The latest painting in my series of Harley-Davidson motorcycles has been completed. The subject is a 1940 WLA. The motorcycle was the first generation of what is now considered Harley's recognizable style.
The WLA became the workhorse of World War II. Thousands were dispatched to the European theater where they saw service in the trenches. The bikes were reliable and easy to repair. There were a few modifications for wartime use, which included blacking out the tail lights, minimizing the fender size so mud wouldn't get stuck, swapping the positioning of the headlight and horn, adding a rifle holster and of course the paint of choice was flat army green.
Just like the last Harley I completed, I really love this painting. There are some things going on in the painting that are really captivating, like the headlight. The headlight is full of these reflected colors of the terrain and sky, as well as highlights and refractions. The headlight has all of these bevels that are intended to disperse the light over a wider field of vision. It reminds me of the headlights on my dad's old '67 Volkswagen Beetle. The refraction the bevels cause makes for an interesting image. I also love the front wheel, the suspension springs, the seat and the gas tank. The lighting on the tank is so interesting. There is reflected sky, reflected sunlight, shadows from the handle bars, reflected ground and a reflection of the sun reflecting off the bike's chrome. The result is an image that is anything but flat.
I am starting the process of having the images officially licensed. I think these paintings are going to be extremely popular and I'd rather stay on Harley's good side. We'll see how laborious that process will be.
I spent last weekend out at the Parade of Homes in McKinney. It was a good time. A little too much sun and definitely too much wind. It's been windy in our area lately and this development is on a hill which resulted in serious gusts the whole weekend. Luckily I brought a roll of duct tape to secure everything. My set up included a portable easel, two portfolios and a stack of business cards. I set up with my back facing traffic so folks could watch me paint over my shoulder. I decided to paint a 16"x20" of Jason Kidd. I started with a blank canvas on Saturday morning and by the time I left Sunday afternoon I was 95% complete. I'll post that painting to the site when I'm finished in the next day or two. Folks seemed genuinely interested in my work and were amused that I was painting Kidd as a Maverick even though the source photo had him in a Nets jersey. I'm still trying to figure out a way to get the contact information for folks that have interest without seeming too pushy or threatening. I'm not sure if someone who takes a card is going to follow up with me without a little provocation.
I'm starting to think about the State Fair of Texas coming up in October. I'm thinking about getting a 10'x10' booth to display and sale my wares. I spent some time with a local artist that worked the fair for twenty years and she provided some good insight on the value of the investment of time and money. It sounds like you need to sell items priced for impulse purchase (under $20), which in my case may be matted 8"x10"s and note cards. You can display originals and giclees and talk to people about them, but folks are likely not to buy that big ticket item on a whim at the fair. I figure I would need to sell $200 worth of items per day to break even, that's 10 - 8"x10"s over a twelve hour period at a venue that draws on average 150,000 visitors each day. I'm sure I would sell far more than ten items a day. The biggest drawback about working the fair is that you have to be in your booth twelve hours a day for 24 consecutive days. The nice thing is that you'll be able to afford a vacation once the fair is over. Applications are due soon, so wish me luck.
I've got to run, but I'll post again when the Jason Kidd is completed.
Comments