Autumn Rusts, Oranges, Golds, and Yellows

Seasonally Colorful Chops from the Past

Current generation Aveo 5 door, rendered as RWD

Chevelle 3 door wagon, modern Vega 2300 Kammback?

Tangerine-flake hybrid Cougar XR7

Dodge Demon coupe

Lamborghini people mover, LMPV002

Thunderbird, reborn once again, as a personal luxury coupe by Ford.

Smaller and lighter Golf Jack-o-lantern edition

Scion xBCabriolet

Last generation XJ series Coupe, with heritage '70s paint choices, including padded vinyl roof covering,

p a t r i o t i c / c o l o u r s

Reprise in Red, White and Blue—

Hybrid Mercury Capri 5 door hatchback.

Hybrid Torino GT Sportsroof.

Mustang GT500 Coupe

'Twas Not to Be. Pretty Colors, Though!

An extremely stylized, never-to-be, 2012 Grand Prix. created a couple of years ago. I was already trying to retro the '80s with this contemporary personal luxury coupe. In retrospect, at least the colors really work in this rendering...

Chiaroscuro—Interesting Black-n-Whites

Newly-finished koi pond, early 1950s. Sailboat toy floating center-left. I think there are some tender perennials under a gauzy tarp in the upper right. This is probably an autumn photo.

Great uncle Art and his kitty cat. Runningboards belong to a mid '30s sedan delivery. Make? He liked Buicks, but perhaps this is a Chevy?

"Lady Puke"is written on the back of this seasick family dalmatian mix, 1941.

Fill-R-Up, 1940 Buick at the pumps.

Classic still life photographed by my grandmother, 1941.

Cousin Minnie and her early '32 Plymouth PA coupe. I think this is the "mystery" car in the 4 car lineup image posted earlier in this blog.

Chiaroscuro.

f a l l c o l o u r s 2 0 1 0

Creating abstracts from leaves and trees is, as they say, a no-brainer. I love how the dappled shadows on the ground, along with the similar sized brown leaves which have fallen, creates an almost natural leopard-skin pattern. The large yellow leaves remind me of period late 1940s wallpaper. Click on images to enlarge.

The "Burning Bush" (Euonymous alatus) the back is as red as it will get before the leaves begin to drop. It's really something right now. This plant is a volunteer, whose seeds must been blown here or dropped by birds. 

All of these colors are both vivid and demure, bright and worn-in, the same and different.

This magenta and purple annual is still hanging in there. The orange nasturtiums planted with it have been done with for a week or so, low night temps to blame.

Color breaks become almost painterly in this photograph, shot today around noon.

Such a natural play between colors and the graphics of the piece, the various sized leaves, limbs and trunks.

Similar blues and yellows have been seen earlier this season with these sunflower/sky photos.

"International Car Review," No 1, Vol 1, 1953.

This is the first issue of International Car Review, published February 1953, by Screen Teen Publishing of Purchase, New York. The cover is a wraparound photo with the Aston Martin DB2 convertible positioned on the front cover and a '51 Ford convertible on the back. This magazine measures 5 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches with 146 interior pages. The binding is glued to a cut and stapled interior, a somewhat odd perfect-bound derivative.

Very cool Facel Bentley one-off coupe, left, is oddly positioned on the inside cover. Contents page with masthead info is at the bottom of this first right-hand page. I haven't found much information at all online about this publication, but I always love having the first of anything. Typical interior pages below. Besides the listings of cars on each page, there are a few longer articles interspersed throughout.

Pages 54-55, Italy—Two stunning Siata specials.

Pages 66-67, England—Now classic Allards, left and right.

Pages 120-21, America—Dodge and the somewhat lesser-known Fina Sport. The what? I've never heard of it either! 

U P D A T E — One of my awesome readers furnished me with this link to the Fina Sport above, The first car in this article looks like the one on the page above. Very interesting construction using domestic platforms and drivetrains with bespoke, and gregarious coach-built, bodies, Vignale being the designer of the example posted.

Wishniks' First Autumn, 1967

My Wishnik Trolls' first introduction to autumnal decorating, ca 1967. They are standing on the wooden console TV. Remember when you matched the wooden consoles of the TVs to the home decor? Ours were always Early American in maple. Yes, I still have the trolls. And maybe the basket. And maybe a bit of that wallpaper from a leftover roll. Perfect Autumnal Colors.

Plaids & Dolls: The German Years

Ca. 1956 polaroids shot in Germany. Mom wearing picnic plaid, and Dad wearing a doll on his shirt for some reason, lol. Fifties Fun.

Curved Wall Takes Shape

A new, curved interior wall takes shape. I was really drawn to the repetitive nature of the wooden framework taking shape. As fully half of the house dates only to the mid 1980s, from what I can tell the interior is shaping up to become contemporary and totally liveable, showcasing the better antique features that have been salvaged.

Where'd That Come From?

One of the smaller cosmos around the perimeter of the vegetable garden is a dark purple. This is the only cosmos of this color to bloom this year! I think it looks great with the fallen leaves on the ground. 

Another cosmos has decided to bloom, outside of the garden next to the original morning glories. The thinning remains of a red geranium adds a third flower color to this view. As the days grow shorter, the morning glories don't always develop fully, leaving pink ribs on the front of the flowers. They usually bleach out to a bright white if given enough light and warmth.

The glories that come out later in the day keep their pink ribs. If they open fully first thing in the day, they finish brightening to their full blue color, otherwise they stay this two-toned look! 

Patterns in Wood. Patina Repeated.

I visited what can only be described as the re-construction site of a small, 1860s mansion, located on the nicest historical street in the neighboring town. I say mansion, not in the sense of today's high square-footage McMansions which are usually lacking any interesting design or detail other than sheer volume. This house is a mansion in the 19th century sense of the word, a two-story house in a historic town center,  as formal and Italianate as the period could offer, with ample land (an extra lot to its right) used for a formal garden. Vertical boards in a randomly repeated pattern of three different widths was present on the exterior from new, the effect classic and, while not-quite-Gothic, quite obviously the effort of a talented architect of the day. 


For these photos, I was primarily interested in the original lathe-work uncovered inside, and the existing beams and wear/age patterns. I think I might begin a series of this home's renovation as it progresses, in the artandcolour way, of course.

: )

All photos are clickable thumbnails to look at these 150+ year old boards and lathes.

Seen Through My Lens, Mid-October

Playing Around in Photoshop This Morning

Zinnias, indoor with tiny cars

Yellow and peach dahlia

Green tomatoes, Jet Star variety

Bittersweet turning red, on lilac

Sunny cosmos

Fire dahlia

October's leaf canopy

Cranberry dahlia

  

Button zinnia with overlay of my piece "Checkerz"

Zinnias, indoor with perilla

Ripening Celebrity