A Painting at Amelia Island

A few weeks ago, a friend and collector of my auto art called me from Jacksonville FL with some information about this weekend's 2010 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance car show at the Ritz-Carlton. This is an annual affair where admirers and collectors of rare and beautiful cars meet and share a passion.

The theme of this years show was the 40th anniversary of the Porsche 917, a purpose built racer that dominated the international racing circuits in the 1970s. I got in touch with the chairman of the event sending a picture of my painting of the 917 that won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1970 and 1971. I did the painting in 2000. I was searching for my next life in art after 15 years as the Olive Garden Restaurants mural painter.

The 917 painting is certainly different from my landscape paintings, but I consider it one of the best pieces I have ever done. The painting was featured as part of the display for a seminar in one of the ballrooms. The talk featured a number of distinguished racing stars and a team manager who had worked in the development of the car. The panel was hosted by Sam Posey and Tim Considine. I had the opportunity to meet car's the current owner, Bruce Canepa, who has restored it to original and race ready condition, and keeps it in his car museum, the Canepa Collection near Santa Cruz, CA.

Faded Glory

I just returned from my third trip to Jacksonville in a week, my second in the last 36 hours. Three trips were plenty but together they don't approach my Orlando-Jacksonville turn-around record. In 2000 I worked on a mural project there and made the 300-mile round trip eight consecutive days. If you think this speaks to my weariness of hotel rooms after the last 20 years, you would be correct. Although I have had to declare anything more than that distance to be officially out of home cooking range, and socks and underwear must be packed.

My Jacksonville client approved the Porsche racer oil painting sketch shown with the last post. The canvas for the final painting was built and delivered to my studio today so work can begin Monday.

When the client originally called about the painting, he asked if I would be interested in restoring the paint on the hand carved mahogany front door of his house. Paint restoration is not my specialty, and I'm reluctant to work over another artist's work, but she lives in Montana and could not be easily brought to Florida to do the restoration.
Even though the exposure to the sun wasn't direct, the glazed paint and varnish had gotten quite weathered. We took it down to the bare wood and working from photos, I restored the design to it's original colors. I'll go back Monday and add a coat of polyurethane with a UV protector. I think it came out great, but I was merely rescuing someone else's good work.