RENOWNED ARTIST LOUISE DEAR PAINTS THE PERFECT PICTURE WITH ALFA ROMEO

An exclusive work of art commissioned by Alfa Romeo has been unveiled to celebrate the launch of the new eco-friendly Alfa MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 85 bhp Sprint in a partnership between the Italian marque and Castle Galleries.

Renowned artist Louise Dear was approached for the bespoke piece due to her typically young and exciting style, which combine classic beauty with unique design; characteristics shared with Alfa Romeo’s sporty compact MiTo model.

Using a complex method of layered paint onto aluminium, Louise modelled the flamboyant art, entitled ‘Because I Can’, on her 17 year old daughter and introduced unmistakable influences from the Alfa MiTo into the work.

The inspiration behind the art derives from Alfa Romeo’s new congestion charge free Alfa MiTo, which has only 95g/km of CO2 emissions, and is interpreted in the subject through a vibrant floral backdrop and mix of bold colours. The painting also incorporates elements of the iconic Alfa Romeo logo, and legendary Cloverleaf symbol which is synonymous with the brand.

Louise said: “I really wanted to capture Alfa Romeo's heritage and elegance within my creation, while bringing out the stylish and fashionable aspects of the Alfa MiTo.

“The Alfa MiTo is targeted at a young, stylish audience who have a positive attitude to life, and are focussed on being successful, and within my painting I have tried to bring this across using a combination of designs that convey powerful imagery mixed with elegance and beauty.”

The artwork was revealed in an exclusive evening at Artica Galleries, Covent Garden (part of the Castle Galleries group) on July 14, attended by a host of VIPs and will now tour galleries across the UK.

An Alfa MiTo 1.3 JTDM-2 85 bhp Sprint wrapped in Louise’s design, along with the original artwork will now head to Castle Galleries locations - Birmingham’s Mailbox on July 28, Norwich Chapelfield on August 4, and Cardiff Bay on the 11 August.

Source: Alfa Romeo

BARRIE DOWN PUBLIC TALK AT FLORIDA UNI

Barrie Down, author of Veloce book Art Deco and British Car Design - The Airline Cars of the 1930s sent us this video of a talk he gave last year at Florida International University. Here are some highlights from the presentation. Also included in this video is a comparison with American cars which was not in the book.

The Art Deco movement influenced many different industries in the 1930s, and the British motor industry was no exception. Featuring a comprehensive examination of Art Deco styling elements, and a beautifully illustrated portrayal of British streamlined production cars, this is a unique account of a radical era in automotive design.
More info.

ENGLAND'S GREATEST VIEWS AND HOW TO FIND THEM BY ROAD

Time for a new blog header, this time one of the stunning photos from our brand new book, Roads with a View, this particular shot taken of Ribblehead Viaduct, just over the border from Cumbria into North Yorkshire.

Roads with a View is not just another travel guide. This has been written by a driver especially for fellow motorists, and provides detailed accounts of the best English roads to drive on, and the best places to drive to for that stunning front seat view. Features specially drawn maps, beautiful colour photography, and plenty of travel advice. More info

 

Priced £19.99 UK/$45.00 USA, this book is now in stock, and available to buy now.

ART DECO AND BRITISH CAR DESIGN REVIEWED

Thanks to Classic & Sports Car for this thumbs up of new Veloce book Art Deco and British Car Design by Barrie Down.

Click here for more info about the book.

CREATE & DRAW YOUR OWN CAR DESIGNS LIKE A PRO!

How to illustrate and design Concept Cars, a new book by Adrian Dewey.
Published by Veloce at £17.99, and containing 200 pictures, this book provides a clear, concise, step-by-step, easy to follow guide to drawing all external components of a car like the professional design studios. Includes 'trade tips' on rendering the images to bring them to life. Showcase illustrations demonstrate in stages and by example how these techniques produce great car art and design.
Covers all drawing materials/methods from pencils to marker pens, airbrushes to computer generated drawings.
The 128-page paperback book is available now from bookshops or from www.veloce.co.uk.

DIGITISED: THE WORK OF PHOTOGRAPHER ZOLTÁN GLASS

The National Media Museum in Bradford, UK, is currently in the process of raising a photographic treasure. The project, which aims to scan a large proportion of the photographs housed in the Zoltán Glass archive, will systematically catalogue the work of the artist, whose main creative periods came in the 1930s and 1950s, and to make them accessible in digital format. The Bradford collection numbers around 6,000 images in total; the work is scheduled for completion in April 2010.

Zoltán Glass was one of the great photographers of the 20th century – and automobiles were one his favourite subjects. During the 1920s and 1930s he was also commissioned by Daimler-Benz AG to take many photographs of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Glass, for example, documented the period of the classic Silver Arrows, the cars that dominated international grand prix racing from 1934 onwards. But he also turned his masterful skills to photographing the brand’s production vehicles for publicity material. He could even turn ostensibly uninspiring subjects, such as Mercedes-Benz vehicle production, into aesthetically pleasing images. After the death of Zoltán Glass in 1981, his photographic legacy was acquired by the National Media Museum, which houses one of Europe’s most important photographic collections.


At the instigation of Daimler AG, his work is now being catalogued and digitised. The project also involves feeding the original photograph captions into the database and reproducing the images in their original sequence. The process makes use of state-of-the-art technology, which enables the negatives and their immense wealth of detail to be photographed in high resolution using a calibrated high-end medium-format camera in order to create a neutral copy of the original. The results are first saved as files of approximately 100 megabytes in TIFF format. Finally, special software is used to convert the negative images into positives.

Once the work is complete, the photographs will be available for further historical editorial work and other projects.



Source: Daimler/Mercedes-Benz

DAMIEN HIRST-DECORATED FIAT 500

Five Fiat 500s, decorated by the artist Damien Hirst, were among the prizes won in a luxury charity draw at a star-studded London party last week.

The cars, donated by Fiat and finished in butterfly designs by the award-winning artist, raised £440,000 as sales of their raffle tickets proved popular among guests at the ARK dinner. Party-goers included Hollywood film star Uma Thurman, supermodel Eva Herzigova, singer Sinitta and top UK industry and hedge fund bosses.

Dubbed the most lavish party in Britain, the ARK event raises millions of pounds for children’s charities each year. For 2009 it was held in the disused Eurostar terminus at London’s Waterloo station, where the total raised on the night was a staggering £15.6 million.

“I am immensely grateful to the Fiat Group and to Damien Hirst for their unabated support and generosity to ARK,” says charity chairman Arpad Busson. “The five beautiful 500s added stunning visual drama to our event and raised £440,000 for our programmes.”

The lucky winners of the five unique 500s will take delivery of their cars at Fiat Marylebone, Fiat’s flagship store in London’s Wigmore Street.
Source:Fiat

Fiat 500 & 600 – The Essential Buyer's Guide by Malcolm Bobbitt.
The essential guide to purchasing a baby Fiat, which allows both the novice and accustomed Fiat enthusiast to appraise a potential purchase with professional confidence, identifying what to look for in order to acquire the right car at the right price. With Malcolm Bobbitt’s concise and easy-to-follow guide, packed with sound advice and backed up by specially selected illustrations, the route through checking a car’s provenance is made so much easier. This is YOUR passport to joining the Fiat community and a must for any potential small Fiat owner.
Click here for more info about the book.

LOOKING SLICK – LEWIS HAMILTON’S LATEST PORTRAIT

Unique portrait of the 2008 FIA Formula One™ World Drivers Champion commissioned for National Oil Check Week



Reigning 2008 FIA Formula One™ World Drivers’ Champion, Lewis Hamilton, became one of the most pictured British sportsmen in the world when he became the youngest driver to win the title.

But none of the portraits of the 24-year old links him so completely to his sport as this stunning portrait in oil, commissioned to kick off National Oil Check Week….Because the twist is that the oil used is Mobil 1 race oil taken directly from the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes car in which Lewis won last year’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Mobil 1, technology partner to Hamilton’s Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team, charged US artist David Macaluso with the creation of the picture of Lewis in typically triumphant pose to celebrate his title success and highlight Mobil’s role in the UK-wide car maintenance initiative (www.CheckYourOil.co.uk), which kicks off next Monday, June 15.

A limited run of 50 prints of the painting has also been made and one of these special pieces of memorabilia can be won in a competition at www.mobil-1.co.uk in the run-up to the British GP.

The painting will have its first public outing at the ExxonMobil VIP customer event, on the eve of Hamilton’s home Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Source:Mobil 1

POCKET ROCKET

The Mitsubishi i MiEV SPORT AIR Concept will be premiered at the forthcoming 2009 Geneva Motor Show in March.

Not a great deal of thought has been given by mainstream manufacturers to the proposition of a proper sports car as an electric vehicle (EV)… until now.


Taking a step beyond being merely ‘green’, this all-electric zero CO2 emission sports concept builds upon the fundamentals of the EV by marrying: the powerful acceleration and high torque inherent to electric motors and the safe driving dynamics that stem from i MiEV’s lithium-ion battery pack located within its long wheelbase and the low centre of gravity.
The i MiEV SPORT ‘AIR’ is a new-age “pocket rocket” and signals the direction in which the Mitsubishi sports EV may take in the future.
Source:newspress

ADRIAN DEWEY'S WORK IN MAX POWER MAGAZINE

Look out for the forthcoming Veloce book written and illustrated by Adrian Dewey -
How to illustrate and design Concept Cars

This book provides an easy to follow guide on how to draw cars like the professional design studios. Covers materials used from pencils to markers, airbrushes to computer generated drawings. The book features clear and concise step-by-step guides to drawing all external components of a car, and teaches how to render them in order to bring them to life. It also showcases work that demonstrates how these techniques produce great car art and design. Click here for more info about the forthcoming book.

PROJECT SPLITWHEEL

World First - New Caterham To Be Created Online by the public.

A chance to be part of automotive history, people can join ‘Project Splitwheel' at www.splitwheel.com. From here, members from all over the globe are able to submit ideas and concepts for every single aspect of the new Caterham and discuss and debate them with other users, before ultimately voting on what makes it to the final vehicle.

The Splitwheel.com website will use a combination of articles, blogs, forum discussion, a Wikipedia-style user-edited knowledge base and a comprehensive voting system to turn user input into a workable vehicle design. Along with acting as a liaison with Caterham's engineering team, Project Splitwheel will also provide guidance and input from automotive industry experts as required.

Starting from a blank sheet of paper and with very few restrictions in place, the result should be an exciting and truly unique performance vehicle.

On the subject of designing cars, there is an exciting book on the way from Veloce. Next year will see the release of How to illustrate and design Concept Cars by Adrian Dewey.
The automobile seems to be as popular now as it ever was. Posters of cars still adorn many a child’s bedroom wall, and school exercise books are full of doodles of cars. This book takes those notebook sketches and teaches you how to develop them into the car designs you see in magazines.

Using simple to follow step-by-step drawings it guides you from pencil sketch to marker rendering, from doodle to highly visual computer generated artwork.

Adrian Dewey has worked on designs as diverse as small sports cars to double decker buses, modified motors to concept Formula 1 cars, using various techniques and styles. In this book, he uses his knowledge of the different styles to guide the reader in creating great artwork and designs of their own. The book shows in detail how to use different materials and how to get the most out of each one, whether it be a great pencil sketch or a photo realistic vector illustration.
Why not join the new group on Facebook to discuss car design, concepts and techniques!

click here for more info about the book. click here to visit the facebook group. click here to visit Adrian's auto-concept site.

WAGON WHEEL

Artist Matthew Harrison today unveils his latest project entitled ‘Hummer’ at the fifth Zoo Art Fair (17-20 October) - a HUMMER H3 complete with wooden wagon wheels, the iconic installation will be parked on Old Burlington Road, opposite the Royal Academy of Arts for the duration of the fair. Harrison has combined the legendary off-road vehicle with ‘Wild West’ wooden wheels to create a sculpture that is a mixture of art, engineering and motoring.

MINI ALDRIDGE SPECIAL

A unique MINI featuring a visually stunning exterior designed by legendary artist, illustrator and graphic designer Alan Aldridge, is now on show at the Design Museum in London. The MINI Aldridge Special is an exhibit in a retrospective display of Alan’s work, entitled ‘The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes’.



Alan Aldridge is known primarily for his creative work throughout the 1960s and 70s. Dubbed ‘The Graphic Entertainer’, Aldridge illustrated lyric books for the Beatles, album covers for The Rolling Stones, The Who and Elton John, was Art Director for Penguin Books and illustrated much-loved children’s books such as ‘The Butterfly Ball’.



Coming soon from Veloce! Mini – The Essential Buyer’s Guide By Mark Paxton.

The Mini is without doubt a motoring milestone, and has had many volumes dedicated to its design, history and development, but this is the only book to examine the tricky task of buying one used. Iconic and innovative it may have been, but this quintessentially British car was not without its defects, many of which could turn the Mini experience into an expensive and tiresome disaster. This guide takes the potential purchaser through a short initial examination to weed out the obviously defective, followed by a more comprehensive step-by-step look at the body and mechanical parts, where the clear, jargon-free text accompanied by over 100 photographs sheds light on even the darkest corners of the Mini’s construction. A unique points marking system ensures that nothing is overlooked and an accurate final picture of the car’s condition can be viewed in relation to the asking price.

click here for more info

Automotive Art

These images are taken from http://info-of-automotive.blogspot.com/ A must-see blog called info-of-automotive which features automotive art by Rob Ijbema. Updated daily with contemporary artwork from the 2008 racing season and also imagery from the past.
Although there is some very impressive automotive artwork scattered on the web, very few books have been actually been published on this subject. Currently available from Veloce is the book How to Draw & Paint Cars By Tony Gardiner.



This book is not about learning how to draw and paint fashionable cars, super cars, tarted-up street or cool cars, but is about drawing and painting all types and ages of cars. The author has endeavoured to distill his experience from many years of creating images on this subject into a book that will help and encourage those keen to draw and paint cars for pleasure or as a career.
With c.135 illustrations and its step-by-step technique, this is a must-have for any budding automotive artist.

click here for more info about the book

Fiat 500 designed and painted by Tracey Emin sells for £200,000

Last week at a fund-raising charity auction in London, a Fiat 500 designed and painted by acclaimed UK artist Tracey Emin sold for £200,000. Surely the most expensive Fiat 500 in the world! This particular work entitled 'Dark, Dark, Dark' was one of only four vehicles specially designed by Tracey Emin. The money raised from the event was a significant sum towards the ARK (Absolute Return for Kids) charity which raises money for good causes such as tackling HIV in Africa, children in care in Eastern Europe, and inner city education in the UK.

More than 1,200 guests attended the auction, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the actress Uma Thurman and model superstar Liz Hurley.

The first of the Tracey Emin-designed cars, called ‘I Told You Not To' went under the hammer for £42,000 last October during the Contemporary Art Auction in London.



Out now! Fiat 500 & 600 – The Essential Buyer's Guide by Malcolm Bobbitt published by Veloce Publishing



Description


Features

• Identifies the different Fiat 500 & 600 models
• Gives clear and succinct advice when considering a car
• Your own pocket-size marque expert
• Instills confidence when examining a potential purchase
• Explains values
• Includes all the vital statistics you need to know
• Prepares you for a 15 minute evaluation of a car
• Provides for an in-depth appraisal of a vehicle
• Unique points scoring system to score a potential purchase
• How to buy at auction
• Spend a few pounds, potentially save 1000s!

The essential guide to purchasing a baby Fiat, which allows both the novice and accustomed Fiat enthusiast to appraise a potential purchase with professional confidence, identifying what to look for in order to acquire the right car at the right price. With Malcolm Bobbitt’s concise and easy-to-follow guide, packed with sound advice and backed up by specially selected illustrations, the route through checking a car’s provenance is made so much easier. This is YOUR passport to joining the Fiat community and a must for any potential small Fiat owner.

click here for more info

John Cooper Clarke- Hire Car

Here is a poem by the great John Cooper Clarke about hire cars.

www.johncooperclarke.com


HIRE CAR By John Cooper Clarke

double park - don't lock the door
push the pedals through the floor
give it loads and then some more
it's a hire-car baby

with the stick - grind the gears
watch that distance disappear
never yours in a thousand years
it's a hire-car baby

hire-car, hire-car
why would anybody buy a car?
bang it, prang it, say ta ta
it's a hire-car baby

by the way, you're on the streets
save yourself a couple of sheets
collision rate will keep it sweet
it's a hire-car baby

show this motor no respect
bump it, dump it, call collect
what else do the firm expect
it's a hire-car baby

drive the motherfucker anywhere
just like you don't care
put it down to wear and tear
it's a hire-car baby

pray the person who hired it last
didn't drive it quite so fast
this dakarum dodgem doesn't last
it's a hire-car baby

try not to kill yourself
or injure anybody else
don't forget to fasten your belts
rent it, dent it, bang it, prang it
bump it, dump it, scorch it, torch it
crash 'n' burn it, don't return it
lost deposit, let 'em earn it
who cares, it's on the firm
..it's a hire-car baby

The Engine Project

The Engine Project

Up N smoke, motorcycle engines as art (or porn?)

We're publishing the book!

Vaughns Photo Art - Civilization

Vaughns Photo Art - Civilization

cool photos....