Sega Master systems on them......Mine had a Volvo 760 GLE estate perched on top. My teacher was not amused."
An art lover at heart, he has found combining the love of the cars and art very easy.
He took A level Art in school and then went on to do Art and Design at college and continued with a year doing a Higher National Diploma.
In the past couple of years he has got back into it again and 65 canvas' later you can see some of his work below.
"I love it and find it relaxing and very rewarding. Many have been commissioned pieces and it's nice seeing how happy people are having their beloved car immortalised on canvas. My medium is acrylic and also ordinary pen and ink".
He is yet to display his work in any gallery as he also works full time, but saying all that, he did find fame when his one and only piece on display was stolen! Fame came in a form of local newspaper reporting the theft.
Joking aside, he recently entered a competition with 121 other artists. He came third, and his prize? His own exhibition in Barton Art Gallery in Bruton, Somerset. This will be in Spring 2016 and we hope to bring you news about it soon.
Interestingly enough, the winner's piece was up for sale at £10,000! The second was a piece for £4500! Kurt's was up for £200!!!
Kurt joked "I just hope I have more luck this time and have been assured of better security! fingers crossed.
Kurt is currently in the process of building a website so be sure to keep an eye out but he can be found on his facebook page Kurt Jones Automobile Artist.
Below you can enjoy some of Kurt's work. As always, please respect copyright.
More from Kurt here.
Another very talented artist, this week from the USA...
Dan was born in Raleigh, NC in 1949. His earliest memories are of old Ford Coupes with loud, unmuffled flathead engines roaring around the quarter mile oval at the old Raleigh Speedway in the mid 1950's.
"The sound, the colors, the spectacle of it all had me hooked for life" admits Dan.
From the age of 6, he has been a car geek, a gearhead. We all know what he is talking about here!
With that early exposure to cars as something other than transportation appliances, he began spending all of his allowance on car magazines that encouraged his interest in anything with wheels, expanding his interests to include Hot Rods, Custom Cars, Sports Cars, Gran Prix, Indy and Sprint Cars... in short, just like us, he likes 'em all.
"And naturally, from that early age onward, all his childhood drawing efforts involved cars" comments Dan.
He was at high school in Greenville, NC. Even when he got into music and formed a bacd with some friends he never lost his car lust.
"I went on a detour through the music business that lasted quite a few years, in between some college time (East Carolina University), and a couple of years in the Army" Continued Dan.
After the Army, a job with a band took him to a new home base in Charlotte. (They served as Jackie Wilson's backing band for a while!) After burning out somewhat on the road life, he worked in a music store for a while, played with sports cars, and took up drawing/painting cars again, on the side. One thing led to another, and he made a transition into automotive artist on a full time basis around 1980, with Water Color evolving into his medium of choice.
He started out looking for car shows in Hemmings Motor News in the search for venues to sell his art, and as he traveled and gained more exposure, he began getting invitations to participate in juried/invitational automotive art exhibits at Concours d' Elegance around the US.
"I have been fortunate to have been featured in a wide variety of automotive publications, as well as winning quite a few awards at many of the Concours, and having my work find a home in several prominent individual and corporate collections" added Dan.
He still lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife of 41 years (Lynn) and their daughter Danielle.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT:
There are endless artistic explorations to be discovered on, in, and about the automobile. Its surface is a limitless supply of color and contour; compositions to be isolated - painted in a realistic technique, yet abstract in the way that a section of chrome and pastel can be removed from its larger context and assume an aesthetic all its own. Reflected images of other vehicles or surroundings can play along the shape of a fender and take on the effects of a "fun - house mirror". In that uniquely American archive that is the "junk yard" there are explorations of a different kind of mood; the irony of finding a once proud luxury car, the pride and joy of days long past now in a state of decay, has its own magnetism... plus, as an added "bonus"; the contrarian in me loves to stand on its head the image that polite society holds of an old car as nothing but an "eyesore".
You can follow and join Dan's group on Facebook here.
Visit or contact him on his website here.
Below you can enjoy some of Dan's work. As always, please respect copyright.
More of Dan's images can be seen here.
Clare Brewster is self taught and although she has been painting for a while, has recently started using graphite."I like the freedom graphite brings and clear crisp image you can create, my work is minimal, simple, and clean", explains Clare.
She grew up with cars and was often helping out in the garage and getting her hands dirty.
"I always have a project of some sort on the go", she comments. She purchased her first classic car last year and spent the last winter getting it back on the road. She drives a classic VW Beetle daily and maintains it herself.
She has an interesting approach as she mentions here; "I am interested in the ‘relationships’ people build with their cars and the important memories they can create, maybe a first car signifying independence and freedom, a prestige car bringing recognition and status or a hotrod that brings pride and creativity".
Her drawings reflect this with the car taking centre stage, no fancy backgrounds, no colour, no drivers this is not their story. She also likes to acknowledge that no mater what the car, they were all once designed as art by a design team, someone's all went into creating what we see on the road everyday and she thinks that's important to acknowledge.
"A car isn't just a means of transport, its a history, a story, memories, art. Cars are like travelling memory boxes, they always have a story to tell, whether its a trophy winner or a runabout" added Clare.
You can find out more about Clare's work and follow her on Facebook here.
Below you can enjoy some of her pieces. As always, please respect copyright.
More images from Clare here.
A British artist this week from the beautiful county of Devon in England.
Born in the 60's Philip has been passionate about cars and racing since an early age. "My passion for cars and auto racing stems from an early age, when I read about the exploits of legendary drivers such as Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart" explains Philip.
On top of the real thing, he also has a passion for the scale model race cars and some dinky toys, but then again, don't we all!
He started drawing cars using colouring pencils and has since moved on to other media such as acrylics, Pencil and Gouache.
His subjects centre around motor racing, especially historic F1, Gt and endurance, Touring car championships, rally and US racing. On top of these, he would like to paint motorcycle racing scenes.
Philip sometimes prefers a quick spontaneous sketch and sometimes a much more detailed acrylic or oil painting.
"I regularly attend events such as Le mans and the Goodwood FOS and the revival, as well as national events such as the BTCC and club rallies", he commented.
He attended the Spa 1000kms which he thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend anyone to go and see this fantastic event. Philip intends to go to Spa again in 2016 as well as the Le Mans Classic and some other events such as the World Endurance round at The Ring.
Philip has a full time job selling automotive parts, but he is very happy to have his passion as a hobby. He is hoping to exhibit his work in the near future so more people be able to enjoy them.
You can contact Philip through his Facebook page here.
We are very happy to be sharing some of his work with you and as always ask for you to respect the copyright.
