Welcome to my studio, a Grade II listed building dating from 1734, which in a previous life was a Summer House or Gazebo belonging to our village public house (bar).  Extensive ongoing work has taken place to convert this into an Art Gallery and Studio which the large 6`x4` windows compliment perfectly.  It is a bit of a Tardis though, for would you believe that it has two stories each with a headroom in excess of 6`.

10 Mar 2006                                                                                                               Size: 36" x 24"  ink on canvas to be followed by oils.

1)  The aircraft will be depicted taking off and I will endeavour to have “All weather interceptor” as the theme. The whole project is totally spontaneous; there has been no planning at all, simply the opportunity to create artwork whilst my current WIP is allowed to dry a little. As it is second priority in the studio, progress may be slow, but you can be sure that I will enjoy doing it. The title is “Greased Lightning”, a little cheesy I know, but the first thing my excited son (age 11) said when he saw it for the first time.

2)  Influenced  by recent conversation with French artist Vincent Meslet regarding his F100, I have elected to show a rear three quarter view making reheat (power) the point of interest, being of warm colours, the reheat should assist recession. Traditional views have been covered many times by Rondot, and I am weary that Keith Woodcock once did a rear view, but do not have a copy of it to cross reference to ensure a different approach.  Some movement in the undercarriage has been considered, but I am going to have it very close to the ground, and prefer a realistic approach rather than artistic license. The ‘flap’ position is causing a few headaches as the best references are from Bruntingthorpe and they do not configure the aircraft to fly despite reheat being applied.

+5 hrs

A busy day, but the sky is coming along nicely.  I will need to wait for this to dry before glazing over the sky to enhance aspects of it.

3)  I will present it as a WIP in this forum, and welcome feedback, good, bad and ugly by PM or on the forum. I have an proposal about Sqn markings and location, but it would be a shame if you had nothing to look forward to!

4 April 06

4)  I confess to having rushed the fuselage and tail at a time when I wasn't really in the mood for painting.  This is a big; yet basic mistake and is detrimental to keeping motivated.  Happily the paint soon dried and on this image you can see the difference between acceptable work at the front and the rushed tail.  It will take a while to get the polished finish that I desire without muddying the paint.  All part of the fun!

5)  9 April 06: Hard work this bare metal, and lots of panel detail and reflected light to consider, this is not going to be a quick job!

6)  Happy so far, but time to retract the main gear.  This took an age to get right.

7)  There is a danger the vertical of the tower will kill any 'speed' so must proceed with caution, and push the tower back.

8)  On a PC, the image looks better darker, so I propose to use darks in building up detail and add greys to the silver.

9) I am now getting the metallic impression that I desired, so need to focus a little on atmosphere and 'speed'

a little more background, and some wingtip vortices. Repaint the spine & add fuselage detail:

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