Precious Metal - Day One and Dinner with Terry Miura

Precious Metal  |  Day One  |  30 x 60  |  Oil on canvas

I've been gradually easing into my next painting. It's a 30 x 60 painting of a modified P-51 from the Reno Air Races I attended last September. I think it's fitting that I got started just as the 2013 races began this year. This is posted as "day one" but it's actually a couple of days into it. I've been refining the drawing, laying in the type and at this point I'm masking off the aircraft to lay in the first pass of the sky. This is one of my favorite planes that race at Reno each year. It's named Precious Metal and it's all bare metal. Lots of shiny in this one. The engine cowlings are off in the composition revealing the engine, so with that and all the reflections there's a lot going on in this piece. As always I'm freaked out by the complexity of what I've taken on, and am having doubts about my ability to achieve what I'm after here. But, I'm in it now . . . . This painting will probably take some time so there will be a number of these in progress shots.

Karin Jurick  |  Karen |  Terry Miura  |  and me

We also had the pleasure of having dinner with Terry Miura the other night. He was in town giving one of his workshops and contacted us and Karin Jurick to see if we could get together. Fortunately we all managed to find time to meet at the OK Cafe on Sunday evening. Sitting around eating good food and talking shop. It was great. We've already planned to meet again the next time he's in Atlanta.