….NEXT!

Frank Zappa it was who once sang “……..it’s a drag when you’re rejected”
and Frank could be right about so many things.
He also made the observation that “PEOPLE are assholes”. A bit of a generalisation there, I fear – but succinct.
A while ago now, whilst vainly searching for a better way to paint than the photographic – repro type of image that is the norm within accepted aviation art, I managed to cast off my inhibitions long enough to do this.

Morning Maintenance

A Hurricane being prepared for its daytime duties to come. I went fairly doolally with palette knife, big brushes and all – and mixing darks from complementary colours etc. Trying to be accurate
but “creatively” inaccurate too.
The Trolley-Ack in the foreground is just about recognisable as such.
I was quite chuffed with it – and pleased to have broken through that mould of
oh-so-photo-illustrative painting.

Rejected as a show entry.

The Caudron Conundrum

G4 watercolour

So- back to aeroplanes, which is what it’s supposed to be about here (mostly). Here’s a watercolour of a Caudron G4 – a strange French multi-purpose machine of the Great War. This was the first ever sale I had with the Guild of Aviation Artists’ Annual Show. What a feeling to think somebody liked a picture enough to actually buy it!
So that was me off the mark and exhibiting every year after that.
Two years ago I exhibited this one below. It’s the same aeroplane but this time painted in oils and after a few more years of trying to improve. Hopefully it’s a better image, but sometimes I wonder if the simplicity of the first one isn’t stronger?