Fresh Porsche Painting and a Fresh Perspective

As much as I'd like to make posts here a bit more frequently, I feel like I already struggle at times to manage the time I have involved in things I'm working on. That said, I'm happy to finally be sharing SOMETHING. Although I post almost everyday on IG (@pinstripe_chris) and FB (Chris Dunlop/Pinstripe Chris), posting here gives me the space to speak out loud about much more of what's going on and the process of doing things. On social media in general I get right to the point of my post- here I feel like I can open up a bit. So lets dive in to the why of this particular painting: Late Monday night I had been watching some videos on YouTube about other artists and their story (something I love to do and often inspires me)- a particular video resonated with me about how a particular artist was very aware of his 'bad paint days' (where artwork just does not come together) and rather then scrap the pieces he uses them as the story behind his day. One's mood can certainly effect artwork in many many ways- this artist chose to not use the bad days as self criticism, but rather evidence of what he was like that day. I had never thought about that before- I certainly have bad or off days where the artwork just does not meet my standards. Often times I will just smear the paint in worse just to end it, but not always. With that in mind, I had done a quick/rough paint comp of this Carrera RS piece that night with the aim of picking it up the next morning. The next morning my mood didn't match what I had started the night before. Rather then setting the piece aside, I decided to paint over what was already there (which served as a nice base) with a fresh look that I could connect with right then. The clean piece I had started with quickly become messy, energetic, and exciting. Admittedly I also enjoyed some good coffee in this process as well. This ended up being extremely cathartic for me, especially since I had spent the last month or so working on very clean illustrations for shops. It's tough to explain what it's like going from a clean to messy when the typical process is in reverse. I literally had to bury what I was comfortable with in order to create something authentic. When inspiration strikes, I grab anything and start drawing/painting on it. In the case of this piece I didnt have any canvas available so I grabbed a very used aluminum paint palette and worked straight over it. The result is a lot of spontaneous texture which I find interesting that the panel itself has its own story before it had artwork on it. There's a part of me that's apprehensive about sharing a more genuine/authentic side to what I really like to do- in this case, making a mess. I wonder if people who enjoy my clean artwork will be confused by my messier artwork. In a time when many creatives are focused on realism & detail, I would prefer to see the world thru a unique lens. I like the power of brush strokes and textures that life isn't likely to create. Does it seem like a step backwards? Maybe to some, but to me it's more me then I've been in a long time.

-Chris Dunlop / Pinstripe Chris

It's been quite a productive week (by eliminating distractions)

It's kind of funny- last night when I was talking to my wife about how much I had got done last week I started to feel bad about how selfish I had been with my time; that I had spent all the sun up time (and some some down) working on artwork & paintings instead of putting nearly as much effort in to some correspondences and communications. I love talking with people about artwork and cars and artwork technique, but this week I just focused on having a bit of 'me time' for artwork which I really haven't had in a while. While I was thinking about the week I at first thought of it as selfish, then I started to feel like, "no wait, this is just a display of my work ethic and passion for what I do". I should ALWAYS want to be having this much fun and making new pieces! I should also want to spend time doing the other side of business things or at least admit that I need to hire some help to keep the gears moving while I'm producing artwork. This week was unique in that I started and finished 9 new paintings- NINE!! Most days that was 2 a day, which is jammin'. Interestingly I had got my oil paints out at the beginning of the week and then just never put them away. It is funny how the slowest paints have helped me produce the fastest artwork. And sure, not every piece is amazing, but the process of creating is sometimes more important then the end result. If I could just sling paint messes about every day I fairly confident that would bring me joy, however, I think my social media audience expects just a little more of me. So I've been working on a happy medium- a mix of messy but legible artwork which has been a unique challenge. I've spent years refining what I consider to be a clean art style, so this want to create messes is different. While I've always enjoyed graffiti and many artists I follow that do do beautiful messes, I recognized my happy spot. But now I think that happy spot was a great way to learn a lot of fundamentals that can now be bent and twisted to suit the mood for that particular piece. I've also spent the last several years working on speed and technique mostly on paper which has given me a little edge on canvas. But perhaps the most important thing that allowed me to be productive this week was (almost) a total lack of distractions. We got a puppy for Christmas and she certainly needs plenty of attention thru the day, but, not nearly as much as responding to comments, emails, messages as soon as they are coming in; a habit I'm very familiar with. Yes, those are the things that keep the gears of business rolling, but if my business is art I also need to be creating art, but in an authentic, organic way (not just because its what Im supposed to be doing). There's a time to handle the communications, or at least there needs to be time set aside for them, but when I answer everything in real time I am constantly disconnecting myself from my artwork, and that's not cool. There's still a balance there that I need to work on, but all part of the journey. One last big factor is that I didn't schedule in any commissions for this particular week which kept me 100% focused on what I wanted to create without limitations. Yes I do some commissions, but most of what I do is non commissioned, actually. And while they can be great, too many may take you of course of your goals or eat up more of your creative time then you think, which is why I don't schedule myself full of commissions.

Well I decided today was going to be a non-art day so I could prove to myself Im not a robot. Going to wash the car and cruise the coast with my wife- have a good one!

I bought a Porsche 996 and now I seem to be doing a lot of Porsche Artwork

I bought a Porsche... whaaaaat? No seriously, yes I did. And lately that's inspired an unusual increase in German car art. I'll get in to the story of my particular car in a separate post, but I can say even from my point of view it's sort of odd that I got one. I'm very much a hot rod/classic car person, and when it comes to luxury/exotics I'm very much a Ferrari person. I certainly don't like ALL Porsche's, but there are a few generations that have my attention for clean, classic design paired with surprising performance. Last night while looking at some fellow enthusiast's cars on the Facebook I happened across a couple shots of a 996 Turbo and decided I had to do a nice dramatic painting. Like NOW. So I black gesso'd a piece of illustration board so I could start with a dark base, then transferred a sketch/outline using a white chalk technique. Initially I was going to use Oil paints, but once I got lines transferred I decided I was going to dust off the ole' airbrush and use some of my favorite paints: Holbein Acryla Gouache. These are basically Gouache paints that will dry permanent like an acrylic (instead of being able to re-wet with water). They also dry in a nice rich matte sheen which is super clean. All the airbrush is done freehand (no masking or stenciling) followed by final details & highlights done using paint brushes and the same paints. I'm a big fan of illustrating/painting in this dramatic/dark studio lighting type of fashion, and I always light my pieces from scratch (no photo reference) and I've recently been informed that that is quite an odd thing to do. For me I feel like I understand lighting & toning well enough to create shape & light interaction from scratch without an image to work from- this gives me the flexibility to highlight what and how I want without being limited to source material. I had an absolute blast working on this painting, next step is to varnish then have it off the framers to get properly completed.

The finished framed original artwork is available, please email us if you are interested: PinstripeChris@hotmail.com

NEW Painting: Martini Porsche

Today started with a Martini... Porsche. Shaken, not stirred. As I'm mixing up mediums and getting new artwork out I've been alternating between hot rods, race cars, and exotics- today I wanted to get in to a vintage race car with a popular livery. I of course wanted to approach the artwork from a fresh perspective and work the color dynamics in my preferred way.

This Original Painting is available:
Acrylics on 12"x24" Stretched Canvas available at http://www.pinstripechris.com/martiniporscheoriginal

Big Changes as a New Art Direction Takes Hold

I see it has been way too long since the previous post so I thought I'd start by talking about the latest in the studio happenings here. 

For the past several weeks I have been working on nothing but paintings from watercolors, acrylics, digital paint, and large scale traditional and I love it! The subject is of course the same, but I had decided to let go of what was the norm and create the visuals in a different way. In letting go of what I would 'normally do' I quickly found it was a lot of fun (even tho Im making mistakes in order to learn) to start fresh. A traditional rendering type illustration very much gets the point across of a cleanly represented design- which is fantastic, but for me lacks a bit of energy (at least the way I was doing it). So leaving the cleanliness of a fine render behind I picked up large brushes and new mediums to create in a way unfamiliar at first; but only to feel very comfortable in creating something a bit chaotic. After having done just a few of these weeks ago I have been doing it non-stop and I can honestly say it feels quite liberating to cut loose and make a mess. The theme is still there and hopefully the drawing accuracy is as well- but the concept is more driven towards an artistic approach rather then a technical approach. 

The piece above is a painting I worked on last week to really open up to some size options and get comfortable in that realm. Working on a 30"x60" piece meant changing paint consistency's, sketching larger, bigger brushes, and ultimately a piece with a greater presence.

This particular painting is going to be Framed and will be Available for purchase- Please email us for details:   PinstripeChris@Hotmail.com

Hot Rod's, Custom Porsche's, And an Aston Martin

Been a great week so far working on a variety of car's and artwork- always great to alternate things a bit to keep things fresh! Currently, the Porsche & Hot Rod drawings are available for purchase, check them out at :

http://www.PinstripeChris.com/Store 

Or by emailing us at:  PinstripeChris@Hotmail.com