A Bit of Nostalgia

I've been conducting some research online regarding some of my early memories of Friday night stock car races in Harlan, Iowa that I used to go to with my dad when I was in my pre-teen years. I found a picture of one of the cars that I fondly remember that was a consistent winner week after week. I'm planning on building a scale model of this car in the near future just as soon as I can get the decals identified and the artwork for them made. I rendered this up in Illustrator last night in an effort to get the size of the decals correct. Stay tuned...

The Airstreamers' Club Logo

As many of my viewers may know, I am an Airstreamer. Not only that but I am a vintage Airstreamer. Now by that, I don't mean that I am an old Airstreamer but rather an owner of a vintage Airstream. The Airstream travel trailer has been around since the mid 1930s and are still in production today in Jackson Center, Ohio. They are the quintessential American icon.

Along with vintage Airstream ownership, there is a caravan club bearing the name of the Airstream founder. Recently, there is also another club that is in the early stages of formation and I wanted to contribute by creating the club logo. I had a very rough draft from which to work and after a few renditions, the founders were very pleased.

Cookbook Cover for the Arizona Flycasters Club

I was asked, actually I volunteered, to do the cover for the new cookbook for my flyfishing club. I did the illustration with gouache. This cookbook will be available mid-January so let me know if you want one. It will be filled with over 400 recipes and is only $10. All proceeds go to our scholarship at NAU.

Last week I was contacted to see if I wanted to do a rendering of the Phoenix downtown Sheraton for their holiday card. I was provided a sample of the loose style they wanted it done in.
For your viewing pleasure, here is the final piece.

Original Scout Truck Pictures

Here's a few of the pictures I used to create the miniature Scout Truck in the following post. Photos courtesy of the estate of Helen Byam Schwamborn and may not be used without written permission from the holder of the estate.

WBCCI African Caravan Scout Truck

A good friend of mine was the advance scout on the Wally Byam Caravan Club's African Caravan in 1959 that went from Capetown, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt. In case you are not aware, the WBCCI is the association of Airstream owners, of which I am a member along with the Vintage Airstream Club. I wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the momentous occasion by building him a miniature of his home for a number of months as they traversed the many miles, often making their own roads. What a remarkable journey this must have been. I worked from four or five actual photos of the original truck and built the shell from aluminum flashing from one of the big box home center stores.


Dale (PeeWee), I hope you enjoy it. This is for you, my friend.

Diorama

Thought I would toss in a few pictures of my diorama. Practically since I can remember, I have always built model cars. Souped up with a blower, big fat racing slicks and a low profile. I just couldn't seem to add enough detail. Here I branched out a bit and put together a scene for one of my favorite body styles; a '34 Ford without fenders and chopped..