My classic car portraits emerged naturally from my early passion for cars. It was always a passion less for the technical aspects and more for the design. Throughout my childhood I was creating car portraits: My own designs, as well as of Formula 1 cars from Motor Sport magazine. I loved the sculptural quality of cars, and the unique character of each one. The forms and colours felt irresistible and still do.
Considering a car design course at University, I went to talk to people at the design department at Ford, which was then headed by Uwe Bahnsen. This connection was enabled by a family friend. At the time I came away feeling that the car design world was too overwhelming for me. I went on to work briefly at Wolff Olins, the design agency in London known for their pioneering work in corporate-identity design. After that, I began studying architecture.
Seminal cars which were notable in my early automotive life were: 1966 Daimler 250 V8, 1968 MGB GT, 1973 Fiat 130 Coupe, 1975 Opel Manta Turbo (Broadspeed), 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Berlina, and Fiats 600 and 850.
I spent many years in educational illustration and animation. After years painting Biblical subjects, I found my attention veering automatically back to cars. I gradually began making classic car portraits.
This is a post about three paintings: A view of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, a Jaguar E-type sports car, and a Kung Fu lesson in the park. But first, a few ruminations about what’s been going on in Israel. The recent release of hostages has been very emotional for a great many in Israel. […]
