New member from Nova Scotia
 

Hi all
Thanks for having me here.
I'm a graphic designer with a passion for Grand Prix and Sports/GT racing history, and since 2007, I've been doing art on this history.
Recently, I've started working with aluminum in my art.
My first piece is a tribute to James Dean driving his Porsche 550 Spyder on his last drive. I created the Porsche-part of the art in 18 gauge aluminum sheet.
Shortly, I'll be doing a couple of piece representing the pre-war Mercedes and Auto Union "Silver Arrows" GP cars.
There seems to be some fabulous metal work here so I hope to learn a lot.
Cheers!
Paul Chenard
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Automobiliart.com

Hi Paul, welcome to allmetalshaping.

David

Nice to see another "Bluenoser" on here. Welcome from the deep south west of the province. Be sure to post pics of your work.:)

Hi and welcome Paul!:)

Welcome Paul, I'm a big fan of your work from the Canadian Motor Sport History Group.

HJ Paul welcome to the forum
Peter

My first metal art piece
 

Thanks for the welcomes everyone.
I've always been fascinated by metal work, i.e. cast and shaping. In the late 1970's I worked at a pewtersmith's shop where I learned a lot about pewter.
I've been interest in sheet metal, so I created a "James Dean" piece where I did his Porsche 550 Spyder in 18 gauge aluminum.
it was a lot of work, all done by hand on the kitchen table (I don't have a studio), but it worked.
I've attached it here; the piece was featured in the March issue of Classic Motorsports magazine.

Attachment 16587

What do you think?
Cheers!
Paul

Hi Paul,I like it, what did you do paint the alluminium allowing it ti shaow through where you wanted?.

David

"James Dean" artwork
 

Hi David
Thanks very much.

The Porsche 550 Spyder is on 18-gauge sheet aluminum, which I engraved, and sanded to suggest the body contours. I painted on the detail (badging, headlights, graphics) with oil model paint and pen&ink. I then cut it out with a coping saw, filed and sanded it, and finished it in gloss varnished. The Porsche is about a 1/4" off the canvas ...

The background is acrylic on 70 year-old unused canvas board (my dad's), Dean and his mechanic are in pen&ink and archival markers on illustration board, on which I also illustrated the wheels in Prismacolor pencils.

The size of the piece is 16"x 12" (40.6cm x 30.5cm), unframed.
It's framed in a black floating frame ...
I included part of a quote of his that I found appropriate for this.

All in all, about 30-40 hours of work, all by hand.

I'm currently working on 2 pieces for the Goodwood Revival featuring the "Silver Arrows" from 1937. This time, I'm having the aluminum cut by water-jet; it's a lot more cutting, so I'll save about 30 hrs of work. An acquaintance has a laser cutter, so down the road, I'll give that a try too.

Cheers!
Paul