Concours D'Elegance

1933 "Streamline " Peirce - Arrow

The Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance is the most prestigious automobile show in the world and is held at the18th Hole of the lodge on Pebble Beach, one of California's most beautiful pieces of costal real estate.

1936 54k Mercedes-Benz Roadster

I was privileged to be invited by my friend Mickey Kapp and his wife Joyce who live in nearby Pacific Grove, a small lovely Victorian suburb of Monterey.... Mickey also happens to be a judge at the Concours for 12 years now and has a now famous "Car Guys " party on Saturday afternoons. The party's "driveway" show car and featured marquee at the show was a fantastic restoration of a 1933 Pierce-Arrow convertible with a rumble seat! There were many other Pierce-Arrow examples at the show.

Pierce-Arrows were easily identified by the revolutionary
headlight design, an integral part of the fender.

It was a hectic but fun schedule that included a virtual whirlwind of soirees including a Jaguar party Thursday night, a Gooding Company party Friday night (the official auctioneer for the Concours), a Mercedes-Benz party and a very exclusive event held at the Lodge for about 25 VIP'S..... Then of course, there was Mickey's party Saturday afternoon and finally a Saturday evening party hosted by Angela and Joe Cortone of Chicago for 40 guests at a wonderful Italian restaurant in Carmel called Niko.

Un-restored Pierce-Arrow

Sunday was the big day. Joyce organized a spot right in front of the "ramp" where the winners are announced and set up a picnic with two other couples. We feasted on sandwiches, salads, drinks and desserts in the front row seat as we watched the winners accept their awards. The best of show was a1933 Delage D8S De Villars Roadster (below) from the Patterson Collection in Louisville, KY, a very simple and yet elegant car. After the show still yet another party at the Pebble Beach Country Club exclusive to the judges and car owners... Whew!!! This show features some of the most world-renown cars on the planet and it was a sheer joy to be there.

Best of Show 1933 Delage Roadster

Perris, Je t'aime

It's a process.

First the panoramic photo of Perris, CA.

Then the sketches.

Have custom canvases made to size.

Then transfer sketch to canvas.

Paint.

Fini! Perris, Je t'aime #1

Autos As Art

The Concours d'Elegance was held on June 22 on Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills, CA. My 1961 Mercedes 300SL is pictured along with some show highlights.

Lanse Haslerig & his wife...Lanse did the body, paint & restoration.

We're parked at the foot of Via Rodeo where it meets Rodeo Dr. The yellow Ferrari Enzo is in the middle and on the right is a beautiful red '57 gull wing. The Enzo sells for $2 mil.

To the right, just behind my car was this drop head, drop dead '63Rolls going for $650,000.

Rear ends aplenty...my car has fitted luggage with the same leather as the upholstery.

A brief moment with no crowds.

A very rare '48 Tucker convertible. The headlight in the middle turns with the steering wheel.

A '49 Beetle with genuine ostrich upholstery.

Scott Melnick's '38 Ford pick-up truck...UNRESTORED!!! (Except for the hot rod Chevy engine.) It sat in a Texas field for 12 years where people used it for target practice, there are bullet holes in the windshield. It was a coal delivery truck in Colorado and delivered ice in the summer. It's my choice for car of the show.

The crowds got pretty thick by 12 noon. The 11 o'clock news said there were 10,000 people at the show.

Art & Cars

Some feel that cars can be works of art. My 1961 Mercedes 300SL Roadster will be featured in the Rodeo Concours d’Elegance this Sunday, June 20. Lots of festivities and celebs and it’s all free. Hope to see you there, we’ll be on Via Rodeo. To see a a video from last year’s Concours go to http://tinyurl.com/2g84lyx

Art Class

Started the Spring Semester at Beverly Hills High School in Portraiture. It's a terrific class with many talented people. We joke around about politics, sex, medical B.S. and of course, art. We kid about the class having 20 teachers and the poor (real ) teacher doesn't have a chance The class is very much like a TV sit-com...... Would probably make a great script....... We have live professional models every week.... This week we had a beautiful girl (6'4" plus high heels!!) in a very sexy polka dot dress.....We used to have occasional nude models (both male and female ) but that had to stop, especially during the day when the high school students always tried to peek in ... They still do have nudes but only in the evening classes and I think they keep the doors locked......

Perris, CA Project

Progress is slow on my year-long PERRIS, CA project. If you recall, I'm doing a series of nine paintings depicting the downtown area of Perris, CA (all 3 blocks of it ) with mostly empty stores....I was struck by the emptiness of the site. Empty stores that are decimated by nearby big box stores - literally putting small businessmen out of business......I'm sure a sight repeated all over America in small towns everywhere....The ninth painting will be a wonderful old movie house called "The Chief”. It's been closed for what appears to be many years and has one of those 3-story pylons pointing to the heavens and adding a little bit of show biz to the building. This will be a separate painting and probably the last in the series. The other 8 paintings will all be only nine inches high by various lengths from 18" to 52" running horizontally.

I've painted the sky on all eight wanting to get consistent color between the paintings. I masked off the buildings upper profile so as not to get the sky color overlapping the structures. I'm using acrylic paint on the sky, but I might decide to use oil paint for the buildings.

Back From Scottsdale Art Fest.

Just got back from Scottsdale, AZ attending the OPA (Oil Painters of America) show /conference / convention in what turned out to be a full-blown 4 day convention of 200 artists plus artists' freinds and relatives. I submitted 2 paintings for the show at the Legacy Gallery (April 30th to May 31st ) but I had no idea how extensive and intense this event would be.....It kicked off with a reception and cocktail party Thursday nite at The Scottsdale School of Art, a fully-accredited school devoted strictly to the arts with a full calender of classes.

Friday started off with a painting demo by Nancy S. Crookston, a famous "Plen- Air painter. It was followed by a panel of gallery owners explaining how they decide on which artists they would represent and how an artist should approach a gallery. Three very articulate local gallery owners contributed quite a bit of useful information......

Then, of course, came the main event. The show was from 5 pm to 9 pm and was held on the second floor of the Legacy Gallery which is 9,500 sq. feet of magnificent paintings and great lighting. It was then I found out that there was a total of 2800 submissions from Canada, U.S. and Mexico and fewer than 200 were chosen (check them out by clicking here)... So even if I didn't win any prizes, I feel honored that I was accepted .......There were about 500 -600 people attending with some very serious collectors in the room. About 15 to 20 Paintings were sold the first night.....No..... mine hasn't sold yet, but we still have all of May. The winner was "Model On Break" by Mary Qian.

Saturday included several panel discussions on framing, finance and several painting demonstrations including one at the Legacy Gallery.....The framing panel was interesting ...... The framers were from Utah and their prices were about one-third the prices found in L.A. Frames were mostly standard sizes, ready made......There was a wonderful interview with Harley Brown, a distinguished artist who was highly motivational and animated in his message of "Believe in yourself " stuff ...Really enjoyed him......Saturday night was the closing dinner outdoors at the Tortilla Factory, sponsored by The American Collector Magazine... Pretty good food too..... Everyone was very social and I met some nice people from Portland, OR and one young lady who just up and left her husband the previous day and was literally hopping the next plane to Kosovo!!!! There was a bicycle race thru the downtown streets of Scottsdale on Sunday ..... Pretty Cool......Some very serious bikers....... Colorful outfits .... Going very fast and I'm outa here.....