Latest commission ... first portrait of a car!

They say you are never too old to learn something new and this is very definitely something new to me. I have never, ever, in 30-plus years of being an artist and doing commissions, drawn or painted a car.

I offered to donate one of my pictures to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post to be raffled at the car show they were sponsoring. No problem, I've donated work a number of times before over the years, usually to various animal rescue groups.

Oops ... car show ... this means a car picture. Scramble for pictures of cars and books on how to draw cars! Frantic posts to Wet Canvas asking things like "how do you make it look like shiny paint?" I can do horse hair ... I haven't a clue how to make something look like shiny paint!

Three weeks later, this is the result. And I DID learn the techniques for making graphite look like shiny paint ... a whole new process, involving lots of sandpaper to powder the pencil lead and a big supply of Q-tips and sponge-tipped eye shadow applicators!

Ironically, this has led to my first actual paid portrait commission since I've moved from Montana to Kentucky .... yes ... another car! A good friend, who has known me many years, suggested I may be on my way to becoming the "Grandma Moses" of the car show crowd!