So my mate Ger, she and I were chatting about the Charger and Countach; about how they fitted in with our nostalgia and memories of our childhoods and she says, "You know, I'd love for you to paint a Princess - not over detailed - but like the Charger".

Foolishly, I said I enjoy a challenge and painting a car I haven't determined for myself might be interesting: see if I could come up with something that met her expectations and memories. It's not like I've had much time on my hands...

Ger had specified that she wanted the painting to have a similar feel to the Charger - a free and impressionist style. But here's something I learned: it's easy to do that for a black car, but for something with a bit of colour things went differently.

I was amazed that the car's colours dragged me quickly into a pixel-perfect World of illustration, which although I guess that's my 'style', it wasn't part of the challenge. So I DELETED details I had spent time perfecting. I really need a word with myself!?

Meanwhile there was the shape of the bonnet, which was reflecting a sky clearly in the study photograph. It took longer than perhaps it should, but in the end I created a pallet of four shades of the 'baby blue' and stuck to them. The magic happened when I added the reflection of the cab and windscreen - it added the shape an depth I'd been searching for.

Having NOT started the Princess with a solid back-painting (against habit) I found that my free-hand strokes enlarged the body around the front 'skirt' and left wing.  I didn't really know why I back-paint, but now I have good reason.

I had also tried to place the Princess in 'France': driving on a road surface through greenery. I'm no landscape artist, as I keep telling you all, so I went back to bare canvas and picked colours that complemented the Princess' colours and air-brushed in a random pattern, which later gave an ethereal feel to the scene. I then scraped in some pastels radiating from the whole car - not from a single point of perspective. I don't know: but I quite liked it and its stuck - it was fun, and it seems that when I'm having fun it shows through in my painting? 

There are a couple or three major details missing from the finished piece. I'll not tell you here, but when you don't find something, its likely exactly what I have omitted. It's because adding them would add detail - and given my brief, I don't think I should add any more?

Then again, I did trim up the bodywork in places to keep faithful to the Princess' lines. But it's an impression - not a photocopy. So I'm mostly happy.

So there we have it. A challenge accepted and some fun rising to it over a handful of evenings. Ger hasn't seen it yet (that I know of), so I'll leave it down the gallery in a frame for her to discover for herself. Let's see what she thinks. I can hardly wait...

"A Fairy Princess". A digital painting in Corel Painter 2016 on a Wacom Cintiq 27" tablet using ink and pastel. Printed by Canon Pro-1 on Canon archival 210g/m2 paper.

This digital painting lark is such fun! I love it!!

Knowing when to stop...

And knowing when the thing is finished :) It's finished.