Colin Lindsay

Hi Colin,

Reading your Latest TSSC article, I thought I'd comment on the lamentable presence/availability/willingness of artists to produce car or 'thing' related artwork.

I've illustrated all my life and have used my work to augment my (ex) graphic and magazine design design work.

When in Burgundy, running painting (art-working) holidays, I was visited by a classic car owner - now my now chum - from Geneva, he turning up in his Coupe - and another gent who stayed with another fetching original paint scheme two-tone lavender Coupe, once owned by a member of the Peugeot family apparantly.

In addition to his Coupe, my chum has around another 5 classics cars. But to say "thanks" for coming to visit and show me their cars (my Herald was scruffy and in dire need of renovation at the time - but a Herald nonetheless), I took to painting his primrose yellow Coupe on a half-glazed french roof tile - just because I could - and to remind him of his visit to me in France.

That has escalated since my move back to the UK and I have painted several more of his (and one o his sons's) classics, on a now diminishing stock of french roof tiles.

Now the point is this:- every artist will tell you that the hours they put into an individual and bespoke artwork could barely be charged for at a sensible commercial hourly rate, otherwise the works could never fall into the 'affordable' category!

I tended to state that the tile paintings took me 10 hours' solid work. But very often they took/take more; one needs to prepare the surface prior to painting and protect the image afterward etc.. So, if one put a decent hourly rate on that, you can see that if one was touting for business in a living way, there'd be few who would think the end product was worth the money!

I also took to producing PC generated outline-work illustrations of various cars I liked the look of - again, a different discipline, but for me not altogether the quickest or most enjoyable . . . 

Prior to this method, I'd have used draughtsman's technical pen on acetate film or ink board. But those days are long gone!

Enjoy the Pics!