Do you ever have a day when you just have to say, “Man! I love this job!”?

I had one of those days, today. It was the third official day of Taste of Christmas in Newton. A bright, beautiful day with some gusting, cold winds, but excellent light. We had 70 visitors to the gallery, many of whom were participating in the ’scavenger hunt’ type puzzle promotion developed by the Chamber of Commerce for promoting the 39 local businesses that participated.

This is an annual event, but this year was the first year for the gallery. I thought I knew what to expect and turned out to be about 180˚ out of phase. Oh well! That’s why I’m not a weather forecaster and don’t bet on anything!

At about noon, after one group of six people had entered the gallery along with several individuals and smaller groups, I happened to look out the front window and saw this 1937 Buick Coupe in what looked like pristine condition.

Being a fan of old cars, I naturally had to get to the front and look at this baby a little more closely.

Imagine my surprise when I finally got to the front of the gallery and saw not one classic car, but three! All lined up perfectly in front of the Carriage Factory Gallery!

The other two cars were older than the Buick. As a matter of fact, the Buick turned out to be the ‘baby’ of the group.

Accompanying it was a 1931 Model A Sedan (center) and a 1929 Model A Roadster with a rumble seat (right).

Cool!

I immediately went back to the office for the camera only to realize before I got there that I had forgotten the camera. It was still at home. So I called Neal, who was also home planning menus, and asked if he could bring the camera to the gallery. It didn’t take much explanation of why I wanted the camera to convince him to bring the camera (he’s an old car buff, too, and recently acquired a 1987 Jaguar XJ6 to restore, but that’s a story all its own!).

He was at the gallery in just a few minutes and shot many of these photographs, as well as many others. Later, when I had a chance, I went out for some detail shots of shining chrome and interesting light.

As it turned out, the group of six people I had observed entering the gallery earlier had driven the cars, one couple per car.

They are members of the the Wichita “A”s, a Model A club located in Wichita, Kansas and they were out touring the area.

These last two images are the sorts of technical images that get the creative juices flowing. Light and reflections coupled with great color always catches my eye.

But I am not a technical artist and have never claimed to be one. Geometric shapes and I just do not get along. Circles are difficult enough. Ellipses and French curves? Forget it!

After we had enjoyed the work put into these cars and I had mentioned to Neal how badly some of those details were begging to be painted in the classical style, I told him that if he would do the technical drawing, I would paint the pictures.

I should mention that Neal is an engineer by training and, like most engineers, extremely precise in everything. Not only that, but he has the tools to draw all these very precise shapes and the knowledge to use them correctly. No mere ‘eyeballing’ something for Neal!

Anyway, he laughed and said he would do it! I can’t help but wonder what I might have gotten myself into with such a comment. Time will certainly tell!

But you have to admit that the deep red on this sedan is dying to be featured in a painting. And there are some interesting horses under the hoods of these cars, so it could still be considered equine art…

…Well, maybe not.

But it could just be an interesting 2009 Painting Challenge. I am, after all, working out my goals for the next year and doing something like this, even small studies, would certainly expand my artistic horizons. And how!

Man! I love this job!

©Copyright 2008 by Carrie Lewis. See original post here.
To learn more about this artist, visit Carrie Lewis’s website.